Attention corporate counsel – the big four accountancy firms are trying yet again to limit the extent to which they can be sued for audit failures.

Auditors can be sued for the full amount of losses in the event of a corporate collapse, even if only partly to blame. New Labour, ever responsive to the quartet’s lobbying clout, has done its best to mitigate this. First it gave them LLPs – to prevent non-negligent partners from losing their shirts – and then proportionate liability, allowing the firms to negotiate liability caps with clients.

Trouble is, not one blue-chip company has yet agreed to a cap – which has to be voted for by shareholders – because in-house lawyers have quite sensibly pointed out that there’s nothing in it for them.

The Times reports this week that the quartet appears to have lost patience. Now they want proportionate liability to be achieved by means of a standardised resolution to be voted on at annual meetings. This will neatly sidestep another problem – the Securities and Exchange Commission has said it will block any capping deals involving British companies registered in the US. The New York watchdog fears directors and auditors could cut secret deals under which auditors get their liability cap in return for glossing over the accounts.

To be a ‘big four’ audit partner these days is to be a multimillionaire. In this new age of austerity, is the government ready to genuflect once again before this most powerful of City interest groups?

Don’t bet against it.