New measures for the UK's accountancy firms, aimed at preventing Enron-style financial scandals, will be unveiled later today.

The rules will have an effect on the professional indemnity market and insurance companies.

The government has decided not to ban accountancy firms from doing other work, such as taxation advice, for clients whose accounts they also audit.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said yesterday that companies' audit committees should set policies for what services they would buy from the company doing the audit work.

She said: "I think it's a better way to do that, by looking at the particular position of each company, rather than trying to do a one-size-fits-all set of regulations."

The review of comes a week after the publication of a review into the role of company directors.

The Higgs Review recommended that half the board directors of any listed firm should be non-executives.

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