It is a common objective for all parties in the corporate reporting ecosystem to improve the quality of financial reporting. Consistently delivering high-quality audits is an essential element to achieve this. However, further work is needed to agree on the definition, drivers and indicators of audit quality.
To support this objective and build on our factsheet (May 2022), our new publication Key factors to develop and use audit quality indicators (AQIs):
AQIs are not ends themselves but are one important means to increase the audit work’s transparency and support consistent, high-quality audits. A blend of AQIs can help focus on the areas where improvement is needed.
The Committee of European Auditing Oversight Bodies (CEAOB) has made, amongst others, the below documents available.
Its report on the 2022 enforcement questionnaire:
Read the main considerations, findings and statistics in the full report here.
As part of the ongoing enhancement of the CEAOB inspection methodology, the Inspections sub-group (ISG) members adopted the common audit inspection methodology (CAIM) Firmwide Suite of working papers based on ISQM (International Standard on Quality Management). A public version of the working papers has been published on the CEAOB’s website.
Providers of very large online platforms and very large online search engines shall be subject to independent audits at their own expense and at least once a year. This is to assess compliance with the selected obligations – for further details, refer to Article 37 of the Act.
The European Commission is yet to publish here the delegated act with the details of the rules, methodology etc., for these audits. This should happen in the coming weeks.
The Digital Services Act shall be fully applicable for all entities in scope from 17 February 2024.
The tool aims to help auditors implement the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s (IAASB) International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 315 (Revised 2019), Identifying and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement. The standard is effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2021.
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) issued a public consultation proposing its proposed strategy and work plan for 2024-2027.
The IAASB invites all stakeholders to comment on the proposed strategy and work plan by 11 April 2023. Accountancy Europe has already started working on its comment letter.
The IAASB proposes a group audit-specific section to the draft auditing standard for less complex entities (LCEs). The public consultation is open until 2 May 2023. Accountancy Europe will provide its input.
The US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) opened a consultation proposing a new standard on current quality control standards.
We submitted a high-level comment letter that addresses global aspects with a public interest lens and focuses on audit quality.
Spain has amended its Audit Law concerning the mandatory audit firm rotation requirements in the following way:
This curated content was brought to you by Júlia Bodnárová, Accountancy Europe Manager since 2017. You can send her tips by email and connect with her on LinkedIn.
