Douglas Niven, who spent 25 years at the corporate regulator, has been appointed to a chair role by the Albanese government.
Niven will take up the role of chair of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) for five years.
The AUASB is an independent, non-corporate Commonwealth entity of the Australian government, responsible for developing, issuing and maintaining auditing and assurance standards. The AUASB standards are legally enforceable for audits or reviews of financial reports required under the Corporations Act 2001.
Niven previously spent 25 years at ASIC for a variety of responsibilities including chief accountant, leading the financial reporting and audit team and the financial reporting surveillance and audit inspection programs.
He was also a member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Committee on Accounting, Audit and Disclosure, IOSCO Sustainability Task Force and IOSCO Audit Quality Task Force, and the board of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators.
Prior to this, he spent 15 years at Deloitte in the financial services division.
Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, said: “The AUASB plays an incredibly important role in our economy by developing, issuing and maintaining auditing and assurance standards.
“This appointment will add to the considerable skills and experience available to the AUASB.”
He will replace outgoing chair Bill Edge who has held the role since January 2021. As well as this, Edge is also a member of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and is a former chairman of the Financial Reporting Council.
Other recent Treasury appointments include Grattan Institute chief executive, Danielle Wood, as chair of the Productivity Commission and Peter de Cure as chair of the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).
Wood was appointed as a replacement for Chris Barrett who pulled out of the recruitment process after being recommended back in July.
It also appointed three new ASIC commissioners: Simone Constant, Alan Kirkland and Katherine O’Rourke.
