Audit inquiry reaffirms recommendations
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services has tabled its final report on the regulation of auditing in Australia and has reaffirmed all 10 recommendations from the interim report in February 2020.
The committee said no further evidence since the interim report has been presented to the committee to contradict its earlier findings.
Committee chair, Senator James Patterson, said the timelines and thresholds for implementation of the recommendations would need to be examined to ensure that they were realistic.
“This particularly applies to recommendation seven on tendering for audit firms and recommendation nine regarding internal controls frameworks for financial reporting.”
The inquiry into the conduct of auditing firms was announced last year due to the scandal involving NAB and EY.
The recommendations had been welcomed by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ).
Amir Ghandar, CA ANZ reporting and assurance leader, said it was important to take action to promote trust and confidence in auditing.
“We called for a more integrated and consistent approach to how Australians are covered for risks such as fraud, misconduct and corporate failure in not only auditing but also management and governance, and we’re pleased this bears out in many of the recommendations,” Ghandar said.
“These recommendations will require dedicated commitment from government and the profession, particularly those recommendations with incremental costs such as enhancing accountability and audit of company internal controls, and transitioning to digital reporting.”
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