Contents
Conflicts of interest and auditor independence
What are audits and why do they matter?
Parliamentary interest in the UK audit market
A crisis of trust in the auditing profession: key issues
Competition, choice and resilience
Conflicts of interest and the big four alumni
Regulation and guidance on audit matters
Previous attempts to reform the audit industry
Conclusions on the expectation gap and the audit product
The accounting standards and the law
4 Separating audit from non-audit
6 Ensuring independence, challenge and professional scepticism
Are audit committees independent and do they represent shareholders?
Increasing regulatory oversight of audit committees
Other measures to ensure audit independence and challenge
Independent appointment of auditors by the regulator
Increasing the frequency of audit rotations
A cooling-off period for non-audit services after an audit engagement
Corporate hospitality for audit clients
7 Competition, choice and resilience
Levels of competition and choice in the UK audit market
Why are challenger firms not taking on more FTSE 350 clients?
The CMA’s market study into the statutory audit market
The Financial Reporting Council
Sir John Kingman’s Independent Review of the FRC
The Independent Review’s key proposals and the Government’s response
A new regulator: The Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority
Monitoring audit quality: Audit Quality Reviews
A UK Sarbanes-Oxley and the wider reporting eco-system
Registration of auditors by Recognised Supervisory Bodies (RSBs)
Conclusions and recommendations
List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament
Published: 2 April 2019