CPA Australia supports ANAO’s report to strengthen audit oversight

Australian accounting assemblage CPA Australia has expressed enactment for the Australian National Audit Office’s (ANAO) show audit of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's (ASIC) regularisation of registered institution auditors (RCAs).

This audit concluded that ASIC’s oversight is “partly effective”.

CPA Australia’s Audit and Assurance pb Tiffany Tan noted that though governance frameworks are successful place, the deficiency of wide show indicators undermines some transparency and accountability.

Tan said: “Registered institution auditors play a captious relation successful safeguarding Australia’s fiscal markets. The ANAO study highlights cardinal areas for improvement, and we commend ASIC for taking aboriginal steps to instrumentality respective recommendations.

“Strengthening audit regularisation is an important contented for the profession. We invited ASIC’s aboriginal initiatives and reiterate our committedness to a corporate solution that enhances audit prime and marketplace integrity.

“The study is an accidental to reflect, amended and fortify spot successful the strategy that is truthful important to upholding the integrity of our fiscal markets.”

The ANAO study identified respective cardinal areas wherever improvements tin beryllium made, including show measurement, remediation and follow-up, enforcement priorities, stakeholder engagement and ministerial expectations.

The ANAO emphasised the request for much precise metrics to find whether ASIC’s interventions are efficaciously enhancing audit quality.

Regarding the facet connected show measurement, CPA Australia recommends improving the clarity of surveillance reporting by introducing a tiered classification strategy – specified arsenic observation, deficiency and important contented – on with contextual analysis.

This attack would assistance companies amended recognize the applicable implications of findings and enactment much meaningful improvements successful audit quality.

Enhancing remediation processes is important to guarantee that identified deficiencies are addressed successful a timely and effectual manner.

CPA Australia has welcomed ASIC’s committedness to strengthening this facet of its oversight programme.

The ANAO study observed that astir of ASIC’s enforcement actions person focused connected administrative breaches alternatively than straight connected audit prime issues.

CPA Australia has encouraged ongoing dialog to guarantee that enforcement activities are much intimately aligned with audit prime objectives.

Addressing stakeholder engagement, the ANAO study emphasised that enhancing transparency and promoting collaboration with the auditing assemblage are captious for achieving communal goals.