PwC’s audit work on financial reporting is at the heart of our purpose to build trust in society.
Quality audits are a critical component of a trusted and well-functioning capital market. They provide trust in the financial reporting supply chain.
Over the past few years stakeholder expectations of an audit have been shifting rapidly both in New Zealand and overseas. One thing is clear, audits of the future need to be different to better serve the interests of investors and the community more broadly.
We recognise the role we have to play in maintaining confidence and trust in audit and acknowledge there is more to be done. We are committed to continually improving standards to meet increasing business complexity, regulatory demands and the needs of governance bodies.
To help build trust, we continue to invest in the following aspects of our audit and assurance business:
- Introducing an Independence Risk Panel to consider independence perceptions over and above the formal requirements of the independence standards when initiating non-assurance services.
- Increasing our investment in ethics and independence training, our consideration of and how we communicate independence.
- Joining the position of our Chief Risk and Reputation Officer to the firm’s Executive ensuring trust and independence matters are integral to the firm’s strategy.
- Engaging our investor and director community on audit-related issues and exploring how we can best address expectation gaps.
- Discussing audit quality indicators with the entities we audit from the outset to set expectations and implementing a remediation process where necessary to ensure transparency.
- Actively recruiting to increase staff numbers within our audit practice.
- Having an independent Audit Advisory Board that provides guidance and challenge related to audit quality. The board consists of three independent members who advise the firm on a range of matters including PwC’s audit systems and processes, learning and development programme and how the firm is responding to structural changes in the profession.
- Publishing an Audit Transparency Report including an Audit Balanced Scorecard each year to provide greater transparency on how we conduct our audit work.
We look forward to working further with the entities we audit and their stakeholders, our industry peers, regulators, the investor community, our staff and corporate New Zealand to drive outcomes that are beneficial for all.
