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FROM THE CEO’S DESK cont.
Bernard Peter Agulhas
Chief Executive Officer
when it comes to the fourth “line of defence”, external audit, we
believe that greater powers will enable the IRBA to act more swiftly
in identifying, investigating and disciplining errant auditors, and
then handing down punishment that is more appropriate to the
nature of the transgression. In this way, we can continue to restore
confidence in the regulator and auditors.
In our other efforts to restore confidence in the profession, our
Standards and Inspections departments have been working on
an Audit Quality Indicators project that will help firms and audit
committees to assess the quality of audit work.
In July, the IRBA issued a call for South African audit firms to
produce transparency reports that should provide insight into
audit firm operations, governance, leadership, culture, ethics, audit
quality, transformation and audit engagements, among others.
This initiative was first considered by the IRBA last year, but it now
coincides with a review of the International Auditing and Assurance
Standards Board’s International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC)
1 which is currently being revised. In terms of the IRBA’s restoring
confidence efforts, these two initiatives are key.
Finally, earlier in September the first working meeting of the African
Forum of Independent Accounting and Auditing Regulators (AFIAAR)
was held in Maputo, Mozambique. AFIAAR has already achieved
significant milestones, such as formulating and signing a charter
at the inaugural meeting in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, in March this
year. During the September meeting, members gave input to the
two-year strategy that was duly unanimously adopted. This bodes
well for the continued process of continental integration of audit
and accounting regulation in Africa. Through the promotion of the
adoption of financial reporting standards and enforcing compliance,
independent audit regulators can play a critical role in building
confidence in capital markets on the continent.
Issue 43 | July-September 2018
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