28 February 2014

FEE: Opening a discussion - The future of audit and assurance

This discussion on the future of audit and assurance stems from FEE’s firm belief that the audit profession should have the courage to question itself, especially at this time when there are new developments in audit policy. The paper aims at promoting a public debate on initial observations and suggestions that could result in potential longer-term developments in audit, assurance and related services.

With audit and assurance services, FEE has reached a point where:

• It can ignore and try to resist the calls for change, lose sight of the needs of various stakeholder groups and, sooner or later, run the risk of becoming less relevant to them; or
• Alternatively, it can be seen to embrace change, adopt a more innovative – sometimes also more self-critical – approach and place ourselves at the forefront in proposing new ideas.

Ultimately, accounting and auditing are directed towards achieving more efficient, transparent and trustworthy corporate reporting, thus allowing for better informed investment decisions. This is to the benefit of society as it allows for the most efficient distribution of resources.

We therefore all have the same objective: improving quality in both corporate reporting and assurance and making our services the most relevant possible.

In order to ensure that we move in the right direction to fulfil this objective, keeping in mind the public interest, we should work towards achieving the following:

• Enhance audit and assurance quality and promote the trustworthiness and reliability of our services;
• Improve the different forms of auditor communication;
• Deepen the role of practitioners and the services they provide to better respond to stakeholders’ needs.

This paper should be seen as the start of a journey rather than the final destination. At this stage, FEE is committed to encouraging debate, but is not yet proposing any formal positions.

This paper seeks to:

• Initiate and encourage reflection for developing a vision for the future scope and scale of audit and assurance;
• Engage with outside stakeholders to discuss our services and how they should evolve in the future.

Press release

Discussion paper

© FEE