FRC: UK and US regulators agreed on arrangements for sharing information and cooperation on audit inspections
12 January 2011
Regulators in the UK and US have signed an information sharing agreement aimed at increasing the level of cooperation on the oversight and inspection of audit firms.
The Statement of Protocol between the UK’s Professional Oversight Board (POB) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of the United States (PCAOB) is a statutory requirement necessary to facilitate effective cooperation between the two organisations and pave the way for joint work on inspections, including exchanges of information and interviewing firm personnel.
Dame Barbara Mills, Chair of the Professional Oversight Board and a co-signatory of the Statement of Protocol, said: “The POB and PCAOB share the common objectives of seeking improvements to audit quality, protecting investors and promoting efficient capital markets. This agreement builds on the excellent working relationship our two organisations have developed in recent years and reflects the increasingly global nature of the audit market. The agreement will improve our respective access to information, for example relating to US audit firms registered in the UK, and UK firms registered in the US, thereby helping us to discharge our responsibilities. This will both strengthen and streamline the process of audit market inspections, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the oversight regime”.
Press release
© FRC
