Regulators and supervisory authorities are already
working together to develop new and more effective
ways to enhance oversight of the audit and of the audit
market. We support such moves.
Recent developments to enhance the availability of
high quality, comparable and comprehensive data on
the global financial network should be encouraged.
These include:
• Adoption of the new so-called ‘legal entity
identifiers’ overseen by the FSB
• Development of a single, standard data model
shared by regulators and industry to replace the
current regulatory reporting systems with multiple
returns and inconsistent definitions
• Wider consideration of the new going concern, risk
management and internal control reporting
requirements set out in the 2014 revision of the UK
Corporate Governance Code
We have serious reservations about the additional risks
presented by the adoption within the EU of more
proscriptive rotation requirements for large, complex
banks and financial institutions. Such measures could:
• Undermine recent reforms that have improved
audit quality (such as enhanced audit committee
oversight of the relationship between company and
auditor)
• Derail other regulatory changes being introduced
to improve the strength and stability of the
financial sector
• Have the opposite effect as they do not enhance
auditor independence, objectivity or scepticism
- and as a consequence, are not in the public interest.
We believe alternative approaches, such as those we
have set out, are more effective and less disruptive
solutions, and have the added benefits of reinforcing
independence and corporate governance, maintaining
choice, and most important of all, enhancing audit
quality.