In the first in a four-part series, Katharine Bagshaw FCA considers quality management of audits and looks ahead to three new standards due to go out for consultation in 2019

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) will be closed and replaced with a new audit regulator following criticism of their effectiveness of the existing organisation following a string of audit scandals at major listed companies

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is consulting on plans to revise the International Standard on Auditing (ISA) (UK) 570 Going Concern, which will mean requirements for UK auditors will be significantly stronger than those required by international standards

Katharine Bagshaw FCA examines the future of auditing in light of a raft of UK investigations into quality, purpose and independence, the Monitoring Group's proposals to overhaul the international audit standard setters, and attempts to modernise auditing standards in an age of cross-border, digital multinational businesses, not to mention the audit needs of smaller entities

In this month’s roundup of audit news, MPs probe Big Four and mid-tier firm heads about sustainability of audit, FRC consults on tougher stewardship code and changes to third country auditor fees due to Brexit, Carillion audit investigation to continue well into 2019, audit wins at SSE and ICG, while Aston Martin puts audit out to tender

With auditors under heavy scrutiny and a litany of audit failures at listed companies, Sarah Perrin ACA asks whether the fundamentals of audit are actually working and how technology could improve the quality of audit

The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recommendation of joint audits for FTSE 350 companies will force mid-tier firms to invest in resources and skills to be able to contend with the Big Four. Matthew Stallabrass, partner, corporate audit at Crowe, considers the implications of the Kingman and CMA audit reviews

Today marks the final deadline for responses to the consultation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on changes to legislation to improve the audit sector, which include separating audit from consulting services; greater accountability for audit committee chairs and introducing a ‘joint audit’ regime

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a four-week consultation on the fee structure for third country auditors (TCA) in the event of a no-deal Brexit, although it has indicated that the current fee structure is unlikely to change

In this month’s round-up of audit news, the Competition and Markets Authority releases its initial findings into the lack of competition in the listed audit market with the Big Four under fire, while the Kingman review questions to competency of the audit regulator, while Patisserie Valerie drops Grant Thornton in auditor switch to RSM

A five-week consultation has been launched on the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) proposals to address the lack of competition in the audit market with reforms including the introduction of joint audits for listed companies, with at least one firm being non-Big Four, and closer scrutiny of auditor appointments, reports Amy Austin

In a scathing review of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Sir John Kingman has called for the standard setter and audit regulator to be closed in its present form with immediate replacement by a new oversight authority with regulatory powers set in statute

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has launched a consultation to assess the effectiveness of the client asset audit (CASS) standard, which was introduced in 2015 to provide a principles-based framework to strengthen audit quality in response to some high profile failures

Investors want to see improvements in audit quality and are concerned about the current dominance of the Big Four, but are holding back from calling for a break up of the largest firms or a ban on the supply of non-audit services, according to the responses made to the first stage of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) review of the sector

In its response to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) review, Grant Thornton has called for a ban on firms receiving non-audit fees from Public Interest Entity (PIE) clients however does not believe that splitting Big Four audit and non-audit practices will be an effective remedy