Audit needs to evolve, says new ICAEW President

Gerald Russell, the newly elected President of the ICAEW, has told the audit profession that it can crack the challenge of meeting the needs of regulators, governments and the wider public as well as investors.

In his inaugural speech, he said that auditors are an integral component of the governance structure of companies around the world alongside executive management, boards of directors and regulators playing "an important role in financial markets, promoting confidence in financial information - something that is fundamental to the smooth-running and efficiency of the world's capital markets."

He went on to argue that audit can go further in terms of the assurance it provides. He said:

"If some stakeholders - regulators, governments and the wider public - feel that the audit and the auditors aren't fulfilling their requirements, then we need to come forward and show them what we can do to meet those needs.

"From providing greater clarity in the presentation of risk, to improving communication with audit committees and looking at the possibility of providing assurance on a wider range of information. Let's face it - the numbers in accounts are difficult for many to understand, confusing even, despite notes with a mass of data in the back end. So how can we help with assurance over improving narrative reporting and other information flows? We have to, and will, crack this."

Gerald Russell was elected as the 130th President of ICAEW at a council meeting at Chartered Accountants Hall on Wednesday 9 June 2010. He spent his whole career at Ernst & Young where he was Chairman of the Non-Executive Director Programme, a member of the UK firm's Governing Council and Vice Chair of the EY/CBI's Audit Committee Chairman Chair Forum. He was also the founding chair of the ICAEW's Audit Quality Forum.

At the same meeting, Clive Parritt was elected as Deputy President and Mark Spofforth as Vice-President.

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