It’s been a busy year in the Audit and Assurance Faculty. We opened our doors to a wave of new members, as part of a wider ICAEW initiative, and engagement with our members is higher than ever. With 20,861 current members, record viewing numbers for our faculty webinars and some of our digital articles attracting over 1,500 clicks, it has far surpassed our expectations. We continued to provide you with a wealth of resources and support, including launching our brand-new digital Audit & Beyond offering, bringing you features, practical guidance, Q&A’s and more through our new online hub.
This year was also a busy year for firms, who had to get to grips with the implementation of several revised ISAs as well as beginning monitoring and remediation activities of their System of Quality Management (SoQM). For more information and guidance on ISQM 1, you can visit our Quality management in audit firms hub which offers a range of resources, including articles, webinars and guidance to help firms implement the new quality management standards.
ISA 315 brought many changes for firms including a renewed focus on controls and IT controls. In our webinar, Intelligent Auditing: Robust Assurance, we shared practical insights into how to apply the new ISA, and will continue to explore this in part two of our series, ISA 315 - Putting the building blocks together, in December. For further information on risk assessments, including key requirements and practical support, don’t forget to visit our risk assessment hub. Our auditing accounting estimates hub page also offers resources and support tools, including webcasts to help support you and your firm in implementing the enhanced risk assessment procedures required in ISA 540.
ISA (UK) 240 introduced a new requirement for auditors to consider what specialist knowledge and expertise they need to carry out an effective risk assessment and in November we hosted our forensics in audit webinar to better understand the increasing use of forensic auditors and forensic techniques in mainstream audit. We also launched our Insights special looking at the vital role auditors play in identifying fraud, the challenges they face and the ways we can recognise and address fraud. We continued our discussion on corporate fraud, releasing our second fraud publication Sharpening the focus on corporate fraud: An audit committee perspective looking at how audit committees perceive corporate fraud risks and what they are doing to better prevent and detect them. This follows on from our first publication Sharpening the focus on corporate fraud: An audit firm perspective and accompanying webinar.
Professional judgement is a key requirement and critical component of audit quality and in May this year we launched our professional judgement hub, bringing together a range of resources, insights and expert opinions to help you develop your skills in approaching difficult judgements.
This year we also launched our audit and technology hub, looking at how technology is used throughout the audit process, the digital tools auditors are adopting and the future of audit technology for firms of different sizes.
There is much ahead for auditors to consider, including the new CPD requirements that came into effect on 1 November 2023. Following Audit & Beyond’s move to digital, our e-bulletin will now be released bi-monthly, alternating with our digital magazine’s e-newsletter, but as always, we will continue to keep you fully informed on the latest technical developments and provide you with all the guidance and resources you need.
If there are any topics that you would like to see us cover in 2024, then please get in touch.
