Thank you for your membership of the Audit and Assurance Faculty in this unusual and challenging year.

We have sought to provide you with guidance and support, as well as representing your views. We hope you have found being a member worthwhile and that you renew your membership for next year.

Our resources for members, including our bulletin, magazine and webinars, will continue to be available and we hope these will continue to help you to meet your CPD requirements and develop your career.

2021 highlights

We developed resources on major new and revised standards on accounting estimates, risk assessment and quality management and continued to update our audit report wording guides. We provided guidance on reporting to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Civil Aviation Authority; and we issued responses to all key International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and Financial Reporting Council (FRC) consultation papers, including on fraud, going concern, interim reviews and quality management.

We made a major contribution to the ICAEW response to the White Paper on corporate governance and audit reform and continue to pursue follow ups to the consultation process. We launched a major campaign around our Audit Manifesto publication and published a major report on the Audit and Assurance Policy. We also continued to publish future of audit thought leadership essays, including, most recently, on audit quality, and are currently developing an essay on fraud and disorderly failure.

With a theme of Trust and Transformation, the 2021 Financial Reporting, Audit and Assurance Conference featured keynotes by FRC Chief Executive Sir Jon Thompson and Lord Callanan, Minister for Business, Energy and Corporate Responsibility. We also hosted a roundtable on ESG reporting and assurance in partnership with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

We have been engaging with an unusually wide range of stakeholders as we develop our response to IAASB’s draft proposal for a new auditing standard for less complex entities (LCEs). We hosted a podcast to raise awareness of the changes, followed by an event with IAASB Chair Tom Seidenstein, and will submit our detailed response to the IAASB in the new year.

In 2022 our key priorities are likely to include:

• The ongoing debate in the UK and beyond on the future of audit 
  
  
• Help for members on revisions to auditing standards on risk assessment and quality management 
  
  
• The IAASB proposals for less complex entity audits. 

We would encourage you to renew your membership of the Audit and Assurance Faculty and continue to be part of our community.