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Audit and corporate governance reform

Despite further government delays, the Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill remains critical to UK growth. ICAEW’s Audit and Assurance Faculty unpacks the key issues.
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Insights

Audit reform delay: ‘government should commit now’

Alan Vallance calls for the government to prioritise the draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill as its delay is announced.
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Latest news and insights

Audit reform delay: ‘government should commit now’
  • Article
  • 25 Jul 2025
Alan Vallance calls for the government to prioritise the draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill as its delay is announced.
Revisions to Provision 29 of the UK Code: what auditors need to know
  • Article
  • 22 Jul 2025
What are the new requirements for companies under Provision 29 of the FRC’s Revised UK Corporate Governance Code?
FRC study recognises role of SME audit in UK growth
  • Article
  • 17 Jul 2025
Regulator’s emerging findings into a study of the SME audit market highlight widespread stakeholder concern about a lack of scalability and proportionality in auditing standards.
Government launches UK sustainability assurance regime consultation
  • Article
  • 01 Jul 2025
Proposals include a new category of ‘sustainability assurance provider’ qualified to provide third-party assurance over sustainability-related financial disclosures, and a voluntary registration regime for sustainability assurance.
FRC overhauls Stewardship Code
  • Article
  • 04 Jun 2025
The updated Investor Stewardship Code 2026 aims to reduce the reporting burden for signatories, following an extensive consultation.
ICAEW technical round-up: May 2025
  • Article
  • 29 May 2025
This month’s top stories feature a landlord tax avoidance scheme warning, a new ICAEW audit training film and an ISSB proposal to reduce Scope 3 sustainability reporting.
Reminder: 2025 Audit Regulations coming into effect
  • Article
  • 29 May 2025
2025 changes to Audit Regulations take effect on 1 June. The new regulations introduce a requirement for ICAEW-registered audit firms to notify ICAEW when appointed to certain complex or high-risk audits. There is also a new requirement for sole practice auditors to appoint an alternate. Sole practice auditors will have until the end of a six month transition period to appoint an alternate.
National procurement network ‘key to NHS audit resilience’
  • Article
  • 22 May 2025
A single national procurement framework to help NHS bodies appoint auditors and encourage NHS bodies to engage more with audit firms during the audit procurement process are among the solutions touted in a report from the FRC.
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Exploring the headline reforms

Where next for audit and governance reform?
  • Podcast
In this Insights In Focus episode, we discuss the future of audit and corporate governance reform.
Developing a meaningful Audit and Assurance Policy
  • Report
ICAEW recommendations in this report and the extensive outreach and evidence gathering process on which they are based, suggest that introducing an “Audit and Assurance Policy“ could render corporate information more informative.
Audit manifesto
  • Article
This manifesto for audit distils knowledge and insights from ICAEW’s AuditFutures initiative into five principles for building a modern audit profession.
Driving more informative auditor resignation statements
  • Helpsheets and support
Are auditors providing meaningful information in their resignation statements, and if not, why not? This article looks at the requirements and what stakeholders have been saying.

Thought Leadership: the future of audit

Sharpening the focus on corporate fraud: an audit committee perspective
  • Thought leadership report
This report from ICAEW's Audit and Assurance Faculty considers audit committee perspectives on the nature and extent of corporate fraud and what the corporate sector is doing to improve the chances of preventing and detecting it.
Sharpening the focus on corporate fraud: an audit firm perspective
  • Report
What steps are audit firms taking now to better facilitate fraud deterrence and detection and what more can be done by all players in the financial reporting ecosystem?
Audit quality: how to raise the bar
  • Thought leadership report
What steps can and should audit committees, audit regulators, investors and auditors in the UK take to improve audit quality? This essay from the Audit and Assurance Faculty examines audit quality in terms of ownership, behavioural aspects, and structural drivers.
Fraudulent financial reporting: fresh thinking
  • Report
In this essay we focus on ways in which the skills and insights of auditors can be brought to bear to maximise the likelihood of identifying fraudulent financial reporting.
Shared and joint audits: are two auditors better than one?
  • Article
Governments and regulators are considering whether to mandate shared or joint audits in an attempt to increase audit quality, competition and choice.
User-driven assurance: fresh thinking
  • Thought leadership report
With calls for better engagement between auditors and users, we recommend the application of a three "pillar" model of what we call "User-Driven Assurance"; a new way of thinking about assurance, directed in its first phase by the needs of the primary user – the shareholders.
Internal control effectiveness: who needs to know?
  • Thought leadership report
Reporting on the effectiveness of controls over financial reporting features prominently in the current reviews of UK audit and regulation. This essay explores the current position in the UK, compares it with what happens in the USA and elsewhere in the world, and sets out the case for change and potential options.
Internal controls reporting: sketching out the options
  • Thought leadership report
What might a future framework for reporting on internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) look like? This essay from the Audit and Assurance Faculty examines various reporting frameworks, including COSO and the UK Code, as well as how these fit in with Sir Donald Brydon’s recommendations.

Quality management

With new quality management standards for audit on the horizon, there is an opportunity for firms of all sizes to supercharge their audits and reap significant knock-on benefits that go beyond ticking the regulatory box

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