Representatives of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB), the World Bank and the European Commission also participated as observers on 10 April.
On 11 April IFIAR was joined by delegations led by the global CEOs of Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton and PricewaterhouseCoopers for individual discussion with each firm regarding their global quality monitoring arrangements. Similar discussions will be held with delegations led by the global CEOs of BDO, Deloitte, and KPMG at IFIAR’s next meeting in September, 2008.
New Members
Current market turbulence
Members reviewed the role of audit regulators in the current market turbulence and agreed to discuss members’ experiences at their next meeting.
Audit quality
Members exchanged views on audit quality issues. They agreed to continue work on understanding potential indicators of audit quality and to review progress at their next meeting.
Audit inspection workshops
Audit inspections remain a core area of focus for IFIAR. Following its successful second audit inspection workshop – held in Berlin in January, 2008 – IFIAR has decided to hold a further workshop early in 2009 to provide an opportunity for the continuing exchange of inspection techniques and experiences.
Foreign auditor registration
Members noted the arrangements currently, or shortly to be, in place in a number of jurisdictions requiring the registration and/or notification of the auditors of foreign issuers.
Exchange of information between audit regulators
In the light of prospective changes in legal requirements in a number of jurisdictions, members will continue to keep under review the impediments to information exchange between national regulators in relation to ongoing supervision, investigation and enforcement activities in respect of cross-border group audits and international audit networks.
Issues relating to International Auditing Standards
Audit market concentration and choice
Members received updates on the steps taken in some jurisdictions to examine the issues of concentration and choice in the audit market.
Dialogue with other international organisations
IFIAR received reports from each of the Observers on their work in the field of auditing. It will maintain its dialogue with other international organisations having an interest in audit quality.
Future role and organisation of IFIAR
The IFIAR representatives present in Oslo agreed on the text of a Charter for IFIAR which members expect to adopt at IFIAR’s next meeting in September.
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