Sector at centre of fresh audit drive

摘要

Audit appointment chiefs have launched a bid to attract more firms to the local government market from April 2023. The drive comes amid concerns about quality and doubts over firms' willingness to continue to audit local authorities. Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) wants to contract up to 10 firms for the next five-year round - up from the six that signed up last time. A market engagement process consultation has been sent to all eight firms registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), which is responsible for the licensing, registering and monitoring of auditors that wish to carry out audits of local public bodies, as well as five firms that are currently unregistered. For the current appointing period, only firms accredited by the ICAEW could apply but this time auditors only need to have started the process. PSAA is also understood to be open to looking at joint working between accredited and non-accredited firms.