This report is an important opportunity for us to share key information around our audit practice and its role – the things we are proud of and the steps we are taking to ensure our A&A business is resilient and fit for the future.
We are operating in a challenging environment. Recent financial years have brought considerable uncertainty for the capital markets, the audit profession and our people. In addition, the ongoing impacts of inflation in Australia and overseas – and central bank efforts to contain this trend – have added pressure to businesses and people alike. We are also seeing continuing geopolitical challenges, regulatory responses to confront the climate challenge and, particularly in Australia, increasing media and political scrutiny on our profession.
“Auditors play a key role in contributing to the credibility of the financial statements on which they are reporting. High-quality audits support financial stability.”
- International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)
During these uncertain times, the audit profession must step up to its role in driving confidence, with a relentless focus on quality, confidentiality and integrity. Audit quality and a commitment to maintaining high ethical standards are central to sustaining trust in the audit profession. It helps us set our priorities and is key to how we define our success.
Our culture of quality and the environment we create are critical to our resilience and reputation as a business.
Our people have shown exceptional agility in responding to these ongoing challenges. We have been united by a shared ambition to protect the public interest, to support each other and to make an impact that matters in everything we do for and with our clients, each other and the communitiesin which we live and work.
Our priority is providing consistent high-quality services and this is made possible by our ongoing investment in our people, training, technology, processes and our system of quality management and embedding a culture of continuous improvement we can all be inspired by and proud of. We are also focused on embracing diversity of thinking to further strengthen the resilience of our business.
We are proud of what we have achieved over the past year but there is more that we still want to do.