Latest Public Inspections Report Shows Minor Improvements in Addressing the Rapid Changes and Complexity in the Environment

The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors’ (IRBA) 2023 Public Inspections Report on Audit Quality (PIR) provides insights into the themes, and outcomes that were the focal point for the inspections conducted during the 2023 financial year.

The report provides observations from the outcomes of the Inspections Committee’s deliberations on the inspections performed, as well as observations on the state of audit quality in the country.

The firm leadership responsibilities and the inspections approach to the new suite of Quality Management standards, in particular, are discussed.
The outcomes of firm-level inspections revealed positive trends, indicating a commitment to improving audit quality and producing high quality audits. Some concerns remained in areas such as engagement performance, which indicates that quality systems of firms may not be operating effectively on a consistent basis.

Positive trends were also observed at engagement-level, but the ‘significant improvement required’ outcome remained concerningly high. Most deficiencies are recurring themes, and the PIR highlighted a lack of professional scepticism in areas requiring significant auditor judgment.

The PIR may be downloaded from IRBA’s website on:
https://www.irba.co.za/ebook/inspection-reports/PublicInspectionsReportonAuditQuality2023/