In a first survey of its kind on enhancing audit quality, members of audit committees of public interest companies ranked sector expertise, auditor's capacity in terms of staff and branch offices, and past experience with an audit firm as the three most important factors in the appointment of auditors. This survey was conducted online by the Audit Oversight Board (AOB) during May and June this year. It was sent to 85 audit committee members of public interest companies and the response rate was 35 per cent. The average experience of respondents as audit committee member was a little over seven years.
Regarding the extended audit report especially the introduction of Key Audit Matters, 87 percent respondents said that it has made audit report more useful for stakeholders. A little over 70 percent of the respondents selected that majority of audit committee members should be financially literate for financial services companies whereas 57 percent selected the same for non-financial services companies.
Answering the question if the provision of non-audit services by an audit firm adversely affects the audit quality, 63 per cent respondents said it does while 37 per cent said that it does not. AOB is the independent regulator established by the parliament in 2016 in line with international practices. Its purpose is to oversee audit quality of public interest companies, which include listed companies and non-listed public sector companies.-PR