ACCA Presses Audit Regulator to Drive Proportionate SME Audit Requirements
'The FRC should set out its proposed alternative arrangements and allow stakeholders to provide their feedback once it has developed firm proposals.' ACCA's response was informed by a roundtable with members and the FRC where auditors and users of audited accounts were able to express their views and discuss the challenges of SME audits.
Lloyd Powell, head of ACCA Cymru/Wales, said:
'The focus of standards should be on complexity rather than size given that an entity may be large in size but still be less complex. By focusing on complexity rather than just size, any initiatives by the FRC to address the scalability issues with the UK ISAs will be likely to help a much larger number of firms and practitioners.'
ACCA called on the FRC to take multiple actions to improve SME audits including: Ensuring stakeholders understand the purpose of SME audits in a bid to reduce the expectation gap;
Working with others, including ACCA, to communicate the benefits of SME audits;
Ensuring standards are scalable and fit for purpose
Undertaking further work to see how SMEs can be clear that the benefit of an audit outweighs its cost.
Read the ACCA submission here .
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