By Tony Cates, UK Head of Audit at KPMG
Much of the hoped-for debate around the future of corporate reporting is not about what is disclosed but about how it is disclosed and by whom. Indeed, you can’t expect good corporate reporting if the process is faulty. In other words, good governance is a prerequisite of good disclosure. We would argue that the process needs to change because the demands made upon preparers and auditors are changing.

By John Griffith-Jones, UK Chairman of KPMG LLP

When the European Union launched its plans to reform the audit market across 27 countries, the proposals referenced the word ‘quality’ no less than 113 times. Robust audits were held to be the key to re-establishing trust and market confidence following the 2008 financial crisis.

By Oliver Tant, UK Head of Audit

I was interested to hear last week that the team behind New Scientist have launched a journal, Arc, focussing on what science and science-fiction can tell us about the future.  The editor of the first edition, Simon Ings, wrote in his blog: “We wanted to get past sterile ‘visions’ and dream up futures that evoke textures and flavours and passions.”  At a time when the professional services industry, in particular the auditing profession, is contemplating an uncertain future, I share Simon Ing’s desire to stimulate an appetising discussion on what lies ahead.  Here are some of the issues I’m aiming to look at in more depth in future blog posts:

By Oliver Tant, UK Head of Audit

One of the most contentious audit reform proposals described in the European Commission press release ‘Restoring confidence in financial statements: the European Commission aims at a higher quality, dynamic and open audit market’ is that “large audit firms will be obliged to separate audit activities from non-audit activities in order to avoid all risks of conflict of interest.”

By Oliver Tant, UK Head of Audit
I was delighted to hear that, having been shortlisted for the fourth time, Julian Barnes has been awarded the Man Booker Prize for The Sense of an Ending.  It was described on the shortlist as “A truly wonderful novel that will have the reader immersed in the story from the very first page.” I don’t get a lot of time to read for pleasure, though I do spend an awful lot of time reading – it’s unavoidable, because listed companies’ annual reports get longer every year.

By John Griffith-Jones, UK Chairman
From my perspective, there are two things that are dominating my days. On the one hand there is the continuing unsettled state of the Eurozone and the financial markets; on the other, the proposals around the future of our profession.

By Oliver Tant, UK Head of Audit
The last couple of days’ news has led me to reflect on the difference between unethical behaviour and perceptions of unethical behaviour – an issue that continues to rear its head for both politicians and bankers.  I wonder if we auditors, too, should be doing some soul-searching and, if we did, what we’d find.