Top six firms welcome US and UK audit co-operation
The biggest global firms issue joint statement saying co-operation between the US and UK audit regulators will benefit the profession and global markets
THE HEADS of the six biggest global firms have welcomed the co-operative agreement between US and UK audit regulators.
International chiefs of PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, BDO and Grant Thornton, have produced a joint statement in which they say the agreement between the watchdogs will aid market confidence in the auditors’ work.
Yesterday the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and Professional Oversight Board (POB) in the UK agreed that they will co-operate in regulating audit firms.
The firms’ joint statement said: “The global nature of corporate activity demands that audit regulators share information and cooperate across borders. Therefore, we are encouraged by today’s announcement of the cooperative agreement between the US PCAOB and POB in the United Kingdom.
“We are pleased it will enable audit firm inspections to move forward and hope it will be followed by similar arrangements among other regulators which we encourage and support.
“Such cooperation benefits not only the regulators and registered audit firms but also investors, whose investments today increasingly cross borders.”
The joint statement was signed by Jim Turley, chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young; Dennis Nally, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International; Timothy Flynn, chairman of KPMG International; Ed Nusbaum, CEO of Grant Thornton International; Jim Quigley, CEO, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited; and Jeremy Newman, CEO of BDO.