Listening is key to addressing any challenge and is at the heart of a new discussion paper on the future of the audit profession in New Zealand. 

Two years in the making, What we heard: A New Zealand conversation about securing trust in audit, is the result of a series of roundtable discussions led by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Featuring audit firms, shareholders, company directors, management, internal auditors, regulators, standard setters, and policy makers, What we heard, digs into the challenges and opportunities facing the audit profession.  

As readers will find, building and maintain trust is a recurring theme, particularly in the face of evolving audit roles, regulation and workforce retention challenges.  The need to establish and maintain trust in an everchanging world requires a serious discussion about the future of the profession, and there is no silver bullet solution. 

The need to establish and maintain trust in an everchanging world requires a serious discussion about the future of the profession, and there is no silver bullet solution.

While the conversations that occurred at these roundtables were considerate of what is happening around the globe in audit, they were firmly centred on New Zealand and its own unique challenges. It was recognised that remedies that have been applied elsewhere may not work here. 

The discussions also provided an opportunity for the country to get ahead of the external catalysts seen elsewhere in the world, such as corporate collapses and scandals, the parliamentary inquiry in Australia, and the various inquiries that happened in the United Kingdom. 

Those at the roundtables emphasised a need for accountability across the whole corporate reporting supply chain and highlighted three key themes: the preservation of confidence, the mitigation of risk in an increasingly complex business environment, and the continued focus on audit quality.  

This paper is not the end, but rather should be seen as a starting point for these conversations to continue about the future of audit in New Zealand.  

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