The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is undertaking a performance audit in relation to ASIC’s regulation of Registered Company Auditors (RCAs).

CA ANZ made a submission to the ANAO in relation to their performance audit. Overall, the feedback we received indicates ASIC staff are working hard to fulfil the mandate on the regulation of RCAs, and respondents have recognised the efforts and adjustments to ASIC’s approach in recent years, resulting in some clear improvements. There are also some common themes in feedback pointing to resourcing constraints, structural factors and some other impediments that are impacting on the effectiveness of ASIC’s ability to perform its regulatory functions in relation to RCAs. 

There are clear opportunities for improvement, and our submission sets out 16 recommendations based on the feedback received. As auditors’ and ASIC’s remits continue to evolve, including the addition of sustainability reporting and climate-related disclosures, continuous improvement is paramount.

Additionally, there are some critical limitations in the scope of ASIC’s jurisdiction in relevant legislation, notably when it comes to regulating firms of auditors as distinct from individual RCAs. While this is outside the scope of the performance audit, we summarised and provided some references in relation to CA ANZ’s views on this for context.