Insights into key audit matters in Australia
Research analyses ASX listed companies’ KAMs reported in 2023
In brief
- This report covers balance dates between 31 December 2022 and 30 September 2023
- The average number of KAMs per audit report has decreased slightly compared to the previous year
- Exploration assets remained the most frequent KAM subject matter in 2023
This is the third year that Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) have examined the reporting of key audit matters (KAMs) in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, and the University of Queensland. Building on our two previous publications in 2022 and 2021 , this research examines the frequency and nature of the reporting of KAMs in Australia by ASX listed companies that issued financial statements in 2023 (balance dates between 31 December 2022 and 30 September 2023).
Overall, the average number of KAMs is 1.7 (2022: 1.8) has decreased slightly and the distribution of KAM subject matters remained largely consistent year on year. Exploration assets remained the most frequent KAM subject matter in 2023 representing 22.1% of all KAMs (2022: 19.5%).
Key findings:
- The number of KAMs per audit report varies across industry sectors. The industry with lowest number of KAMs is Metals & Mining (average = 1.5 KAMs) and the highest are Utilities and Financials (average = 2.26 and 2.16 KAMs respectively).
- The number of KAMs in an audit report in 2023 range from a low of 0 through to a maximum of 6. This is the same as 2022.
- The most frequent KAM subject matters in 2023 are broadly consistent with 2022. The most notable change is a decrease in the frequency of business combinations as a KAM subject matter from 10% (2022) to 6.1% (2023).