The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) recently announced a sweeping crackdown on ethics and internal controls across the audit sector, as reported by the Accounting Times.
"We are using a range of internal and public data sources to identify potential non-compliance with independence and conflicts of interest obligations," Kate O'Rourke, one of ASIC's Commissioners, wrote in a letter to all registered auditors in Australia. “We intend to engage with auditors at scale, using our compulsory information-gathering powers under the Corporations Act to inquire into the potential issues identified through our data analysis.”
The engagement comes in the wake of "recent events that have undermined public confidence" in the audit sector, ASIC said. The regulator encouraged auditors to self-report violations before they are discovered by ASIC, noting that voluntary disclosure would be a factor when determining disciplinary action.
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