Auditor Independence Peter Mills

Description

Canadian Companies Listed on US Exchanges	Approximately 250 companies are listed on US exchanges - auditors may also be inspected by the US PCAOB in addition to CPAB
Public Oversight of Standard Setting	Establishment of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Oversight Council (AASOC) to oversee the work of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB) and the development of Canadian auditor independence standards
Governance – Audit Committees	Regulations that auditors must be independent of companies they audit and audit committee pre-approval of any services
Independence rules	Rule 204 in the Code of Conduct of the Chartered Accountant Profession (similar rules for other accounting bodies)

Enhancing Audit Quality - Objectives

The main objectives are three-fold:

• Provide useful input to Canadian standard setters, regulators and others as they consider potential changes in Canada.
• Support the views of Canadians engaged in dialogue about various global proposals
• Set an appropriate context for further work to enhance audit quality in the future

Auditor Independence Project - Objectives

The working group was directed to respond to proposals on the appointment and rotation of auditors and the services they should be permitted to provide, including:

• Mandatory audit firm rotation
• Mandatory tendering
• Non-audit services
• Audit-only firms
• Joint audit

Auditor Independence Project - Guiding Principles

• The Working Group used a framework of guiding principles to evaluate the global proposals, including:

a) potential effect on independence