The oversight of the audit profession

This paper provides an overview of the current regulatory frameworks for financial reporting
and auditing in the UK, US and Germany. During the last years these frameworks were
noticeably changed. These changes arose especially from political interest in accounting
regulation following the Enron collapse. The main change in the US was the introduction of
the Sarbanes-Oxley Act containing strict regulations for auditors, including their
responsibilities and services. It also contains a list of prohibited audit activities, the so-called
“non-audit” services. The main feature of the Act was the creation of an oversight board to
regulate and control auditors of public companies. Thus the “Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board” was established. The PCAOB is a private-sector non-profit overseer,
supervised by the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) which regulates basically
anything related to the securities market.
Following the collapse of Enron and the turbulence in the UK markets that followed, a review
of financial regulation in the UK was ordered, covering for example auditor independence,
corporate governance, financial reporting and auditing standards and accountability of audit
firms. In order to restore credibility in UK accounting the Financial Reporting Council (FRC),
an independent private sector body funded by the accountancy profession, was set up. The
FRC has several subsidiary bodies, including the Professional Oversight Board (POB)
providing independent oversight of the regulation of the auditing profession.
The German Auditor Oversight Commission (AOC) was established according to the Auditor
Oversight Law. It is in charge of the public oversight of all activities of the German Chamber
of Public Accountants (WPK) with respect to statutory auditors. The Commission has the
ultimate responsibility in the areas of licensing, registration, disciplinary investigations and
quality assurance, all with respect to members of WPK entitled to provide statutory audit
services (WPK, n.d.).
It is argued that these new regulations impose another layer of bureaucracy with significant
costs for very little apparent gain. But ethical issues surrounding the public’s perception of
auditor performance need to be addressed, not just for the sake of the profession, but for the
efficiency and effectiveness of capital markets in general (Malthus and Scoble, 2005).