Once appointed, auditors are independent and PSAA is unable to direct their work.
The Ethical Standard issued by the FRC prohibits contingent fee arrangements. This includes any agreement made at the start of an engagement where a set amount or percentage is payable to the firm upon the occurrence of a specified event or the achievement of an outcome, or a penalty imposed for not meeting a target.
Before the introduction of backstop legislation, there was no statutory deadline for completing audits.
The establishment of the Local Audit Office (LAO) will bring local audit under the oversight of a single organisation dedicated to supporting local audit bodies. We believe this will provide a much stronger framework and will hopefully ensure more proportionate audits and enable a holistic approach to managing the local audit system.