We thank Mr Chiang for his feedback and interest in the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra)'s effort to promote audit quality in Singapore.

Acra's objective in making public the overall results of the Practice Monitoring Programme (PMP) review is to bring to the attention of the public accounting profession the areas of improvement to help raise the quality of audit in Singapore.

Mr Chiang asked for the specific number of 'deficient' auditors from the Big Four firms identified thus far in the PMP. The focus of the PMP public report is to raise general awareness and help improve the overall audit quality of the profession. This is the reason for the presentation of the review results in the public report at the overall profession level.

We would like to assure Mr Chiang that while certain areas of improvement were identified from the reviews of the public accountants in the Big Four, no systemic weaknesses were found in the general audit quality of the Big Four firms. Acra will continue to monitor the audit quality and progress of improvements at the firms through subsequent PMP reviews.

With regard to Mr Chiang's query as to whether the PMP reviews adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, we would like to clarify that the reviews are appropriately scaled to take into account the size, complexity and public-interest impact of the audit engagements of the public accountants being reviewed. The PMP also places specific focus on public accountants and accounting entities that audit public-interest entities. Audits of public-interest entities are typically performed by public accountants in the bigger accounting firms and such audits undergo more extensive PMP reviews.

As the regulator of public accountants and businesses in Singapore, Acra's regulatory objective is to develop in Singapore the most trusted and enabling environment for businesses and investments.

Acra will continue to engage and work with the profession and the wider business and public stakeholder groups in our regulatory work to achieve this objective.

Sharon Ng Kuan Li (Ms)
Head, Corporate Communications
Corporate Communications Division
Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority