Acra re-elected to board of global audit regulators' group

Singapore's Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) has been re-elected to the board of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) for another four-year term.

IFIAR is a global member organisation made up of independent audit regulators from 54 jurisdictions.

Formed in 2006 with 18 founding members including Acra, IFIAR's mission is to serve the public interest and enhance investor protection by improving audit quality globally.

Acra announced its re-election yesterday, and added that its assistant chief executive (Accounting Group) Kuldip Gill had also been appointed to chair IFIAR's Human Resources and Governance Committee.

The IFIAR board, established in April 2017, is responsible for developing the organisation's strategy and determining its annual operating priorities.

Acra said that as a board member, it helps to support IFIAR's objectives of promoting sustainable improvements in audit quality, building members' oversight capabilities and enhancing the collective impact of the audit regulatory community.

IFIAR seeks to promote global collaboration and the sharing of experience among the audit regulators, and also actively engages the global leadership of the six largest international networks of audit firms - known as the Global Public Policy Committee (GPPC) firms, comprising BDO, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers - on initiatives to improve audit quality globally.

Besides serving on the IFIAR board, Acra is also a member of IFIAR's Global Audit Quality Working Group, which is responsible for coordinating IFIAR's ongoing dialogue with the GPPC firms to promote continuous improvement in audit quality, and of its Technology Task Force, which seeks to explore the audit quality impact of technology audit tools used widely around the world by the GPPC firms.

Acra's active participation in IFIAR enables Singapore to provide its insights and raise awareness of audit quality concerns in the South-east Asia region, according to its press statement.

THE BUSINESS TIMES