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A newly-formed professional organisation, the Centre for Public Interest Audit (CPIA), has announced its official incorporation as a not-for-profit company and the appointment of Baroness Margaret Ford of Cunninghame, OBE, to the role of chair.
The organisation was formed to bring together auditors from across the profession to shape best practice and inform the future of public interest entity (PIE) audits in the UK.
As a City veteran, Ford has a background of more than 25 years as a non-executive director and chair across private and publicly-listed companies, as well as government bodies and has recently acted as independent non-executive chair for the Deloitte audit governance board, as well as chair of Newriver REIT and STV Group plc.
She is currently chair of London Gatwick Airport and also sits as a crossbench peer in the UK House of Lords.
According to the CPIA, its ambition is to act as a standalone voice on behalf of all PIE auditors, providing a profession-wide perspective on current and future practice alongside clear-cut recommendations of areas for development and improvement.
The CPIA’s membership welcomes the full spectrum of UK PIE auditors, as well as the ICAEW and ICAS.
Baroness Ford said: “Audit and assurance plays a critical role in the UK’s capital markets and the importance of tackling the most challenging areas of the industry cannot be underestimated. Our ambition is to proactively identify both shortcomings and best practice in public interest entity audit to support a more robust, resilient, forward-looking profession.
“Our mission aligns with the UK government’s aim to strengthen regulatory powers and improve public entity audit quality via its upcoming Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill. The CPIA will look to be a supportive and constructive partner to the FRC as their remit transitions.”
She added: “I look forward to working closely with the CPIA’s board and members to advance its goal of driving quality and trust in the UK’s PIE audit, in turn helping to build confidence in the UK as a centre of financial excellence.”
The CPIA intends to launch the findings of its inaugural research on the current state, and future, of PIE audit later this year.
