Audit reform delay risks public interest, warns CPIA head

The Centre for Public Interest Audit (CPIA) has described the government’s decision to not proceed with the Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill as “deeply disappointing”. 

According to the industry body’s executive director Dean Beale, the move leaves reforms intended to strengthen accountability unresolved. 

It comes as part of the government’s package to back scale-ups and reduce regulatory burdens, with Beale acknowledging in his letter to the government that audit regulation and quality have improved over the past decade. 

However, the CPIA head argued that improvement does not equate to completion. He noted that ministers are leaving issues unresolved regarding failures at major companies.

The body supports the aim to streamline corporate reporting but warned that this must not lead to a dilution of standards.

Beale suggested the focus should remain on systemically important businesses, and as a result, has called for a framework that prioritises resilience and risk while removing unnecessary information.

Data from the 2025 Audit Trust Index indicates that while trust in the sector is rising, persistent concerns remain among stakeholders.

In his letter to the government, Beale said: “The direction of travel should be clearer, more risk-focused reporting: moving away from requirements that generate little public interest benefit, and concentrating attention where it is most needed, on systemically important businesses and the protections stakeholders across the public interest rely on.

“This is an opportunity to step back and design a reporting and assurance framework that better serves today’s needs: understanding resilience and risk more holistically, shining a light on critical judgements, and stripping out noise so the issues that matter are visible.”