The Centre for Public Interest Audit (CPIA) is a policy and research institute formed to improve audit quality across the profession.
Our vision
We believe that increasing trust in UK audit and assurance is key to building confidence in Britain’s capital markets. Driving change requires collective commitment, a willingness to ask the difficult questions and an evidence-based approach to advancing best practice. Our strength is the combination of our collective expertise to challenge the status quo; we are action-oriented, forward-looking and provide objective perspectives on audit quality to drive real change.
We aspire to be the clear driving force behind a resilient and valued audit profession, which demonstrates integrity, transparency and accountability
at its core.
A trusted audit and assurance profession benefits all society: whether through enabling competition and choice by supporting newer PIE auditor entrants to the market, creating innovation through data-led research or by representing PIE audit in a unified voice for the first time. The CPIA will help to build trust in auditing, and confidence in UK plc as a result.
How will we achieve this
Providing evidence-based thought leadership on profession-wide issues
Promoting audit quality, knowledge and education
Supporting best practice in auditing public interest entities (PIEs)
Our focus
We advocate for meaningful reform and recognise the importance of reform in improving audit quality across the profession. Therefore we welcome the announcement in the King’s Speech that a Draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill will be laid before Parliament in 2025. As a primarily policy and research institute we will provide an expert voice to the Bills’ passage, and beyond, which ensures it supports high quality audit.
Ahead of our launch conference in March 2025, our focus will be engaging with priority stakeholders, including investors, audit chairs, and regulators. Our goal will be to identify areas of shared concern and to advocate for proportionate measures.
Our work in 2025
Our work will be based around three pillars which are critical to supporting meaningful audit reform.
Future focused audit profession
Audit can not be static. As market risks, business models and information needs change, the audit profession must be forward looking and adapt so that it provides confidence where it is needed most.
Quality and transparency remain core fundamentals of the profession – both now and in the future
Public interest and proportionality
Governance, audit and regulation do not have to be a burden. A risk focused approach should ensure that the right balance is struck between protecting stakeholders while supporting the attractiveness of the UK capital market. We must ensure that the audit market itself is resilient and provides consistently high quality audit and assurance to all stakeholders
Corporate and audit failure
Responsibility and accountability for strong corporate governance and reporting must be balanced between directors and auditors, and sufficiently transparent to be understood by all stakeholders. There is a need to better understand corporate health, including company culture, business model risks, and strength of controls on a timely basis, so that users of corporate information can make informed decisions
2024 Audit Trust Index
We will publish the Audit Trust Index annually to measure and track perceptions of audit trust and identify emerging trends and challenges facing the profession. The insights gathered will guide our strategic decisions, shape our work plan, and reinforce our commitment to enhancing audit quality and public trust in the UK audit landscape.
A demand for change
In 2018 there was a paradigm shift in the perception of the health of the UK’s corporate reporting regime and its oversight. The collapse of Carillion – a Public Interest Entity (PIE) employing thousands of people working on major infrastructure projects – took place amid a number of high-profile corporate failures, which thrust audit practices into the limelight.
Critical questions were raised about how profound structural issues within these companies went unnoticed. The media, politicians and public questioned whether the auditing profession, as part of the corporate governance and oversight structure safeguarding financial stakeholders, had become too passive, conflicted, or complacent in its role.
The debate around audit’s role, and its responsibility has led to further conversations on the forces driving compliance and good governance practices. It revealed a clear need for change – a shift toward ensuring accountability and transparency, which are the cornerstones of a fair and functioning audit profession.
Timeline
| November 2016 | The government published a Green Paper concerning corporate governance reform |
| July 2018 | The FRC published a revised UK Corporate Governance Code |
| December 2018 | An independent review of the FRC was launched, led by Sir John Kingman, recommending a new regulator called the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA) |
| February 2019 | The CMA carried out a market study into the statutory audit market |
| April 2019 | An independent review by Sir Donald Brydon, into the Quality and Effectiveness of audit, was published |
| July 2020 | The FRC published a paper outlining their principles for operational separation of audit practices |
| March 2021 | The Government published the white paper Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance |
| January 2024 | The FRC published further revisions to the Corporate Governance Code (Revised) |
| June 2024 | CPIA established |
| July 2024 | Audit reform bill included in King’s speech |
| Spring 2025 | Draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill scheduled to be laid before Parliament |
