SUMMATIVE ASSIGNMENT CASE STUDY
The accounting professional bodies and the accounting firms acknowledge that public trust in business, especially big business, has been adversely affected by the series of scandals including the financial crisis, the horsemeat scandal, the phone hacking scandal, the scandals of LIBOR manipulation, and the mis-selling of PPI, and car emissions scandals. In response to these issues public scrutiny has turned onto the corporate world. The accountancy professional bodies (ICAEW, ACCA, ICAS and CIMA) and the Big 4 (PWC, KPMG, Deloitte, EY) have all responded by engaging in significant projects examining the role of audit in rebuilding public trust in the probity and sustainability of business. An example of the type of projects is given below. Audit Futures is an ICAEW Audit and Assurance Faculty Initiative, established in partnership with the Finance Innovation Lab which aims to inspire collaborative innovation and constructive dialogue about the role of audit and the accountancy profession in 21st century society.
AUDIT FUTURES - What we believe In
Audit is a service designed to provide form and structure to trust-building in business and society. It is an exemplary social dialogue and co-creative activity that combines inquiry, integrity and professional commitment to serve the interests of the public.
Serving Society
Audit, as a service, was designed to build trustworthy relationships between investors and companies. Accountancy can be a supporting and enabling framework to solve social challenges and the profession should reach out to wider stakeholder groups to understand and match their needs and wants.
Fostering Trust
Trust in business and institutions is at its lowest ebb and the wealth and prosperity of modern societies need trust for building new relationships and social (AMA! The profession] should determine its own fate, take responsibility for fostering public trust in business and embark on a new journey towards a more successful, fairer and trust-rich society.
Required:
You are required to prepare a professional report on behalf of the ICAEW Audit Futures programme which could be issued as part of their thought leadership programme to stimulate debate within the profession. This report will explore how audit has failed to safeguard public interest, contributing to the breakdown of trust in business, and critique examples of professional and/or regulatory responses to rectify this.
The report will:
1. Introduce the issue and justify the aspect of it that you have chosen to explore
2. Discuss key aspects of theory which you use to explore the specific aspects of the issue.
3. Analyse the responses of appropriate accounting actors to these specific aspects of the issue.
4. Assess the effectiveness of the current professional/regulatory response to the specific challenges to public interest and trust.
Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar