Companies Act 2014 section 1644

Quality assurance review deemed to include individual auditors in certain cases

Section 1644 deals with how a quality assurance review of a statutory audit firm can also serve as a review of the individual auditors within that firm who carry out sustainability reporting assurance work.

• A quality assurance review carried out on a statutory audit firm can cover all individual statutory auditors performing sustainability reporting assurance on behalf of that firm.
• This deemed coverage only applies where the firm operates a common quality assurance policy.
• Each statutory auditor carrying out sustainability reporting assurance must be required to comply with that common policy.
• The provision avoids the need for separate individual quality assurance reviews of each auditor where a firm-level review has already taken place under appropriate conditions.