Audit Quality Control

Quality, integrity and independence: our minimum standards for transnational audits

As a global audit network, Russell Bedford International is totally committed to quality, integrity and independence.

Following several years of dedicated effort and significant financial investment, we have successfully developed and implemented a globally-coordinated system for monitoring the audit quality control standards of our member firms.

We have policies and procedures, backed by rules and bye-laws, that require member firms conducting transnational audits to:

• maintain appropriate quality control standards in accordance with International Standards on Quality Control, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), in addition to relevant national quality control standards;
• participate in the network’s audit quality control review programme;
• have policies and methodologies for the conduct of audits that are based, to the extent practicable, on International Standards on Auditing; and
• have policies and methodologies in place that, as a minimum, conform to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants and national codes of ethics.

In accordance with the IFAC Code of Ethics, member firms are required to use their best endeavours to ensure that they are independent of the financial statement audit clients of other members. The network maintains a register of transnational audit clients in order to facilitate the independence checking process.

In January 2008, having confirmed the successful implementation of the network’s globally-coordinated quality control system, Russell Bedford International was named among the first 17 full members of the IFAC Forum of Firms.

The Forum is an association of international audit networks, and its goal is to promote consistent and high quality standards of financial reporting and auditing practices worldwide.

As a full member of the Forum, Russell Bedford International is entitled to indicate Forum membership on its letterhead and promotional materials. In addition, selected member firms of Russell Bedford International - mainly those that conduct transnational audits - have been granted approval to indicate that they are members of Russell Bedford International and that their network is a member of the Forum. To achieve such approval, firms are required to comply with the network’s policies and procedures on audit quality control and independence, including the requirement to participate in the network’s audit quality control review programme.

Approved transnational audit firms (as at June 2012) are designated in the Locations section of this website by the following symbol:

Further firms will gain approved status in 2012/13, upon completion of the current year’s quality control review process.