Compliance with auditor independence rules does not rest solely with the auditor.
The SEC has emphasized that the client’s management, their
Audit Committee or Those Charged with Governance and the
engagement team all share equal responsibility for
maintaining and complying with auditor independence rules.
Clearly, we are most effective when we work Together with our client to
maintain independence.
Communicating shared responsibility,
ensuring clients understand their role is essential to success.
We encourage you to use the Audit Committee communication templates,
specifically the slide on “Shared responsibilities: Independence”
to reinforce this important message.
These optional, but highly encouraged, templates are available for
use in Audit Committee planning meetings for your PCAOB audit engagements.
There are also templates for AICPA audit engagement teams to use.