The Financial Stability Board (FSB) held the 2025 Roundtable on External Audit on 2-3 June in Basel. This biennial gathering aims to promote financial stability by enhancing public confidence in the quality of external audits.
The meeting was chaired by Soledad Núñez, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain. Participants comprised senior representatives from FSB member authorities; regulatory bodies; audit oversight bodies; the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR); the Committee of European Auditing Oversight Bodies (CEAOB); the standard-setting bodies for developing international standards for auditing, assurance, and ethics in the accounting profession; their oversight body, the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB); and the six largest global audit networks, as well as other key stakeholders.
This year, discussions centred on the increase in inspection findings since 2022, lessons learned from the banking turmoil in 2023, and strategies to enhance audit quality in light of those developments. Participants exchanged views on the opportunities and risks associated with new technologies, including artificial intelligence, in external audits, as well as the implications of opening audit firms’ capital to private equity investors. The discussion also covered sustainability reporting and related challenges for all assurance practitioners, and the progress achieved in developing sustainability assurance and ethics standards. Participants also discussed recent accounting developments and related audit challenges, such as the implementation of the IASB’s standard IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts, banks’ provisioning for expected credit losses, as well as new proposals for banks’ hedge accounting.
