Our Regulatory Reporting 

Explore CPAB’s regulatory reporting and how it supports audit committees, plus find answers to common questions.

Where you can find more information on CPAB’s regulatory assessments and reporting 

1. Which firms does CPAB inspect and how often? How does CPAB select audit areas to inspect?

Refer to risk-based approach and file inspections section of this webpage for more information.

2. How does CPAB conduct an inspection?

Refer to file Inspections section of this webpage for more information.

3. What happens if CPAB inspectors believe there is an audit deficiency?

Refer to significant inspection findings section of this webpage for more information.

4. How does CPAB inspect audit firm quality controls?

Refer to system of quality management assessments section of this webpage for more information.

5. What information do audit committees get about CPAB inspections?

Refer to CPAB Protocol section of this webpage for more information.

6. What happens if audit firms don’t implement CPAB’s recommendations?

Refer to enforcement process section of this webpage and inspection reporting section of this webpage for more information.

7. When will inspection reports be published and where can I find inspection reports for audit firms inspected by CPAB?

CPAB will begin publishing individual audit firm inspection reports for 2025 inspections in Q1 2026. Public inspection reports will be published as they are completed.

Inspection reports will be available on CPAB’s website. Check back later for links to where these reports can be found. 

8. Why can’t I find an inspection report for a specific audit firm?

There are a few reasons a public inspection report may not be available. 

  1. CPAB will begin publishing reports for audit firms inspected starting with the results of our 2025 inspections that began after CPAB’s rule changes came into effect on March 24, 2025. If a firm has not been inspected since then, a report will not be available. 
  2. In some cases, where CPAB cannot ensure the confidentiality of reporting issuer information, a report will not be published for that audit firm. 
  3. CPAB has not performed or completed an inspection of that audit firm in the given year.

9. Where can I find out which audit firms are under enforcement?

Information on audit firms that currently have significant enforcement actions in place can be found here.

10. What enforcement related information will CPAB publish about an audit firm on its website?

CPAB publishes significant enforcement actions that emanate from inspection results. Significant enforcement actions include:

  1. Restrictions imposed on a participating audit firm (including the termination of an audit engagement);
  2. Prohibition of a participating audit firm from assigning one or more designate professionals to audits of financial statements of reporting issuers;
  3. Sanctions imposed for breaching an existing requirement, restriction, or sanction; or
  4. Termination of a participating audit firm.

Where enforcement actions are imposed as a consequence of serious misconduct uncovered during an investigation, these matters are published regardless of the type of enforcement actions imposed. 

CPAB will not publish cases where the publication of a firm’s name indirectly identifies a reporting issuer (for example, where a firm has only one reporting issuer audit engagement).

11. Are CPAB’s disclosures consistent across Canada?

Yes, CPAB’s new disclosures will be applied consistently across Canada.

What CPAB’s public audit firm inspection reports look like 

Each of CPAB’s public audit firm inspection reports will follow a standard format and contain comparable information in each report. The reports are intended to provide factual information on the results of CPAB’s inspection of an individual audit firm without identifying any specific reporting issuer information. 

Read below for more information on the different sections of the public audit firm inspection reports:

Note: Sections are listed in the order in which they appear in the public report. An example inspection report can be found here.  

  • Overview: Summary of CPAB’s mandate and audit quality assessment program as well as a description of what a significant finding is. 
  • About Firm X: Information about the audit firm’s reporting issuer population that is within CPAB’s scope and how often the audit firm is inspected by CPAB.
  • Inspection Findings: Firm X: Table showing number of files inspected and number of files with significant findings for the two most recent years the firm was inspected. (Note: For the first year of inspection reporting only one year of information will be provided based on timing of when the rules came into effect).
  • Audit areas inspected: Table showing audit areas reviewed by CPAB for this specific audit firm and inspection results in those areas for the two most recent years the audit firm was inspected. (Note: For the first year of inspection reporting only one year of information will be provided based on timing of when the rules came into effect).
  • Appendix: Explanatory information covering how CPAB chooses files and audit areas to review, how to interpret inspection results, how audit firms respond to CPAB findings and information related to how CPAB assesses an audit firm’s system of quality management. 
  • Firm response: The audit firm’s response to a draft of the report, excluding any portion granted confidential treatment.

Supporting audit committees in their audit oversight 

Information available to audit committees 

Audit committees can access a number of CPAB publications to assist with their oversight of audit quality:

  1. Significant inspection findings: If CPAB inspects a reporting issuer's audit file that year, through the CPAB Protocol, the audit firm must provide that reporting issuer's audit committee with significant findings, if any, specific to a reporting issuer's audit file inspection as reported by CPAB per CPAB’s Engagement Findings Report (EFR).
  2. CPAB’s annual regulatory oversight report: Through the CPAB Protocol audit firms are also required to provide audit committees of all their reporting issuers with CPAB’s annual regulatory oversight report. Copies of CPAB’s interim and annual reports can also be found in our Resource Centre.
  3. Public inspection reports: Audit committees will also be able to access an audit firm’s individual public inspection report. The first inspection reports are expected to be published in the first quarter of 2026.

To get up to date information on CPAB’s latest news, including CPAB’s annual report and individual audit firm inspection reports, subscribe here.

Discussing the results of CPAB’s regulatory assessments

Audit Committee discussions

Each of the publications listed above provide insight into CPAB’s regulatory assessments, allowing audit committees to better understand inspection results at specific audit firms as well as audit quality trends and emerging issues.

CPAB encourages audit committees to discuss all three publications with your auditor. Potential questions to ask are provided below.  

Questions related to inspection findings
  1. CPAB’s most recent annual report identified 11 key themes that were consistently identified in inspection findings (refer to page 10 of the report), how has the audit team and firm assessed their efforts in these areas and what changes will be made moving forward?
  2. What does the audit team/firm plan to do differently in the future in response to the significant findings identified by CPAB? What did the firm’s root cause analysis identify?
  3. What specific actions are being taken in response to the inspection findings? What is the timeline for implementing these changes?
  4. How do the inspection findings relate to the topics that the auditor disclosed as a key audit matter? If they are different topics, should those topics have been identified as key audit matters? 
  5. Did any of the inspection findings highlight any weaknesses in the company’s system of internal controls? If so, what were they?
General questions
  1. What challenging, subjective or complex auditor judgement did the auditor apply during the audit? 
  2. Beyond what auditors are required to communicate to the audit committee, are there any aspects of the company’s internal control over financial reporting that management could enhance or strengthen?
  3. Are there areas of the audit where additional discussion or support from the audit committee or management might be beneficial?
  4. What emerging issues or trends are audit teams monitoring and preparing for?
  5. How does the audit firm ensure audits are appropriately staffed and managed?

Discussions with CPAB

CPAB meets with audit committees and audit committee chairs to discuss CPAB’s inspection process and results as well as emerging audit quality trends. There are two types of meetings generally held: 

  1. CPAB, together with the respective audit firm, will meet with the audit committee chair and/or audit committee of reporting issuers to discuss current and emerging trends and recent inspection results.  
  2. CPAB regularly meets with audit committee chairs / corporate directors to discuss current and emerging trends as well as other information relevant to CPAB’s activities, though not specific reporting issuer inspection findings (note that these meetings may also include the audit partner and/or financial management from the reporting issuer).

If you are interested in meeting with CPAB, please contact stakeholderengagement@cpab-ccrc.ca.