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OTTAWA ─ December 3, 2021 ─ Canadian Public Accountability Board and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions 

The Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB) and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) co-hosted a virtual Roundtable meeting on October 22^nd with the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) representatives. Together, they discussed ways to contribute to continued public confidence in external audit quality in Canada. This work supports a sound Canadian financial system. 

• Strong ethical behaviours and standards and compliance with such behaviours and standards by auditors are essential components of a sound Canadian financial system.
• The external audit firms in Canada would benefit from undertaking firm culture surveys to determine the impact of culture on audit quality, including professional skepticism.
• To remain vigilant in Canada to support leading  auditor independence standards. 
• To collaborate on the proposed direction of international auditing standards projects related to going concern and fraud.
• For continued work to implement a system wide proactive approach to bringing stakeholders together to identify potential emerging issues, and to act with agility on these issues.

“Financial system resilience relies on objective, accurate, and useful financial information. Canada’s external auditing firms are critical to ensuring high quality financial statements via high quality audits. We encourage their efforts to ensure their firm cultures drive high quality external audits via professional skepticism, independence, and vigilance.”

- Carol Paradine, CEO, CPAB and Peter Routledge, Superintendent, OSFI