AOB issues survey results

ISLAMABAD: A survey by the Audit Oversight Board (AOB) on Thursday said chief financial officers of public interest companies believed that the staff of the audit firms conducting audit were the most important factor for the quality of external audits.

Nearly 80 percent of the responding CFOs said the extended auditor’s report, especially the introduction of key audit matters, has made the audit report more useful for stakeholders. “Around 65 percent saw the role of IT as substantially growing in the next five years in the preparation of financial statements and their audit,” the survey showed.

Seventy eight percent CFOs noted that the accounting standards had become highly complex, but added that their departments were adequately staffed to prepare high-quality financial statements. AOB conducted the online survey of 100 CFOs from across different sectors in January and February this year. Most of these CFOs hold professional accounting qualifications such as CA, ACCA, ICMA, or ICAEW. The companies they work for included some of the largest listed companies in the country.