The Audit Reform Lab

We are the Audit Reform Lab, a collective of academics located within @CraficU at the University of Sheffield. We put audit failure under the microscope, offering recommendations to reform the audit sector & tackle the UK’s urgent accountability problems. auditreformlab.group.shef.ac.uk

'Why the principle of capital maintenance and the definition of distributable profits matter' - new note OUT NOW! auditreformlab.group.shef.ac.uk/principle-of-c…

Westminster Business Forum are holding a conference called Next steps for audit and corporate governance in the UK! Join on the 11th of December to be a part of this conversation with speakers including @UniofOxford @AuditReformLab @biztradegovuk More: westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/conference/Cor…

Big thanks to Lord @premnsikka for tabling such an important debate. The government’s upcoming Draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill needs to be ambitious and comprehensive to properly address the UK's audit crisis.

On Monday, the House of Lords held a debate on UK audit failure. Fantastic to see Audit Reform Lab research mentioned - particularly our 'Reward for Failure' report, which finds that auditors failed to raise the alarm in 3 out of 4 large corporate collapses in the UK, 2010-22.

Our research on 'reward for failure' in the audit industry was cited a few times in yesterday's House of Lords discussion, led by @premnsikka . You can view the whole session here: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/cc…

The King's Speech yesterday put the case for audit reform front and centre. Here's a quick news story from the @theipaper quoting our director @AdamLeaver1 on why its so important inews.co.uk/news/business/…

Another excellent editorial in the @FT on the need for more sceptical auditors, which draws on our 'Reward For Failure' report finding that 3 in 4 companies that go bust do so without receiving a going concern warning. ft.com/content/0519dc…

More on the uselessness of the “Big Four” accounting and consultancy firms. Audit firms failed to raise the alarm before three-quarters of big UK corporate collapses since 2010, according to @AuditReformLab research. @Simon_Foy ft.com/content/14a63c…

The UK government set out plans to introduce a new audit regulator, but then kicked the can on audit reform down the road, wasting huge amounts of parliamentary and civil service time. Read our recommendations for reform here: auditreformlab.group.shef.ac.uk/reward-for-fai…

The UK’s ineffective regulatory, oversight and sanctions system, and the limited liability for audit partners (under the Limited Liability Partnership business structure used by Big Four firms) provides little disincentive for this model to change.

Out today, and covered by @Simon_Foy in the @FT : 'Reward for failure: The paradox of audit partners’ record payouts amidst poor audit quality' ft.com/content/14a63c…