All practitioners involved in audit work should be familiar with their professional body’s standard monitoring regime. In a changing market, the continued increase in audit thresholds will result in a decrease in the number of firms carrying out audit work but it remains to be seen whether regulatory bodies respond by increasing the frequency of their monitoring visits for small and medium-sized firms involved in audit work. It may even be the case that such firms find themselves under increased scrutiny in the coming years.

An unsatisfactory outcome from a monitoring visit can have serious implications for the audit certification. While most monitoring visits are ultimately advisory in nature, in the most serious of cases a regulatory body may take the view that it is necessary for action to be taken against a firm’s audit certification. If this is the case, you may be referred to a hearing to determine whether you remain fit to hold certification and to decide what action, if any, needs to be taken.