This time last year the world was a very different place. None of us had heard of coronavirus, social distancing was something you did to the annoying bloke at the pub and face masks were reserved for Halloween. For auditors it was also an anxious time as the sector awaited the publication of the Brydon Review which aimed to shake up an industry that was developing a serious image problem.

Audit quality was central to the review and that focus has proved more prescient than Sir Donald could ever have imagined as the intervening 12 months have been some of the most difficult in a generation for UK businesses.