In the context of the continued push to improve audit quality in the UK, in July 2021 the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) issued the UK versions of a suite of new quality management standards for audit and assurance work, including:

• ISQM (UK) 1 Quality management for firms that perform audits or reviews of financial statements, or other assurance or related services engagements (July 2021);
• ISQM (UK) 2 Engagement quality reviews (July 2021); and
• ISA (UK) 220 (Revised July 2021) Quality Management for an Audit of Financial Statements (July 2021).

The standards are effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2022. In the case of ISQM (UK) 1 this requires systems of quality management to be designed and implemented by 15 December 2022 with the evaluation of that system of quality management performed within one year of that date. Early adoption of all the standards is strongly encouraged.