The FRC indicates that “the Big Four audit practices must act swiftly to reverse the decline in this year's audit inspection results if they are to achieve the targets for audit quality set by the Financial Reporting Council". It highlights that 73% (81% in 2016/17) of FTSE 350 audits reviewed in 2017/18 were categorised as requiring “no more than limited improvements”.  The FRC has set a target that “at least 90% of FTSE 350 audits reviewed should require no more than limited improvements by 2018/19”.

The reports set out the principal findings arising from the audit quality inspection work carried out by the FRC’s Audit Quality Review (AQR) team for 2017/18. 

The reports focus on the key findings from the reviews, why such findings are important and actions the individual firms are taking to address them in order to safeguard and enhance audit quality.  Key findings address both the FRC’s inspection of individual audits and also each firm’s policies and procedures to support and promote audit quality. 

The reports also identify some examples of good practice which contributed to audit quality at each firm. 

The press release and links to individual reports are available on the FRC website.