The report examines the relationship between the securities regulators, the auditors, and their oversight system. The report generally reflects the auditor oversight structure in the EU/EEA member states as of 1 October 2005, with two exceptions. In the Netherlands, on 1 October 2006, the Dutch securities regulator took over the oversight of auditors and increased its powers in this area. Also, in Italy, in December 2005, a new law was passed that strengthened the powers of CONSOB (Italian securities regulator) in respect of auditor oversight. The report notes that "with the enactment of the 8th Directive on Statutory Audit which will be implemented in member states by mid-2008, each member state has to establish an auditor oversight body. Some member states are still in the process of establishing these auditor oversight bodies, so the situation as set out in this report is likely to change over the next two years."

Click for Full Report (PDF 117k).