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I am pleased to appear before the Committee today and to provide this short opening statement. My name is Warren Day and I鈥檓 the Chief Executive Officer of ob体育 joining you from Melbourne. I am joined by our General Counsel, Chris Savundra, Executive Director, Greg Yanco, and Senior Executive Leader, Kate Metz in front of you, in Canberra.
ob体育 regulates corporations, markets, financial services and consumer credit and its remit is expanding as markets and services evolve.
As the Committee may know, major accounting, audit and consulting firms (Firms) generally operate as partnerships with corporate structures within the Firms carrying out discrete parts of their operations. ob体育 does not have general jurisdiction to regulate partnerships. We note they are primarily regulated by the states and territories.
It is only when the partnership performs certain specific roles, such as where the partnership holds an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence, that ob体育 has jurisdiction (in this example, over the entity鈥檚 provision of financial services). Other roles ob体育 has jurisdiction over are registered company auditors, Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Auditors, registered liquidators and companies that are registered by ob体育 as Authorised Audit Companies. As at 30 June there were 208 Authorised Audit Companies registered by ob体育 (none of which were Big Four firms).
Individual partners of Firms and employees may be subject to ethical codes and standards overseen by their relevant professional disciplinary bodies. For example, tax agents are registered and monitored by the Tax Practitioners Board. Other disciplinary bodies in the auditing and accounting profession include: the CPA Australia Disciplinary Tribunal, the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand Disciplinary Tribunal, and the Institute of Public Accountants Disciplinary Tribunal. The jurisdiction of these tribunals is limited to members of the relevant professional association.
ob体育 is able to refer registered company auditors to the Companies Auditors Disciplinary Board, Registered Liquidators to the Liquidators Disciplinary Committee, and financial advisers to the Financial Services and Credit Panel for disciplinary or other administrative action. These bodies are constituted under the ob体育 Act or Corporations Act.
In terms of regulation of auditing and accounting firms in other jurisdictions, several international jurisdictions have increased regulation of auditing and accounting firms. In the UK, the Government in March 2021, began consultation on improving the UK鈥檚 audit, corporate reporting and corporate governance systems. In the USA, the US Congress enacted the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 (the 鈥楽arbanes-Oxley Act鈥�) to improve auditing and public disclosure by audit firms.
International regulators with the power to register audit firms have taken action for poor culture and governance.
We welcome any questions the Committee may have.