Thematic Inspections

Introduced in 2013, thematic reviews supplement our annual programme of reviews of individual audit firms.

In a thematic review we look at firms’ policies and procedures in respect of a specific area or aspect of the audit or firm-wide procedures to make comparisons between firms with a view to identifying both good practice and areas of common weakness.

The reviews are deliberately narrow in scope, and are chosen to focus on an aspect of audit or firm-wide procedures in greater depth than is generally possible in our review of audits.

May 2020

AQR Thematic Review -  Use of Audit Quality Indicators - Early warning systems need to be enhanced to drive improvements in audit quality (PDF) 

March 2020

AQR Thematic Review - The use of Technology in the audit of financial statements (PDF)

September 2019

AQR Thematic Review - Transparency Reporting (PDF)

December 2018

Audit Quality Thematic Review: Other Information in the Annual Report (PDF)

May 2018

Audit Culture Thematic Review (PDF)

December 2017

Materiality (PDF)

March 2017

Firms' audit quality control procedures and other audit quality initiatives​ (PDF)

January 2017

The Use of Data Analytics in the Audit of Financial Statements​ (PDF)

September 2016

Root Cause Analysis (PDF)

February 2016

Engagement Quality Control Reviews (PDF)

January 2016

Firms' audit quality monitoring  (PDF)

December 2014

The audit of loan loss provisions and related IT controls in banks and building societies (PDF)

January 2014

Fraud Risks and Laws and Regulations (PDF)

December 2013

Materiality (PDF)