UK and Zimbabwe audit regulators sign mutual recognition agreement to further support audit quality
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Published: 10 November 2026
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and Zimbabwe’s Public Accountants and Auditors Board (PAAB) have today signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Reciprocal Arrangements (MOURA) which will support audit quality in both countries.
Richard Moriarty, FRC Chief Executive, and Donald Mangenje, Secretary PAAB, signed the agreement earlier today at a ceremony hosted by Lord Leong CBE, Minister for Small Business and Enterprise at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
The agreement provides a route for auditors who have obtained the relevant professional qualifications as a statutory auditor in either the UK or Zimbabwe to more easily apply for recognition of their qualification and audit rights in the other nation.
The FRC has assessed the qualifications and requirements that Registered Public Auditors undertake in Zimbabwe as equivalent to UK Statutory Auditor requirements, including the use of an independent expert to review our assessment.
The Professional and Business Services Sector, which includes the accountancy and audit profession, has been recognised as one of the eight high-growth sectors in the Modern Industrial Strategy which have the potential to drive long-term investment and economic growth.
This MOURA will support the ability of UK audit firms to export audit services and to improve the quality of their audits by being able to better attract skilled, experienced, senior level auditors who have qualified in Zimbabwe.
The FRC has already signed MOURAs with Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland and is continuing to explore other arrangements subject to rigorous qualification standards being met.
Richard Moriarty, FRC CEO“Today’s agreement signed between the UK and Zimbabwe further expands the opportunities for UK’s world-leading audit firms to export their services globally.
This agreement maintains the high standards which investors and audit committees expect while expanding the pool of talent which UK firms are able to access and improve the quality of their audits.”
Lord Leong CBE, Minister for Small Business and Enterprise“I am delighted to support the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Reciprocal Arrangements on Audit qualifications between the UK’s Financial Reporting Council and Zimbabwe’s Public Accountants and Auditors Board.
The agreement delivers on this government’s commitments to grow our world-leading professional business services. It marks an important step in strengthening services trade between the UK and Zimbabwe, reflecting our shared dedication to strong professional audit standards.”
Donald Mangenje, Public Accountants and Auditors Board Secretary“This arrangement is the result of a detailed assessment by both regulators, and it confirms where Zimbabwe's audit qualification, and the way we regulate auditors, stand in comparison with one of the most established audit regimes in the world. That is a strong endorsement of the profession in Zimbabwe and of the institutions that train and regulate it.
For Zimbabwean auditors it opens a route to practise in the United Kingdom without requalifying, and for those in the diaspora it keeps the door open to come home. For the country, it shows that credible financial reporting and sound regulation are being taken seriously, which is what investors look for.”
Levi Upenyu Mukono, Deputy Ambassador of Zimbabwe to the United Kingdom“This agreement is a practical expression of the Engagement and Re-engagement Agenda. It takes the relationship between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom beyond dialogue into cooperation between institutions, and it does so in a field where trust and high standards matter. The mutual recognition of the audit qualification is a mark of confidence in strengthening professional cooperation between our two countries.
For the many Zimbabwean accountants and auditors living and working in the United Kingdom, the agreement opens a clearer route to practise here at the level their qualification deserves, and keeps the door open for them to contribute at home. The Embassy congratulates PAAB and the Financial Reporting Council on bringing this work to a conclusion.”