IFIAR sees global uptick in audit inspection problems

The International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators released a report earlier this month summarizing its annual survey of inspection findings from audit regulators around the world, indicating a slight increase last year. 

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IFIAR members reported in the 2025 survey that 35% of audit engagements inspected had at least one finding in 2025, up slightly from 34% in the 2024 survey. The percentage of audits with findings has declined from 47% (since IFIAR began tracking this statistic in 2014) to 26% in 2022, before increasing each subsequent year and reaching 35% in 2025. The three-year rolling average has also increased, from 30% to 33%. 

This is the 14th annual survey from IFIAR, whose members include the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in the U.S. The findings come from its member regulators’ individual inspections of audit firms affiliated with the six largest global audit firm networks, including BDO International, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young Global, Grant Thornton International, KPMG International and PricewaterhouseCoopers International. 

As with prior years’ surveys, IFIAR collected information about two specific categories of activities: inspections of firm-wide systems of quality control and inspections of individual audit engagements. IFIAR members from 52 jurisdictions contributed to the survey. 

IFIAR is urging the global audit firm networks and their member firms to continue working on measures identifying the underlying factors for inspection findings and to implement appropriate remedial measures to ensure sustained improvements in audit quality.  

While the number of findings reported in the 2025 survey have generally indicated a decrease since IFIAR’s tracking began in 2014, the results since 2022 reveal an increase in the number of listed public company audits inspected with at least one finding.  IFIAR noted that efforts have been made to reduce the level of audits with one or more findings.

“However, 2025 resulted in another year with an increase in findings (one percent over 2024) and continues a troubling trend in contrast to the gradual reduction achieved previously,” said the report. “IFIAR calls on the GPPC networks and their member firms to conduct monitoring activities to understand the reasons for this continued trend. This must be followed by the implementation of all necessary actions to address the issues in order to drive an immediate improvement in audit quality.”