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IRBA: 7th Annual Audit Quality Indicators Report 2025
- 12 March 2026
- Miscellaneous
- South African Accounting Academy
Summary:
The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) has published their 7th Annual Audit Quality Indicators Survey Report, which shows their broader commitment to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement.
Article:
This report provides valuable feedback on measures that audit firms submitted to the regulator and offers audit committees valuable insights into the appointment, performance, and independence of the auditor.
AQIs serve as a valuable resource for stakeholders within the financial reporting ecosystem. They offer a chance to employ tangible and measurable data for meaningful conversations on what influences audit quality.
The content of this report is based on data that has been provided by selected audit firms.
Over the past seven years, the AQI Survey has developed into an important diagnostic tool. This is because it provides firms, regulators, audit committees, investors and the public with consistent and comparable data points to evaluate aspects that impact the quality of audits.
4 Noteworthy trends are highlighted from the report:
- Auditor Independence
- Rotation and Tenure
- Transformation
- Transparency Reporting
As AQIs can differ in meaning depending on context and data quality, the report emphasises that they should not be viewed as benchmarks but rather interpreted with care, as their significance varies across firms and situations.
Click here to download the 44-page Report:
https://www.irba.co.za/upload/IRBA%20AQI%20Report%202025.pdf
Relevance to Auditors, Independent Reviewers & Accountants:
- Audit audit firms are encouraged to enhance their monitoring resources to distinguish between good and mediocre quality management systems.
- Audit Quality Indicators (AQIs) provide insights; and because they are context specific, the users of this report should carefully consider the context at all times.