Following the conclusion of the market engagement exercise undertaken during June 2020, PSAA today publishes the summary of responses. We were delighted that all nine registered firms fully engaged.
The exercise sought views from all registered firms to inform PSAA’s consideration of whether a further procurement would be appropriate in order to try to attract additional, good quality capacity into the market, and if so, how such a procurement might best be designed.
The review reaffirmed the current challenges facing the world of local audit. It also highlighted that there are some subtle differences in the firms’ perspectives on the challenges and correspondingly they are adopting different response strategies.
Importantly, it identified that there is the potential to attract some additional capacity into the local audit market subject to a lead-in period of around 12-18 months from contract award. However, access to this capacity would be dependent on certain circumstances, not all of which are within PSAA’s gift.
Whilst it is clear that a further procurement will not solve all of the supply challenges currently facing the local audit market, there is the potential to relieve some of the pressure and support longer-term market sustainability.
PSAA is committed to doing all it can to respond proactively to a very challenging environment. We believe that the opportunity to attract additional capacity is worth pursuing and will continue to explore the potential for a further procurement over the next two to three months, seeking views from other stakeholders where appropriate to do so.
PSAA would like to thank all the firms who responded. Their views have been both insightful and valuable in informing our considerations of the potential benefit of a future procurement exercise.