The market engagement exercise 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 has 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.
It is clear that a further procurement will not solve all of the supply challenges currently facing the local audit market, but there is the potential to relieve some of the pressure and support longer-term market sustainability.
It is worth noting that PSAA is currently reviewing its fee variations process and, should a further procurement be taken forward, will carefully consider the feedback provided by firms when developing its procurement strategy.
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.
