We created our Local Audit Quality Forum (LAQF) in 2017 to promote notable practices and developments to practitioners and audit committee chairs and members. The original plan was to hold day long sessions on a face-to-face basis, but that changed when Covid appeared, and we switched to shorter webinars during the pandemic. As well as a session with Sir Tony Redmond on his report, we held a series of webinars on our procurement scheme and new contracts for both prospective practitioners and suppliers. This revised format was driven by necessity but proved popular.
To date we have received limited positive feedback when we asked about a post-Covid return to the original LAQF event format. We will keep this under review. We are conscious that travel costs and time demands mean that a daylong session is a significant commitment, but also that there are benefits to the interaction and contact building that face-to-face events bring, especially to those who are new to their roles.
Local bodies that opted into PSAA’s national scheme will be entitled to attend face-to-face LAQF events free of charge (up to two delegates per body) – we hope to be able to meet all demand for webinars. Information is available about our past and planned LAQF events.
We are currently looking at potential topics for LAQF events, and they will be added to our events page in due course.