Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 29
29
Sir Tony Redmond highlighted that his review found that the lack of career prospects and...
Conclusion
Sir Tony Redmond highlighted that his review found that the lack of career prospects and opportunities produced a real challenge for trainee accountants when considering whether to go into public sector accounting and auditing. He believed that audit firms needed to give more attention to career progression and training schemes for people to encourage them into public sector auditing.83 Sir Tony thought that the Department, accountancy institutes, and audit firms could be involved in developing a training scheme that encouraged people to pursue a career in public sector audit.84 ICAEW told us that the struggle that audit firms have in finding sufficient qualified and experienced individuals to deliver local authority audits could, in part, be due to low margins on the audits, which limited the ability to offer higher pay, and in part, be due to less attractive career paths. It added that pressure put on audit staff to work intensely over such a short period of time exacerbated staffing issues.85
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
4.2 The government agrees that a ready availability of skilled and appropriately trained auditors is crucial to ensuring both the long-term sustainability of the local audit market and good quality, timely audit. As Sir Tony Redmond has noted in his review, the local audit market is currently dependent on a few big suppliers and more needs to be done to encourage other firms into the market to support long-term sustainability.