REPARIS – A REGIONAL PROGRAM THE ROAD TO EUROPE: PROGRAM OF ACCOUNTING REFORM AND INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING (REPARIS) Public Oversight Systems Panel Discussion - Institutional & Legal Arrangements REPARIS Distance Learning Event 19 April 2011

Panelists John Grewe, Project Manager, Professional Oversight Board, UK Financial Reporting Council Vibeke Barfoed, Secretariat to the Danish Supervisory Authority of Auditors Agnieszka Stachniak, Deputy Director of the Accounting Department, Ministry of Finance, Poland Aleksandra Markowska-Tendaj, Head of Unit at the Office of the Audit Oversight Commission, Poland Public Oversight – Panel Discussion 2

1. Institutional responsibilities What are the main (standard) attributions of the oversight body, including: monitoring the CPD process; monitoring the certification process; supervising and controlling the activity of auditors? Please, briefly explain each of the main attributions. In case when national auditing standards and code of ethics should be developed, who is the most appropriate entity (body, organization) to perform this activity? Public Oversight – Panel Discussion 3

2. Board members How are the board members appointed and how are they removed? What is a suggested balance between practising members and completely independent members of the board? What are recommendations for organizing Public Oversight Bodies in conditions when audit profession is in transition and when there is obviously a small number of auditors in compare with economy needs? How to choose members of that body, when we all know thay have to be independent professionals? Could deputy minister of finance, other representatives of the MoF or representatives of the others regulators (i.e. National Commission of Financial Market) be members of the board of the public oversight body? Public Oversight – Panel Discussion 4

3. Funding What are the main sources of funding for the public oversight body? How are board members remunerated? Public Oversight – Panel Discussion 5

4. Certification of auditors What entity (body, organization) is the most appropriate to perform certification of the auditors? How to ensure the proper segregation of duties between examiners and developers of the curricula and tests (questions) within auditors certification process? Could auditors (practitioners) be members of the certification commission? Public Oversight – Panel Discussion 6

5. Professional bodies Should be membership to a professional body be mandatory for auditors? In which way Public Oversight Body cooperate with professional organization which in charge for conducting quality control of its members? Does professional organization deliver its annual plans for quality control to the POB and reports about completed QC? Does in that case professional organization subject its self-regulation to the demands of POB? Public Oversight – Panel Discussion 7

6. Auditors Should audit activity performed by the legal entities (audit firms) be licensed? Are there international and best practices when auditor (or audit firm) is acting as owner for the two or more audit firms simultaneously? From point of view of the international and best practices, would auditors be allowed to conduct auditing activities within two or more audit firms simultaneously? Is there data and research about how many legal disputes (process) are lost by auditors on the court (in percent)? Did professional indemnity insurance, which is paid by auditors, prove to be effective to protect them in these processes? Public Oversight – Panel Discussion 8