Audit monitoring insights 2026: themes, risks and what good looks like

Event information

The results of monitoring visits show that audit quality is improving – but the risks haven’t gone away.

Join ICAEW’s Quality Assurance Department (QAD) as we present the key findings from the Audit Monitoring Report 2026, covering monitoring activity for the year ended 31 December 2025.

In this webinar, we will explain the continuing risks to audit quality and weaknesses that more often lead to unsatisfactory file reviews. We will highlight what is working well across firms, where weaknesses continue to arise, and how effective systems of quality management can support sustainable audit quality.

Presented by Nick Reynolds and Helen Storr, this session will provide practical insight into the results of ICAEW’s monitoring work.

We'll cover

• The headline results from 2025 audit monitoring visits;
• Key risks from growth, technology and resourcing;
• more significant common weaknesses identified in file reviews, including group audits, revenue and financial reporting; and
• What ICAEW sees in effective systems of quality management, including good practice in client acceptance, technology adoption and staff development.

About the speakers

Helen Storr, Reviewer, Quality Assurance Department, ICAEW Helen trained at a medium-sized London firm. She performed work in a variety of industries, with a focus on financial services. She joined ICAEW in 2021 as a quality monitoring reviewer. She conducts a wide range of visit types and works with all sizes of firms from the Big Four to sole practitioners and everything in-between. Helen also performs audit review work at firms in the Channel Islands and the Middle East.

Nick Reynolds, Head of Audit, Quality Assurance Department, ICAEW Nick Reynolds, Head of Audit in the Quality Assurance Department (QAD) within ICAEW’s Professional Standards Department, joined the Institute in 2007 as a quality assurance reviewer following experience as a senior audit manager at a Big Four firm. As Head of Audit, he has overall responsibility for ICAEW’s audit-related monitoring activities, principally statutory audit monitoring – both in the corporate and public sector – as well as oversight of ICAEW’s third-party audit monitoring work. He is also involved in overseeing continuing professional development monitoring for all ICAEW members and firms, not just audit-registered firms.

CPD hours

ICAEW's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Regulations require a minimum number of hours and an ethics requirement. Attending this event could contribute up to 1hr of verifiable CPD, providing you can demonstrate that the content is relevant to your role.

A copy of the event booking confirmation email is accepted as evidence of verifiable CPD. Click here to use ICAEW’s self-assessment tool to help you work out how much CPD you will need to fulfil each year.

Costs

This webinar is free for all.