EY Australia Transparency Report 2020

Building a better working world is central to everything we do at EY. Responding to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, our clear objective was saving lives and also saving jobs.

Our ability to conduct audits became paramount this year and the need for trust and confidence in financial reporting in our capital markets has never been greater. The insights and quality services we deliver to build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies around the world is an important part of this ethos.

Executing high-quality audits continues to be our top priority and is at the heart of our commitment to serve the public interest.  We believe that how we advance sustainable audit quality, manage risk and maintain our independence as auditors should be transparent to our stakeholders. We value regular dialogue, and the 2020 Transparency report of Ernst & Young (EY Australia) is one of the ways in which we advise our stakeholders on what we are doing in each of these areas.

During 2020, we actively participated in the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (the Committee) Inquiry into Regulation of Auditing in Australia. We are pleased that most of the recommendations made by us, through our submissions to the Committee and participation in the public hearings, have been adopted and reflected in the interim report recommendations tabled in February 2020. This report also covers measures taken by EY Australia to early adopt some of these recommendations, as part of our commitment to building a better working world.