By MIA Small and Medium Practices Department
Early participating firms recommend that their peer audit firms embark on QAP.
What is QAP?
The Quality Assessment Programme (QAP) is an initiative of MIA’s Small and Medium Practices (SMP) Committee, in collaboration with The Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA), to promote continuous improvement in audit quality in Malaysia. It assists audit firms in assessing compliance with the applicable auditing standards and MIA By-Laws, in relation to audit engagements on financial statements prepared in accordance with the applicable approved accounting standards and the Companies Act 2016.
It is a voluntary structured review of an MIA Member firm and designed to be educational in nature. To avoid conflict of interest as MIA performs practice review as a surveillance function and in view of MICPA’s extensive background in the accountancy profession, MIA has outsourced the QAP to MICPA.
The review of the whole firm will comprise two parts:
- A review of the firm’s compliance with the International Standard of Quality Control (ISQC) 1; and
- A review of the documentation of at least one completed audit engagement.
The review will be conducted at the firms’ premises. The estimated duration for a site visit under the QAP Programme is 2-8 days.
The fee is RM1,200 per man day and will vary depending on the firm size and complexity of the audit engagement reviewed. The maximum charge is capped at RM10,000 (excluding SST & disbursement).
At the end of the review period, the QAP reviewers will provide a report on the findings and the reviewed firm will provide the proposed remedial action plans for implementation.
Feedback from participating firms
To gauge the value of QAP to participating firms, MIA solicited feedback from six firms that have completed the QAP.
Say Yes to QAP
Would you recommend that other SMPs participate in the QAP?
All six firms responded positively, and they would highly recommend the QAP for firms which are serious about audit quality but have no independent partner to do a review of their audit works.
- “Participation in the QAP sets the right tone from the top.”
- “It is a great way to understand the firm’s weaknesses. Partners in a firm would be able to understand and mitigate the practice risks through the QAP findings/review.“
When asked whether they have plans to enrol in the follow-up review in future, all six firms responded positively. They will definitely enrol for the follow-up visit after implementing remedial action plans in upcoming audit engagement, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the QAP.
Is the QAP value for money?
All six firms responded “Yes” with additional feedback as follows:
- “The reviewers were all from practice and they could relate to the practical problems faced by an SMP.”
- “With representatives from reputable firms conducting the QAP, the SMP can learn from the best to improve the firm’s quality.”
Suggestions for Future Improvement
To add further value to the QAP, participating firms also recommended the following:
Interested to participate?
SMPs, i.e. audit firms that are not registered with the Audit Oversight Board, are encouraged to participate in the QAP.
SMPs that are interested to participate in the QAP are required to complete the Practice Profile Information Questionnaire by clicking HERE and forward the same to the SMP Department at [email protected]. The questionnaire will enable the QAP reviewer(s) to understand your practice better.
