These specialists hone their skills to world class levels by working on both attest and non-attest engagements. Any policies that discourage or impair the assembly of an engagement team consisting of specialists with the necessary skills threaten audit quality. These numbers need to grow for us to keep pace with the significant changes brought about by new technologies. The proposed limits on scope of practice will make it more difficult to attract, retain and motivate such professionals with specialized skills needed for quality auditing. They will also reduce our ability to understand client business risks, systems and controls, which are at the heart of effective auditing.
Specialists obtain and sharpen their skills by working on cutting-edge issues.
Without the ability to fix the problems they find on audit engagements, our specialists' skills will decline and become outdated - and the attractiveness of our firms as career choices will decline with it. Their insights flow directly into audit planning and execution. If our specialists are limited to a diagnostic role with audit clients, their incentive to identify weaknesses or problems will be reduced. Again, audit quality will suffer. Non-attest competencies make a material difference to the quality of audits.