Financial statement audit

The PwC audit experience

Having the right independent auditors can be an asset. They help protect capital markets and, in turn, your brand, by attesting to the accuracy of your financial statements. Additionally, the right auditor helps you understand and better manage your critical risks by sharing accounting and business practices. By offering informed views, a quality auditor helps to anticipate the financial and reporting impacts of your business decisions.

PwC believes that a high quality audit is defined by how well we deliver on all aspects of services and tailor it to your needs. As one of the largest professional service firms in the US, we are committed to meeting these expectations as outlined below:

PwC's audit value defined

Business need

What you will experience
Performance of a high quality audit
  • An audit that helps give stakeholders confidence in the integrity of your financial statements
  • Our views on the nature of your accounting policies
  • Provide our perspective around judgments and estimates
Informed points of view
  • Context around complex issues and the broader implications to your business
  • Use of our experience with other similar businesses to provide advice and insights to you so you can make better judgments and anticipate opportunities and challenges
Met regulatory requirements
  • Monitored developments in industry and technical regulatory requirements so that you can keep your accounting and reporting current and accurate
Responsibility to stakeholders/ protecting your brand
  • An independent and objective opinion on your controls and financial statements, as well as insights into your other reports and disclosures so you can maintain consistent messaging and protect your reputation
Continuous service improvement
  • Annual effectiveness reviews to get independent perspective on audit quality and process
  • Coverage of new areas you consider to be of risk and exploration of the audit implications of significant changes in your business, looking for ways to consolidate efforts, while providing necessary audit coverage

Our Assurance practice is our largest business. Through this practice, we carry out our most important role in the financial reporting system: enhancing the credibility and reliability of financial statements through the issuance of an audit report. Maintaining capital market confidence in the quality of our audits is therefore a paramount objective for us.

Read more about what PwC is doing to achieve our objective of consistently performing high-quality audits in Our focus on audit quality.

Our top-down, risk-based audit approach

Our global audit approach is used on all audit engagements - regardless of location - to ensure uniformity and consistency. In addition, our audit approach is reviewed and updated at least annually to reflect quality improvements from our internal review process.

Industry insight

When it comes to getting a quality audit, industry insight and knowledge is critical. Knowing that your audit team "gets" your industry-specific issues - and how they impact your company's success - is invaluable.

Our multi-disciplinary teams bring a global industry scope and experience as well as comprehensive knowledge of US and local issues and regulations, all which add invaluable insight during the audit.

Visit our Industry Focus Areas to discover more about our specific industry areas of expertise.

Audit committee resources

The role of the audit committee is of critical importance in today's environment, with close attention being paid to financial statement integrity and transparency, independence and audit quality.

PwC's Center for Board Governance enables board members and audit committees to effectively meet the challenges of their critical roles by sharing governance best practices, developing insightful and timely thought leadership, and offering forums for directors to discuss contemporary issues. The Center also meets directly with boards of directors, audit committees and executives to provide insights into significant governance challenges and developments and help directors comply with evolving expectations and regulations.

Visit PwC's Center for Board Governance to learn more.