Why are so many firms treating ASQM 1 as a compliance exercise until ASIC starts asking difficult questions?

In this episode, Wayne Basford and Judith Leung unpack what they are seeing in practice from reviewing systems of quality management. They discuss why many firms misunderstood ASQM 1 as a one-off implementation task, why boilerplate risk registers are failing in the real world, and how leadership behaviour ultimately determines whether audit quality is protected or compromised.

The conversation explores the core risk at the heart of ASQM 1 — profit over quality — and how that risk cascades into client acceptance, resourcing, training, documentation, monitoring, and remediation. They also examine why documentation deficiencies and weak monitoring continue to surface in regulatory inspections.

Whether you are an audit partner, senior manager, director, or regulator, this episode will sharpen your understanding of how ASQM 1 should operate in practice and where firms are most exposed.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why treating ASQM 1 as “business as usual” is a serious mistake
• The real core risk behind audit quality failures
• How weak risk registers undermine your system of quality management
• Why documentation and monitoring failures continue to attract scrutiny
• What effective remediation under ASQM 1 should look like

Financial Reporting Conversations is brought to you by Basford Consulting helping professionals go beyond compliance and get financial reporting right.

For technical insights, training, and resources that make the unknowns in financial reporting known, visit basfordconsulting.com

🔗 Connect with us:
LinkedIn: Wayne Basford & Judith Leung
YouTube: @BasfordConsulting
Website: basfordconsulting.com