IRBA Annual Report 2025 Tabled in Parliament: A Milestone Year of Strategic Transition and Audit Quality Gains
Johannesburg, Wednesday, 29 October, 2025 —The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) has officially tabled its Annual Report for the 2024/2025 financial year before the Standing Committee of Finance in Parliament, marking the conclusion of its five-year strategic cycle and the beginning of a new chapter for the regulator and the auditing profession.
The Annual Report reflects a year of significant progress in restoring trust with key stakeholders, enhancing oversight effectiveness, and fostering transparency within the profession. Key highlights include:
Strategic Transition: The IRBA successfully closed out its “Restoring Confidence 2.0” initiative and launched its new Strategic Plan for 2026–2030, focused on fostering a thriving profession, impactful stakeholder collaboration, and organisational enhancement.Audit Quality Improvements: Engagement-level audit quality continued its upward trend, with positive outcomes rising from 38% in 2019 to 45% in 2024 with fewer referrals to the Investigations Department, indicating improved quality management practices at firm level.Transformation and Talent Development: Registrations in the Audit Development Programme (ADP) surged by 67%, with notable progress in race and gender representation among candidate auditors. Over 8,000 learners and 1,100 university students were reached through outreach initiatives.Regulatory Advancements: The IRBA issued its first Reportable Irregularities Report, introduced new guidelines on maximum monetary fines, and approved key updates to auditing standards and ethics codes, including SAAPS 7 and revisions to the IRBA Code of Professional Conduct.Stakeholder Engagement: The regulator deepened its engagement with audit committees and firms through roundtables and forums, reinforcing its commitment to transparency and impactful collaboration.
The IRBA also received a clean audit opinion from the Auditor-General of South Africa for the fourth year in a row. This achievement reflects the regulator’s commitment to sound financial management, governance, and accountability. It reinforces public trust in the IRBA’s operations and its role as a credible steward of public resources.
The IRBA CEO, Imre Nagy, noted the strides the regulator took in rebuilding confidence, enhancing oversight and fostering transparency which will serve as a foundation for sustained progress in the years ahead, and that the past five years were transformative, shaping the trajectory of the regulator and the profession.
The Chairperson of the IRBA Board, Fulvio Tonelli, expressed the Board’s satisfaction with how the IRBA is positioning itself to regulate in a rapidly changing environment and is committed to responding to emerging risks with enhanced technology, standards, regulations and enforcement measures technology to safeguard the public interest and maintain investor confidence.
Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, commended the IRBA for its role in reinforcing the integrity of corporate reporting and supporting national development goals through credible and rigorous auditing.
The IRBA remains committed to its mandate of protecting the public interest and ensuring investor confidence through high-quality regulation and oversight.
Ends
Access the full annual report here.
About IRBA:
The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) is the statutory body mandated to regulate the auditing profession in South Africa. Established by the Auditing Profession Act 26 of 2005, the IRBA’s mission is to protect the public interest by ensuring the highest standards of audit quality and ethical conduct among registered auditors.
Issued by:
Lorraine van Schalkwyk APR
Manager: Brand, Marketing and Media Relations
The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA)
Contact: +27 87 759 2693
WhatsApp: 083 626 3762
Mobile: 076 544 8705
On behalf of:
Imre Nagy
Chief Executive Officer