The vision of the Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Board (CyPAOB) is to establish itself as a trusted supervisory authority at the local, European, and global levels, providing prestige and confidence in the country's audit profession. The primary goal of CyPAOB is to operate with effectiveness, transparency, reliability, integrity, and impartiality.
The CyPAOB exercises public supervision of all statutory auditors and all statutory audit firms that have a license authorizing them to carry out statutory audits of the financial statements of any entity in the Republic that is subject to a statutory audit. It therefore has the ultimate responsibility for overseeing:
- the approval and registration of statutory auditors and audit firms in the Public Register;
- the adoption, by the statutory auditors and audit firms, of standards relating to professional ethics, internal quality control of statutory audit firms, and the statutory audits, unless these standards have been adopted or approved by the authorities of another Member State;
- the continuing education of statutory auditors and audit firms;
- the quality assurance systems for statutory auditors and audit firms; and
- the disciplinary investigation and referral procedures for statutory auditors and audit firms in a disciplinary trial before the Disciplinary Committee or other competent body and generally of the operation of the disciplinary system.
The CyPAOB may delegate to a recognized body of auditors part of its responsibilities, except for the responsibilities related to supervision and disciplinary procedures of statutory auditors and statutory audit firms that audit Public Interest Entities.
The CyPAOB ensures that the statutory auditors and statutory audit firms comply with and correctly apply the provisions of the Auditors Law of 2017 (N.53 (I)/2017) which entered into force on June 2, 2017 and Regulation (EU) no. 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 16, 2014 regarding specific requirements that relate to the mandatory audit of public interest entities which entered into force on June 17, 2016.
The CyPAOB cooperates with the competent supervisory authorities of other countries to fulfill its obligations as best as possible.
The CyPAOB is responsible for ensuring effective cooperation, with regards to the supervisory activity in the Republic of Cyprus, with the corresponding authorities exercising public supervision in other member states.
The CyPAOB, the Central Bank of Cyprus, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the Superintendent of Insurance, the Commissioner of Taxation, the Cyprus Stock Exchange and the Recognized Body of Auditors in the Republic, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus, cooperate for the effective exercise of their tasks. The CyPAOB may, on the basis of Article 25 "Exchange of information" of the Auditors Law, N.53(I)/2017, receive and transfer to the above information or details useful for their work.