Announcing the Second Instalment of the Audit Trust Index

London, 17 November 2025 — The Centre for Public Interest Audit (CPIA) today publishes the Audit Trust Index 2025, showing that trust and confidence in the audit of the UK’s largest companies is rising across the United Kingdom, while the public and investors want clearer reporting and proportionate reform to keep that progress on track.

The findings reflect the views of finance directors, equity investors and audit committee chairs and point to strong satisfaction with the quality of audit delivery.

At the same time, the research highlights a call for simpler, clearer explanations in audit reports and a continued focus on measured reform that sustains capacity, competition and choice.

Stakeholders want auditors to be crystal clear about what they have checked, what they found, and what that means for whether a company is likely to keep operating over the next year.

Baroness Margaret Ford, Chair of the CPIA, commented: “The profession has made tangible progress. Stakeholders are telling us that audits are higher quality and more valuable. The task now is to embed that progress: maintain independence and scepticism and ensure reforms are targeted and proportionate so the market remains resilient and competitive.”

Dean Beale, Executive Director of the CPIA, said: “Trust is earned through consistency and clarity. The Audit Trust Index 2025 shows confidence rising, especially in the quality of the audit process and in how well auditors respond to fraud risk and signs of financial distress.”

“But people still want clearer reporting, set out in plain language, so they can see what the auditor did and what it means in practice.”

“Proportionate reform is the best way to protect the gains we are seeing while keeping the market resilient for the UK’s largest, most economically important companies (often defined as a public interest entity, PIE). CPIA will work with stakeholders and policymakers to turn these findings into practical next steps.”

Across the United Kingdom, the data shows a profession that is improving the quality and usefulness of audit while navigating expectations for clearer public reporting. The overall direction is positive; the next stage is to ensure that the way audit findings are presented is as clear and decision-useful as possible for people who rely on them.

Key Findings:

Satisfaction with the audit process is universal in 2025. All three stakeholder groups report being satisfied with how audits are conducted.

Perceived value of audit has strengthened. Finance directors report 98 percent satisfaction with value, equity investors 100 percent, and audit committee chairs 89 percent, each higher than last year.

Confidence in the response to fraud risk is high. Finance directors report 97 percent, equity investors 99 percent and audit committee chairs 97 percent satisfaction that auditors are responding adequately to fraud risks.

Clearer reporting is still needed. Stakeholders want audit findings expressed in plain terms and set out in a way that makes it easy to understand what was tested and why it matters.

Independence and objectivity continue to matter. Respondents underline the importance of auditors being free from conflicts and applying a questioning mindset throughout the engagement.

Stakeholders are more confident that auditors identify signs of financial distress and assess whether a company is likely to keep operating over the next year, but they still want simple explanations of what the conclusions mean for them as users of the accounts.

This is a UK-wide picture. Results reflect views from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and relate to the audit of the UK’s largest, most economically important companies (often defined as a public interest entity, PIE).    

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Notes to editors

Methodology

The ATI 2025 is based on a CPIA-commissioned survey conducted in September 2025 by Censuswide, capturing views from 105 Finance Directors, 100 Equity Investors and 73 Audit Committee Chairs (ACCs) across key questions on audit quality, value, fraud response, going concern, technology and the regulatory environment.

Composite indices for audit quality and audit value were derived by aggregating responses across mapped question sets, enabling year-on-year comparisons.

About the Audit Trust Index

The ATI is CPIA’s annual benchmark of trust, tracking stakeholder perceptions of audit to identify drivers of trust, highlight risks and inform proportionate reform and best practice across the PIE audit market.

The 2025 edition builds on the 2024 baseline and introduces for the first time forward-looking insights on AI and regulatory effectiveness.

About the Centre for Public Interest Audit

The CPIA is a new organisation that brings together auditors from across the profession to shape best practice and inform the future of public interest entity (PIE) audit in the UK. Its purpose is to drive quality and earn trust in UK PIE audit, in turn helping to build confidence in Britain’s capital markets. Its strength is the combination of its collective expertise to challenge the status quo; the CPIA is action-oriented, forward-looking and seeks to provide objective perspectives on audit quality.

A trusted, forward-looking profession mitigates risk, builds confidence and enables investment in UK capital markets.

Media contacts

Press office: press@cpia.org.uk | +44 20 3770 8053