Caroline Gardner joins PwC's audit oversight body

Scotland’s former Auditor General has joined PwC, to help strengthen its new audit oversight body. According to PwC’s UK Head of Audit, Hermione Hudson, Caroline Gardner “will bring valuable new perspectives” to the body.

Hudson elaborated, “Our audit oversight body (AOB) is playing an important role in ensuring we remain focused on delivering consistently high quality audits. The AOB provides oversight and challenge, in areas such as partner remuneration and our Audit strategy. Caroline’s experience from her long and distinguished career in audit and governance will bring robust challenges.”

In late 2020, it was announced PwC would launch a new audit oversight body (AOB). Following the Financial Reporting Council’s moves to tightening its regulation of the UK’s audit market, PwC asserted that the launch of the AOD was “a further important step in strengthening the governance of the audit practice.” Chairman Kevin Ellis stated at the time that the organisation could “provide oversight to the audit practice to ensure we remain focused on the delivery of consistently high quality audits.”

Overseeing governance in PwC’s audit practice, the AOB is chaired by Philip Rycoft, an independent non-executive (INE). Caroline Gardner also joins as an INE, bringing 30 years of experience in audit, governance and financial management to the role.

She commented, “As the UK recovers from the pandemic and charts its course outside the EU, corporate governance will play a vital role in ensuring the UK remains an attractive destination for foreign and domestic investment and IPOs… Audit has a key part to play in maintaining trust in business and I look forward to helping ensure that, as a leading audit practice, PwC maintains its commitment to consistently high audit quality underpinned by a culture of challenge.”

Gardner was the Auditor General for Scotland for eight years until 2020, and was responsible for auditing the Scottish Government and public bodies in Scotland, reporting to the Scottish Parliament. Prior to that, she was Deputy Auditor General and Controller of Audit for six years.