FAR tightens risk-based audit quality control from autumn 2026

FAR's quality board for audit work has decided several changes to the guidelines for FAR's quality control of revisionsverksamhetFAR, applying from autumn 2026FAR. The stated aim is to strengthen risk-based quality control further and direct inspections more towards the areas where the risk of quality deficiencies is judged greatest.

The most consequential change is that Kvalitetsnämnden för revisionsverksamhet, when deciding a case, will be able to bring forward the next quality control to an earlier date than would otherwise applyFAR. According to FAR's chief legal counsel Jessika Valmin, earlier follow-up can come into play where the deficiencies identified at the inspection warrant closer monitoring.

A second change clarifies that newly started audit firms are normally to undergo quality control within two years of startingFAR. Valmin notes this matches practice already applied. The guidelines also add rules on how auditors who leave an audit firm covered by systemkontroll are handled in the selection when they move to a firm covered by enskild kontrollFAR.

A further clarification in the application instructions gives the inspectors (kontrollanterna) greater flexibility in selecting which engagements to reviewFAR. Among other things, engagements from previous years can be selected for inspection where judged warranted.

The changes sit against FAR's recent inspection experience. In the 2024 selection year around 90 per cent of reviewed auditors received an approved result, with recurring observations on applying ISA, alongside deficiencies noted in quality-management systems under ISQM 1 — including risk-assessment processes not adapted to the individual firm and independence problems in monitoring remedial measures, particularly at smaller firms — and in compliance with the further-training requirement of at least 120 hours per three-year period with at least 20 hours per year. The 2026 changes address the follow-up side of that regime: earlier re-inspection where deficiencies are found, first inspection of new firms within two years, and freer engagement selection including prior-year work.

FAR refers readers to the updated guidelines, application instructions and checklists in its collected material on quality control for revisionsverksamhet.

Legal basis: Kvalitetsnämnden för revisionsverksamhet's decision on the riktlinjerna för FAR:s kvalitetskontroll av revisionsverksamhet, applying from autumn 2026.