Mid-tier network appoints firs

Based in
London, the New Zealander will focus on managing the network’s
quality control review and annual confirmation programmes. This
will involve extensive travel and monitoring of member firm
practice.

Riley, who
described the role as his ideal job description, told
the International Accounting
Bulletin that
a significant amount of his time will be spent performing quality
control reviews directly, training other people to perform reviews
and setting up a quality control programme for the network, which
will ensure member firms are reviewed routinely and up to
international standards.

“[Nexia International] has been progressing
pretty much as they should. With the recent SC International
merger, we now have a significantly greater number of firms and
obviously the demands in terms of the number of quality control
reviews that need to be performed have increased,” he said.

“This is a forward-looking move in
anticipation that we’ve got so many more firms to review we need
someone working on a full time basis.”

There are two main elements to quality control
reviews. The first is an overall assessment of a firm’s conformity
with International Standard on Quality Control 1: Quality Control
for Firms that Perform Audits and Reviews of Financial Statements
and Other Assurance and Related Services Engagements. Riley
believes these assessments also provide an opportunity for member
firms to be educated in best practice.

“We have firms in developing economies where
we have the opportunity to engage with our members and update them
on changes to standards and areas of audit practice,” he said.

The second part of quality control reviews are
individual audit file reviews, which are evaluated for their
compliance with International Standards on Auditing.

Riley will also be a technical resource to
Nexia’s international audit committee, co-ordinate Nexia’s annual
audit forum and maintain technical resources on Nexia’s
website.

Riley has more than 15 years of experience in
technical roles at large firms in London, Singapore and Moscow.

He has had audit, financial reporting and
ethics standard-setting roles in professional accounting
bodies.

At the Hong Kong Society of Accountants (now
the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants), Riley
helped harmonise Hong Kong Accounting Standards with IFRS.

He also worked in Singapore for a Big Four
firm and for the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of
Singapore, where he played a hand in harmonising Singapore’s
accounting standards to IFRS.

Riley, 43, is married with a child and enjoys
golf and cricket in his spare time.

Nexia International chairman Norbert Neu said
Riley’s broad international experience would help maintain Nexia’s
global reputation for quality.