A Dream leading to a Vision

V. Balaji

Founder and Managing Partner

True and Fair Professionals Network

Greetings! Welcome to True and Fair!

We are a start-up partnership firm set up by six chartered accountants with over 100 years of collective experience in auditing and accounting. Our mission is to improve the quality of audits performed by auditors.

The vision for True and Fair was seeded when I was on the cusp of retirement in March 2022. Over the course of my professional career I had understood that the only reason why large audits firms were successful was because all partners were united by a common culture, systems and processes that gave them inherent comfort with each other to collectively succeed. This despite those partners being stationed in different geographies, not knowing each other personally and not having worked together prior to becoming a partner. This germinated the idea for True and Fair that aims to provide a culture of quality, high-quality processes, and guidance to all stakeholders in the ecosystem on the back of a common audit documentation tool. Our mission is to create an environment for audit firms to collaborate, network and succeed as a collective.

Alongside, I realised most firms may not have the necessary skill set for Information Technology (IT) audits, forensic and valuation audit support - all of which are critical to perform high quality audits. And in this endeavour to strengthen the ecosystem of auditors I have reached out to IT audit firms, forensic auditors and valuation specialists socialising my idea. I am delighted to share that I’ve received a positive response from several of them aligned with an interest to be part of this journey envisioned by True and Fair. I am confident that I will be able to make available these skill sets to chartered accountant firms as they perform their audits.

The timing to launch True and Fair is also right. With increased regulatory scrutiny on auditors, greater expectation from auditors, and more stringent governance, a firm like ours can help auditors and audit firms to carry out their tasks seamlessly. The announcement of mandatory applicability of AQMM, enhancements made to the peer review process by the Institute, QRB process, and other systemic changes are all focussed on audit quality and chartered accountant firms may need the assistance from a firm like True and Fair which is focussed on audit quality. We also anticipate a regulatory change viz-a-viz joint audits. Our services can provide chartered accountant firms with good quality policies and practices in such an environment.

With the above in mind, True and Fair has conceived a suite of service offerings for chartered accountant firms.

In Phase 1 of our launch we will offer the following services:

✔️Quality policies: i) Basic or those that comply with standards on auditing ii)Enhanced technical guidance on matters of audit and accounting importance

✔️ Audit Documentation and Archival Tool (ADAT)

✔️ Monitoring of compliance with the quality policies, technical guidance and application of ADAT tool in the audit

✔️ Training

✔️ Practice protection: Guiding chartered accountant firms in external inspections

At True and Fair we can also enable performance of engagement quality control reviews for audit firms in compliance with the professional standards.

As we evolve and grow as a firm, we will offer the following services to various entities we work with:

1. Audit firms

✔️Quality policies: i) Basic or those that comply with standards on auditing

✔️ Enhanced operations management, client and engagement risk assessment, conflict checks, creation of engagement projects

✔️ Industry specific audit file templates (planned for FY' 23-24)

✔️ Talent management: Time and expense tracking, scheduling, integration with ADAT (planned for FY’ 23-24)

✔️Improved automation in ADAT based on user feedback (planned for FY’ 24-25)

✔️ Investment in data analytics (planned for FY’ 23-24)

✔️ Investment in artificial intelligence (planned for FY’ 25-26)

Our overarching vision is to be recognised as the STANDARD SETTER in the financial reporting ecosystem with regard to quality of audits undertaken and performed. To achieve our vision, our mission is to build capacity and enhance the professional capability of audit firms.

We look forward to an exciting and fulfilling journey with chartered accountant firms where quality of audits is paramount to success.