Audit Quality Report 2024

Quality. A journey over time.

Quality is a journey, not a destination. At BDO, our approach to quality leads to continuous improvement.

Standing out in the market amidst a complex business and regulatory environment requires a focus on progress. We continuously strive to uphold and elevate quality in our audit process because we know that there is no end to the journey.

Building trust with our clients begins with being transparent and accountable for our actions. Our promise of quality includes openly sharing our processes and technology and showcasing how our people approach quality.

This year’s Audit Quality Report provides an in-depth look at our commitment to continuity and our steadfast focus on evolving quality at every level of the business.

Quality is a critical part of BDO – it is ingrained in our work culture, our audit processes, our technology and infrastructure. Everyone here is responsible for continuously striving towards the highest level of quality, but we know the goalpost is always shifting because quality is a journey, not a destination. We can always enhance quality. We can always do better for our clients.

Jeanny Gu
Managing Partner, Assurance

Governance and leadership

Setting the tone at the top—from upholding ethics to keeping lines of communication open—is critical to delivering a consistent level of quality across our audit and assurance services.

BDO views quality as more than an element of compliance—it contributes to overall firm strategy and commitment to efficient and accurate service. That is why we continue to redefine quality.

Audit leadership

Our leadership team remains committed to audit quality and continuous improvement.

Jeanny Gu is the Managing Partner of the Assurance Service Line for BDO Canada and a member of the Executive Leadership Team.

Jonathan Chasle is the National Quality Leader and member of the Assurance Senior Leadership Team at BDO Canada.

BDO’s governance lays the groundwork, empowering our team to drive innovation. It allows us to adapt seamlessly to shifting technologies, market dynamics, and processes, all while upholding transparency and accountability. This approach fosters consistency and enhances quality across our operations.

Bruno Suppa
Chief Executive Officer

Diversity of thought leads to innovation and excellence

We strive to foster a workplace culture that offers a sense of belonging for all groups, nurtures innovation, and encourages our people to reach new heights. Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace is linked to lower turnover, better retention, and in the context of our audit teams, better quality. Some of the ways we promote diversity at BDO include:

Creating a culture of inclusivity

This goes beyond standard DEI characteristics, and includes service lines, geographies, areas of expertise, and more. Everybody is given opportunities to excel based on the individual expertise they bring to the firm.

Fostering a We vs. Me environment

Our people leaders drive the success of their teams through collaboration. We promote knowledge and skills sharing so that success becomes everybody’s responsibility.

Providing opportunities to expand

BDO offers multiple firm-wide events open to everyone in the organization representing our core diversity pillars including women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, racialized groups, and Pride at BDO.

Sharing a diverse knowledge base

Leaders with diverse and extensive audit knowledge share industry and client-specific knowledge with teams before they begin the audit process.

The investments we have made in our people are focused on developing their skills and providing various avenues of learning. Our clients are continually impressed by what we offer our people because they can see that it leads to stronger technical ability and better client service, resulting in a higher quality assurance engagement.

Kerri Plexman
Managing Partner, Talent & Culture

2023-2024 in numbers

Partner to staff ratio

1:7 partners to staff members dedicated to every audit

Over 10 years

24% of our team members have been with BDO for 10 years or more

Years of service

12.3 average years of service for manager and above levels

Hours in training

119+ average hours each of our professionals reported investing in training

We are a firm of over 4,000 professionals. The only way we’re going to achieve quality on a consistent level is through collaboration. From our leaders to our staff, we have to be in sync at every step — and I’m proud to say that our structure and systems enable us to do that.

Jonathan Chasle
National Quality Leader, Assurance

Achieving quality together

In order to deliver quality at a consistent level, we all have to play our part. At BDO, this means that people drive quality at every level of the business—from the individual, to the engagement team, to the firm as a whole. This is how we provide exceptional results for our clients every time.

At the individuals’ level

The foundation of quality lies in the personal dedication of each team member. We value and recognize the impact of every individual's responsibility to ensure quality.

At the engagement team level

Throughout every engagement—from start to completion and every step in between—we ensure our teams are collaboratively and actively driving quality.

At the firm level

We are dedicated to building trust with our stakeholders through our firm-wide systems of quality management (SoQM) which ensure we’re supporting teams to deliver quality on assurance and related service engagements.

Quality supported by technology

Technology has progressed from being a business enabler to an essential driver of hyper-growth. To manage the changing needs for data-driven audits, BDO has engaged in continuously building out our technology infrastructure to ensure we remain at the forefront of quality in our industry.

Assurance quality depends not only on the people conducting it but also on the technology enabling it. We believe it is our responsibility to look ahead at innovative technologies and processes and determine how they can best support our teams and our clients during the assurance process.

Brion Hendry
Assurance Innovation & Change Leader

Explore what audit quality means to the people at BDO in this year's Audit Quality Report.

The accessible version of our 2024 Audit Quality Report is available for viewing.

Read the full report

Contact our leaders to learn more about quality

Jeanny Gu

Managing Partner, Assurance

604-235-5288
[email protected]
LinkedIn
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Jonathan Chasle

Partner

514-218-6301
[email protected]
LinkedIn
View bio

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