Baroness Margaret Ford officially launched the Centre for Public Interest Audit (CPIA), a new research and policy institute, on Wednesday with a focus on shaping best practice in audit and influencing the future of public interest entity (PIE) audit in the UK.

CPIA chair Baroness Ford said that the CPIA had been created “quite simply to champion quality and trust in public interest audits” with the focus on “proactively” identifying both shortcomings and best practice in public interest entity audits, as well as increasing trust and confidence with the public and key stakeholders.

The CPIA, which is a standalone body financed by ICAEW, will work alongside other collective bodies across business policy and regulatory landscapes, Baroness Ford said.

“All of our research will be evidence-led, but uniquely, we will bring an informed profession-wide voice and perspective to bear on these issues by enabling the deep experience and views of the profession to inform and to enrich the debate,” she said at the launch at Chartered Accountants’ Hall.

As the US, Europe and the UK begin to diverge on the purposes and aims of regulation and assurance, Baroness Ford said the establishment of CPIA couldn’t have been timelier, adding that it was more important than ever for the UK to uphold its principles-based approach to regulation and certainty in the rule of law.

“The UK is a sought-after destination for capital because investors trust our framework,” she said. “Much is changing in terms of philosophical views on the role of regulation and assurance. We’re witnessing a real-time comparative experiment in public policy, as views on the nature and value of regulation, on the face of it, are diverging quite sharply between the European and North American models.”

But she added that in a post-Brexit UK, “our approach has never been required to be more thoughtful”.

As we move to a rather more uncertain period over trade and commerce and important changes in the UK regulatory landscape, the CPIA chair said: “We should prize this environment and cherish it.”

The chair also welcomed the announcement in the King’s Speech that a Draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill will be put before Parliament this year.