The most important value shared among our member firms is “a safe pair of hands”. When one of our firms is supported by a fellow member in another part of the world, they need to be sure that their client’s precious business will be looked after with high quality and expertise that they are used to at home.
Our quality assurance (QA) systems are innovative and efficient. While we do not have the resources of the very biggest firms, with their globe-trotting QA departments, we leverage member expertise and technology to focus QA review and remediation where it is most needed.
The SGA QA Review
The SGA QA system is based on the international quality standard ISQC-1. Every year, firms report through responsive, multilingual, online systems on their compliance with our standards. Our systems give immediate feedback for items that need improvement and remediation. To help foster continuous improvement, we offer web-based training and support.
On-site reviews
Every three years each member firm is subject to an onsite review. The whole of our review process is supported and operated by a leading audit and accountancy training and quality review company.
Our Technical Committee, which supervises the QA system, evaluates the level of QA controls in each firm and scores its performance. Improvement and re-review plans are agreed and, in some cases, disciplinary actions are taken. Firms which systematically score low in QA and show no sign of improvement are dismissed from SGA.
SGA takes quality assurance seriously – it is at the heart of how we deal with our clients and the reputation we have built during our international service.