The reliability of financial information is an indispensable prerequisite for the functioning of capital markets. All market participants, especially institutional or private investors, must be able to rely on information and have a right to be convinced of the integrity of all those who play an important role in these markets. Auditors who provide an opinion on the accuracy and completeness of financial information in their capacity as auditors or experts must be held to a particularly high standard of integrity.
The transparency report is required by European law. Capital market participants should be able to form an impression of those who provide an independent judgement on the financial reports of securities issuers. Auditors of companies whose transferable securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market of a member state of the European Communities are obliged to publish the report.
However, the quality assurance system to be described in the transparency report is not only applicable to audits of listed companies, but to all audits of companies above a certain size (statutory audits). We therefore also use the report to make our understanding of performance and quality transparent to a broader interested public.