Audit services

IndustriesFinancial servicesInsurance

Audit

We perform audits of insurers’ financial statements under UK, IFRS, and US accounting standards. We also perform audits according to relevant regulations such as Solvency 2 and client money rules.

Current market challenges

Company boards and regulators demand quality audits that are compliant with all relevant standards, and which are based on deep industry experience. They expect their auditor to provide market insights as part of a professional and personalised service. 

Our clients operate in fast-changing and increasingly complex environments – the need to improve process efficiency through cloud computing and greater use of AI, regulatory and tax challenge, accounting standard change, responding to the climate emergency are some of the areas of focus for our clients’ finance, risk, and IT teams. 

At the same time, companies grapple with the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on their operations and their underwriting and reserving.  Through these changes, they require auditors who quickly understand this environment and can respond with agility.   

How we can help

The audit of financial institutions has been a strategic focus of the firm for many years and we have been successful in executing our growth strategy.  Mazars offers a world-class audit experience with deep knowledge of the insurance sector. We have recently built on our strong brand in insurance to secure many high-profile UK subsidiaries of international groups.  This enables us to feel the pulse of the market and benchmark our clients’ processes and results.   

  • Our audit approach is built on understanding the risks facing our clients, both internally within the business and within the market.   
  • We organise our audits to be compliant with auditing standards; within that framework, however, we work collaboratively and sensitively with clients – we plan our audits in a manner that reflects clients’ financial reporting and organisational structures, based on our understanding of their business and internal control processes. 

We manage our audits as projects – we consider key issues, such as management judgements, accounting for unusual transactions and changes in financial reporting requirements, early in the process, to ensure that all known matters are settled and agreed upon early in the process. We develop communication plans so that all stakeholders are informed about the outcomes of our work at the right time and level of detail.  

We have around 100 dedicated insurance auditors in the UK, including over 9 partners. Our specialists are integrated into our audit teams. Actuarial, IT and tax experts understand our client’s issues, allowing them to audit efficiently and provide insightful comments on our clients’ systems and reporting.   

Case study

We were appointed UK auditor to the subsidiary of a major US-headquartered international insurance group.  We were faced with a number of challenges, mostly related to the need to understand quickly the client’s complex business lines and operating model, its history, and its ambitious strategy.  We held a series of intensive client workshops to build a comprehensive picture of all these factors, with the full participation of all key audit team members including our actuarial, IT, and tax specialists. 

Building on this, together with predecessor audit file reviews, we quickly determined our audit strategy for the first year: this focused on detailed examination and testing of key controls so that we could build a reliance-based approach and leverage the extensive work performed by the client’s 2nd Line.  This was aided by our use of advanced data analytical tools to review claims data.  We also built a reporting and review process with the parent’s auditor so that we could rely on their work on the company’s shared service centres overseas, thereby minimising client disruption.  Lastly, we devised an approach that focused on key risks – technical provisions, hard-to-value investments, and reinsurance recoveries.  

Keeping management and Board informed at key milestones, we stepped through our well-controlled audit process.  We rigorously tracked issues and deliverables in real-time, so that challenges did not become crises.  We provided benchmarking and alternative best estimates through our reserving audit. 

Our client complimented us – we mobilised quickly, we navigated a complex organisation, and we provided value. 

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