ASIC’s ramped-up focus on auditors sparked 2024–25 levy hikes

In 2024–25, ASIC’s recoverable costs for auditors of disclosing entities were 40 per cent higher than its estimate, as increased surveillance efforts and enforcement actions drove up the cost of regulating auditors.

Under its industry funding model, financial regulator ASIC recovers costs from the sectors it regulates through annual fees and levies. These levies fluctuate annually based on the costs of surveillance and enforcement actions within each sector.

Each year, ASIC publishes a summary of the variances between its expected and real industry funding levies. For the 2024–25 financial year, the actual levies were published in December 2025, with levy notices to be issued between January and March 2026 and paid by April.

In 2024-25, ASIC’s recoverable costs for auditors of disclosing entities were $9.8 million, 40 per cent higher than their estimated cost of $7 million. In 2023–24, recoverable costs for auditors were $7 million.

Based on costs for the 2025 financial year, ASIC’s annual levy for auditors of disclosing entities was $140 per $10,000 of revenue, up from $103 per $10,000 the year prior.

The cost growth was driven by heightened surveillance and enforcement actions in the sector, as auditor misconduct remained a high priority for ASIC, the regulator noted.

“The main drivers for the material variance were increased surveillance efforts in this sector, and enforcement costs, which were higher than estimates due to increased enforcement actions,” ASIC noted in its 2024–25 Summary of Variances.

Auditors have been subject to heightened scrutiny by ASIC after the regulator uncovered a “disappointing number” of likely breaches of auditor independence requirements, as previously reported by Accounting Times.

“Auditor independence underpins stakeholder trust and confidence in the audit process and the reliability of the financial information being audited,” ASIC commissioner Kate O’Rourke said.

“Unfortunately, our review found that many auditors failed to meet the basic independence requirements, and others failed to identify and critically evaluate potential threats to their independence.”

In late 2025, ASIC revealed that auditor misconduct would continue to be one of its top enforcement priorities throughout 2026.