Glossary — SQMTrove user guide

Acceptance and continuance: The firm's decision to take on, or keep, a client relationship or engagement (ISQM 1.30, 34(d)). Recorded in Clients & acceptance.
Annual evaluation: The evaluation of the system of quality management, as at a point in time, by the individual with ultimate responsibility, with one of three conclusions in ISQM 1.54.
AuditTrove: The TroveSuite audit engagement software. With the link on, it sends engagement facts to SQMTrove.
Component: One of the eight parts of a system of quality management in ISQM 1: the risk assessment process, governance and leadership, relevant ethical requirements, acceptance and continuance, engagement performance, resources, information and communication, and the monitoring and remediation process.
Cooling-off period: The time a partner must stay off an engagement after serving on it: before becoming its quality reviewer (two years after being engagement partner, ISQM 2.19) or after the time-on limit for public interest entities (IESBA Section 540).
CPD: Continuing professional development. SQMTrove checks each person's hours against their body's rule, for example ICAN: 40 hours a year and 120 over three years.
Deficiency: A shortcoming in the system identified from findings (ISQM 1.16(a)): a missing objective, an unidentified or poorly assessed risk, or a response not properly designed, implemented or operating effectively.
Engagement quality review (EQR): An objective evaluation of the significant judgements made by the engagement team, performed by the engagement quality reviewer and completed on or before the date of the report (ISQM 2).
Finding: Information about the performance of the system from monitoring, inspections, complaints, breaches or other sources, which is evaluated to decide whether a deficiency exists (ISQM 1.16(h), 40).
Firm administrator: The SQMTrove role for the person who runs users, settings and the registers — at Okafor Bello & Co the Head of IT & Practice Resources. It has no access to the confidential complaints register.
Fishbone: A cause-and-effect diagram that sorts contributing factors (people, process, methodology, technology, culture, resources) in a root cause analysis.
FRC: The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, which registers audit firms and inspects audits of public interest entities and firms' systems of quality management.
ICAN: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, which licenses members in practice and reviews practices through its practice monitoring programme.
Individual with ultimate responsibility: The person with ultimate responsibility and accountability for the system (ISQM 1.20(a)), usually the managing partner. Only this person signs the annual evaluation.
Inspection pack: SQMTrove's printable document of the system for a regulator or network, built from the records.
Inspector (read-only): The SQMTrove role for a regulator's or network's inspector: reads everything they are shown, changes nothing and never uses AI.
Owner: The SQMTrove role of the person who opened the firm from troveuniverse.com, normally the individual with ultimate responsibility.
Pervasive: A deficiency whose effect is broad across the system rather than confined to one area; together with severity it decides the conclusion of the annual evaluation.
Public interest entity (PIE): An entity treated as a PIE under IESBA R400.22 or local law — for example a listed company, a bank, an insurer or an entity specified by the FRC Act. Stricter independence, rotation and review rules apply.
Quality objective: An outcome the firm sets to achieve the aims of the system; ISQM 1 requires specific objectives for each component, and the firm may add its own.
Quality risk: A risk, with a reasonable possibility of occurring, that could adversely affect the achievement of a quality objective. SQMTrove scores it for likelihood and effect.
Recovery code: A one-time code that lets you sign in without your phone. Ten are given when two-factor is set up.
Remedial action: An action to address the root cause of a deficiency; it is tested for effectiveness before the deficiency is closed.
Response: A policy or procedure designed and implemented to address one or more quality risks. The specified responses are those ISQM 1.34 requires of every firm.
Restricted entity list: The list of entities in which people required to be independent may not hold financial interests: the audit clients and any others the firm adds.
Root cause analysis: The investigation of why a deficiency happened, to find causes the firm can act on (ISQM 1.41(a)).
Seat: One user login in the firm, whatever the role. Seats are bought on troveuniverse.com.
Severe: A deficiency whose effect on the system is significant; it limits the conclusion of the annual evaluation to 54(b) or 54(c).
Speak-up: The channel in SQMTrove for anyone to raise a concern, anonymously if they wish.
TCWG: Those charged with governance, for example the audit committee of a client.
TroveUniverse: The website (troveuniverse.com) where TroveSuite apps, including SQMTrove, are subscribed to and launched.
Two-factor authentication: Signing in with your password and a six-digit code from an authenticator app on your phone.