October 2026 (release 34). The firm's home country is Nigeria or International. Nigeria is the default, and nothing changes for a Nigerian firm. A firm outside Nigeria chooses International (chapter 29).
| What changed | What it means for you | Steps |
|---|---|---|
| Home country: Nigeria or International | A firm outside Nigeria chooses International: neutral wording, and the Nigerian or Barbadian rules apply only to clients there. Nigeria stays the default and nothing changes for Nigerian firms. Only an owner or firm administrator changes the home country; the change has its own audit trail entry. Barbados is kept only as an existing setting. | 29.1, 29.2, 29.4 |
| Regulator and registration number | An International firm records its own regulator or professional body and registration number instead of the FRC, ICAN and ICAB numbers. The inspection pack and the transparency report use them. | 29.3, 29.10 |
| Neutral starter library | The guided set-up gives an International firm jurisdiction-neutral rows. The Nigerian or Barbadian rows are added only if the firm ticks the optional question, which appears when it has clients in that country. | 29.5, 29.6, 29.8, 29.9 |
| Checks follow each client's jurisdiction | The FRC or ICAB registration check and the beneficial ownership threshold follow the client's jurisdiction. Other jurisdictions have no registration check and a threshold the firm sets (25% by default). A new client of an International firm starts as Other. | 29.7, 29.11, 29.13, 29.14 |
| Thresholds | Raising any beneficial ownership threshold needs an owner or firm administrator, in every firm. An empty threshold is refused. | 29.12 |
| Engagement import | An optional jurisdiction column (NG, BB or OTHER). In an International firm, a new client without one is added as Other, with a note and a banner. | 29.15, 29.16 |
Late September 2026 (releases 23 to 27). Security improvements and the fixes from a review of every TroveSuite app. Nothing needs to be set up again; the new rules are described where they apply.
| What changed | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Signing in | No more lock-outs: after five wrong passwords each try waits a little longer (up to a minute). Everyone was signed out once when this changed. |
| Confirmed email addresses | A login is linked to its person in the people register, and can accept another firm's invitation, only once its email address is confirmed — by the emailed link, a password reset or signing in through troveuniverse.com. |
| Dashboard | The Last annual evaluation tile names the conclusion under ISQM 1.54, with the date; the Culture survey has its own icon in the menu. |
| EQR objectivity | The engagement partner, manager, team and key audit partners cannot complete or record the engagement quality review. A recorded completion cannot be overwritten: withdraw it (with a reason and an authenticator code) before recording a corrected date. Clearing the EQR appointment needs the same access as changing it. |
| Complaints and allegations | The person a complaint is about no longer sees it, its files or its audit trail. The complainant's name and contact details are shown only to the quality lead and the complaint's investigator; others see Restricted. The investigator must have complaints access. The inspection pack shows complaint counts to readers without complaints access. |
| Culture survey | Results can be seen only once the survey is closed. Small groups are combined, and the groups shown always add up to the total, so nobody can be identified by subtraction. A statement cannot be left blank. |
| Personal independence | Changing the entity, holding, instrument or amount of a personal register entry resets its resolution. The owner cannot end an entry that has been reviewed or that matches the restricted list. A decided pre-clearance request cannot be changed — make a new request. Breaches and findings raised from the register no longer repeat the holding or the person's name. |
| Ethics registers | Fees, firm revenue, non-assurance services, tax planning, threats and service history need ethics level 2 (partners, the ethics partner and the quality lead). |
| Client details | Changing a client's entity type, jurisdiction, public interest entity fields, listing, the law requiring an EQR, audit-client flag, TIN or RC number needs acceptance or ethics level 3, and is recorded with the before and after. |
| Annual evaluation | Only an owner or firm administrator can remove the ultimate responsibility assignment. A signed evaluation keeps a sealed copy of what was fingerprinted and shows an integrity result. |
The September 2026 release of SQMTrove added the features below. Chapters 23 to 28 show them in the illustration, from 25 to 30 September 2026; earlier chapters say where a screen changed. After the release every firm has the new registers and settings; the checks on registrations and due diligence start as warnings, and signing needs a fresh code.
| Feature | What it does | Steps |
|---|---|---|
| Personal independence register | Everyone records their financial interests, loans, business, family and employment relationships and roles; each entry is checked against the audit clients, their related entities, value chain entities and the other restricted entities, and a match alerts the ethics partner. | 23.3, 23.4, 23.9, 23.10 |
| Check an entity and pre-clearance | Check a company before investing; ask the ethics partner for pre-clearance (valid 30 days); nobody decides their own request. | 23.5, 23.6, 23.11, 23.12 |
| Declarations tied to the register; joiner and ad hoc campaigns | A new statement that the register is complete, a copy of the register with each declaration, automatic exceptions for unresolved matches, and two new campaign kinds. | 23.7, 23.8, 23.14 |
| Client groups and related entities | Parents, subsidiaries, associates and sister entities; related entities worked out under the IESBA definition and added to the restricted list; circular groups refused. | 23.1, 23.2, 23.13 |
| Public interest entity rules by period start | Local PIE definitions, how each client's shares are traded, and the listed or publicly traded entity rules chosen by the engagement's period start (15 December 2026), with the disclosure and TCWG reminders. | 24.1, 24.3, 24.4 |
| FRC and ICAB registrations | The firm's and each partner's and reviewer's registration with expiry and the date checked, and a check (off, warn or block) on acceptance and reviewer appointment. | 24.5, 24.6, 26.4 |
| Client due diligence (AML / KYC) | Screenings with PEP, sanctions and adverse media checks, beneficial owners against the 5% (Nigeria) threshold, re-screening dates and a check at acceptance; the optional OpenSanctions service. | 24.7, 24.8, 24.9, 24.10 |
| A fresh two-factor code to sign | Signing the annual evaluation, completing or recording an engagement quality review and approving a high-risk acceptance ask for a new code from the authenticator app. | 24.2, 24.11 |
| External experts | Evaluation of competence, capabilities and objectivity, the expert's written confirmation of interests (required before use), restricted-list check and re-evaluation. | 25.1, 25.2, 25.3 |
| Sustainability assurance (ISSA 5000, IESSA) | Level of assurance, framework and value chain on the engagement; non-accountant practitioners; ISSA 5000 library risks; separate rotation, non-assurance services and fees; warnings on the leader's accreditation. | 25.4, 25.5, 25.6, 25.7, 25.8 |
| Tax planning | Credible basis, laws relied on, commercial substance, the stand-back test, consultation, decision and second review. | 25.9, 25.10 |
| NOCLAR register | Non-compliance with laws and regulations: discussions, evaluation of the response and the disclosure decision; cannot be deleted. | 25.11 |
| Scheduled jobs | An hourly background run for reminders, chasers by email, the independence re-check and the AuditTrove import; Settings → Scheduled jobs. | 26.1, 26.2, 26.3 |
| The engagement quality review gate with AuditTrove | AuditTrove waits for a review required in SQMTrove before the report can be dated; a report dated too early alerts the reviewer, the partner and the monitoring lead. | 26.5, 26.4 |
| Culture survey | Anonymous survey of eleven statements, results by grade and office with small groups hidden, trend, and a condition in the risk assessment. | 27.1, 27.2, 27.3, 27.4 |
| Stored transparency reports | Versions with a fingerprint, comparison, approval by a leader, publication with a PDF snapshot, then locked. | 27.5, 27.6, 27.7, 27.8 |
| Export every row | Export CSV downloads every row matching the filters (up to 200,000) and is recorded in the audit trail; long lists say when they show only the first rows. | 27.9, 16.6 |
| Complaints from outside the firm | A public form without sign-in, with anonymity, one attachment, a tracking code, an acknowledgement email and a status page. | 28.1, 28.2, 28.3, 28.4, 28.5, 28.6 |