Accounting Firms as Gatekeepers: Navigating Contemporary Governance and Accountability Challenges

30 September 2026

As gatekeepers, auditors play a significant role in safeguarding the interest of the public.

Reforms are presently being considered to mitigate the loss of public trust in accounting firms.

This seminar brought together three experts from industry and academia to discuss recent developments from regulatory and ethical perspectives, drawing insights from domestic and international experience.

It was an insightful and engaging discussion of strategies for enhancing the regulation of the audit sector and public trust.

The seminar was jointly organised by Monash Business School’s Corporate Law, Organisation and Litigation Research Group and Monash Law's Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies (CLARS).

In corporate governance, we often focus on the nexus between directors, management, and shareholders.

However, external auditors serve a critical public interest role, acting as an independent check on the market to bridge information asymmetry and build investor confidence.

Key takeaways from the discussion:

• Culture & Identity Over Structure: While the traditional partnership model is not antithetical to quality auditing, tension arises when commercial imperatives eclipse professional identity. When practitioners view themselves as client executives or firm employees first, rather than independent professionals bound by ethical codes, speak-up cultures fail and standards erode.
• Reframing the Gatekeeper: We were challenged to re-examine what gatekeeping truly means. Rather than acting as "gate-facilitators" or becoming the default scapegoats in a broader "unaccountability machine", auditors and other professionals must embrace their role as reputational intermediaries. True gatekeeping requires resisting wilful blindness and having the courage to ask clients the hard questions.
• The Future of Co-Regulation: Restoring public trust requires more than just top-down rule-making. It demands firm-wide ethical education, robust quality management, and effective co-regulation between professional bodies and statutory regulators to proactively shape culture before failures occur.

Thank you to Vanessa Chapman and Philip Koh for sharing their deep expertise on how the profession can navigate these systemic challenges and rebuild public trust.

Ethical business conduct is a core focus of our work at CLARS, and this event gave us a lot to think about.

CLARS would like to thank Vivien Chen and the team at Monash Business School for co-hosting.

Special thanks to CLARS interns Chloe Eden and Ben Noonan for all of their help during the event.

Event Details

Accounting Firms as Gatekeepers: Navigating Contemporary Governance and Accountability Challenges

When: Wednesday 30 September 2026
Time: 5pm - 7pm AEST
Campus: Monash Sky Room

This activity may be claimed in the following CPD categories (subject to the attendee’s assessment):

• Substantive Law
• Ethics and Professional Responsibility

Participants should determine the appropriate allocation of CPD units in accordance with their applicable CPD rules.

Speakers

Vanessa Chapman, Group Executive General Counsel and Corporate Assurance, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand

Ms Chapman has almost 30 years’ experience as a corporate lawyer and governance professional in top-tier private practice and in-house financial services legal roles. She has significant experience as a trusted adviser to boards and business leaders on ESG, legal, risk and compliance issues, delivery of ASX Corporate Governance practices and managing operational risk and compliance functions.

Ms Chapman holds a BA (Econ)/LLB and Master of Laws (Corporate and Commercial) from the University of New South Wales, and is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and graduate of the Cranlana Executive Colloquium.

She is also a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia, a member of the Law Society of New South Wales (having also served on the society’s Professional Conduct Committee), and an Advocate Member of The Ethics Centre.

Philip Koh, Senior Partner, Mah-Kamariyah & Philip Koh

Mr Koh has more than forty years of experience in the legal profession, industry and academia.

He specialises in contract and investment, mergers and acquisitions, financial services and securities regulation, corporate governance, commercial and civil litigation, and public law.

Mr Koh is sought after for his expertise on the governance of financial institutions, and has provided high-level training, including matters involving audit and law, at major forums. He has also been involved in law reform and landmark commercial, civil, public and constitutional law cases which have helped shape Malaysian law.

Moderator

Associate Professor Steve Kourabas, Faculty of Law, Monash University

Associate Professor Kourabas lectures in corporations law and related areas. His scholarly interests include corporations law, financial regulation, and international economic law (including global governance and regulation). He has published on matters regarding prudential regulation, and is currently focusing on the interaction between technology and the corporation with an emphasis on the development of equity crowdfunding in Australia and globally.

Associate Professor Kourabas completed his doctorate at Duke Law School. His dissertation explored the development of international financial law after the global financial crisis, with a particular emphasis on the potential to bring international finance law within the international public law regime.

Prior to joining Monash, Associate Professor Kourabas worked as legal counsel for a number of years, when he held positions at Telstra, The Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance, and the Victorian Government Solicitor's Office.