The BAOB was established by the Law of 7 December 2016 (available in French - Dutch only) on the organization of the profession and the public supervision of auditors. The BAOB’s full name is the Belgian Audit Oversight Board.
The BAOB is an autonomous institution with legal personality. The BAOB is independent of auditors’ professional bodies and performs its tasks solely in the public interest.
The BAOB is bound by the obligation of professional secrecy subject to sanctions under criminal law. This means that the BAOB may not disclose any confidential information it obtains during the performance of its missions. The BAOB’s professional secrecy is governed by Articles 44 and 45 of the Law of 7 December 2016 on the organization of the profession and the public supervision of auditors.
The BAOB supervises auditors and audit firms registered in Belgium in the public register. As a supervisory authority, the BAOB ensures that audit tasks are performed in a qualitative, objective and independent manner.
The profession of auditor is an honourable, important and ambitious one.
Honourable, because of the public trust it inspires.
Important, by virtue of its impact on economic life.
Ambitious, through its daily struggle to master the complex and ever-changing regulatory framework, incorporate new technological developments and to meet the growing need to combine the interests of economic players with the mandatory and uncompromising need to foster confidence in the figures they publish.
The reasons for its existence is to foster trust among third parties in the information published by companies and other players. It is essential that citizens be able to trust all public and private institutions and is a prerequisite of a successful and prosperous economic and business life. Reliable and accurate information for the market participants concerned is also a crucial requirement for honest and transparent financial markets.
The BAOB’s role as an audit quality regulator is therefore to work persistently in the interest of all. In this way, the BAOB contributes to strengthening public trust in a company's financial information and confidence in the financial markets.