The Financial Stability Board held its 2025 Roundtable on External Audit in Basel on 2–3 June, bringing together regulators, audit oversight bodies, standard setters and major audit networks to discuss issues affecting external audit quality and, in turn, public confidence in financial reporting. The biennial meeting was chaired by Soledad Núñez, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain. Discussion topics included the rise in audit inspection findings since 2022, lessons from the 2023 banking turmoil and approaches to strengthening audit quality in that context. Participants also exchanged views on the opportunities and risks of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, the implications of audit firms opening their capital to private equity investors, sustainability reporting and the development of sustainability assurance and ethics standards, and accounting-related audit challenges such as implementation of IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts, expected credit loss provisioning and proposals for banks’ hedge accounting.