Auditing & Assurance Standards Board

Darby Healey is a seasoned audit professional with a distinguished career at KPMG. Having joined the firm in 1997, Darby has amassed extensive experience and expertise working with clients in both New Zealand and the United States. Throughout the years, she has held several key leadership positions, including serving as an Audit Partner, Head of Audit Quality, Audit Risk Partner and Ethics and Independence Partner. She is currently a member of the KPMG NZ Board. Darby is a member of CAANZ and a fellow of CPA Australia and was previously on the XRB’s Audit Technical Reference Group. Darby's remarkable journey at KPMG reflects her relentless pursuit of professional growth and her profound impact on the field of audit and assurance.

PhD, FCA, FCPA

David is the Professor of Auditing at the University of Auckland, New Zealand and was previously the head of Department of Accounting and Finance at the University. He is an author of numerous articles in research journals and is a former winner of the Notable Contribution to the Auditing Literature Award. 

FCA

Mr Doug Niven FCA was appointed as the full-time Chair and CEO of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) for a period of five years with effect from 22 September 2023. He had been Acting Chair since 31 July 2023.

He was previously Chief Accountant of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) where he was responsible for strategy and policy on financial reporting and audit, and complex and technical accounting and audit matters and issues, and external stakeholder liaison. He also had operational responsibility for ASIC’s financial reporting surveillances and audit firm inspections from 2008 to 2021 and continued to have a key role in those programs.

Among other matters, Doug was responsible for developing ASIC’s regulatory guidance on non-IFRS financial information, the operating and financial review, the role of directors in supporting audit quality, impairment guidance for directors and communicating ASIC audit findings to directors.

Doug was a member of Committee 1 of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions on Accounting, Audit and Disclosure (IOSCO C1), the IOSCO Sustainability Technical Review Coordination Group, the IOSCO Sustainability Assurance Working Group, the IOSCO ISSB Protocols Working Group and the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR).

He was a member of the IFIAR Global Audit Quality Working Group which met with the largest six firms globally to discuss initiatives to improve audit quality. He was also a member of the IOSCO Auditing and Accounting Subcommittees, the IFIAR Board, the IFIAR Global Audit Quality Working Group, the IFIAR Standards Coordination Working Group and the IFIAR Enforcement Working Group, the IFIAR Inspection Survey Task Force and the IFIAR Sustainability Task Force.

He represented IOSCO Committee 1 at the Monitoring Group during the development of the reforms of the international auditing and ethical standard setting arrangements. Doug was a past Chair of the IOSCO Auditing Subcommittee, the IOSCO IFRS Information Sharing Subcommittee and the IFIAR International Cooperation Working Group.

Doug has more than 40 years of experience in financial reporting and audit. He joined ASIC in 1998 and was at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu from 1983 where he audited companies in the financial services sector and other industries.

Richard is a retired partner of Deloitte NZ’s risk advisory practice. He has an extensive background as a risk and assurance professional serving clients across both private and public sectors. He has worked with the senior leadership teams and boards of a wide range of organisations locally and abroad advising on the risk and assurance dimensions of governance, strategy, performance, regulation and change.

Richard is also a member of the Institute of Directors, Institute of Internal Auditors and Director of Accuro Health Insurance NZ. 

Todd is the Assistant Auditor-General, Audit Quality at the Office of the Auditor-General. He has more than 20 years’ experience with the Office in technical auditing and accounting roles. Todd is responsible for leading the Office on all audit quality matters, including the Office’s position on auditing, accounting, and performance reporting matters, supporting public sector auditors, and maintaining an effective quality assurance programme over public sector audits.

Todd also has extensive accounting standard setting experience. He was a member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board from 2018 to 2023. He has also served as a member of the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board, and was a former Director, Accounting Standards at the XRB. 

Vasana is a licensed auditor and an Audit Partner at PwC, specialising in the financial services sector. Vasana's audit experience covers a wide range of commercial sector clients in New Zealand and the UK, including insurance, asset management, real estate and finance companies, as well as controls and other assurance engagements.