The former Executive Director Enforcement and Market Monitoring will lead the German Auditor Oversight Body (AOB) come 1 June 2025
„I am pleased to continue to strengthen public audit oversight in my new role. Like the audit profession, the AOB faces many challenges, and it must fulfil its tasks with the great expertise and professionalism. It must also live up to the international benchmarks for independent audit oversight.” Kanwan said.
A modern authority with the potential to attract talent
“ We already have a great team in Berlin, Duesseldorf and Eschborn, but the AOB needs to recruit additional staff members in a very competitive labor market in Germany.” He went on to say that some of the emerging topics such as digitalization and sustainability assurance require authorities to be agile in terms of expertise and structure. First and foremost, the goal is “to further improve audit quality and by that, enhance the trust in the German capital market.”.
Background information
Naif-Raffael Kanwan is a licensed auditor and tax advisor by background. He started his career at one of the larger audit firms in Germany and then went to work for the German professional body, the Chamber of Public Accountants (WPK) as a Head of Division Enforcement. With the implementation of the AOB in 2016 he continued his career in independent public auditor oversight and led the Directorate Enforcement and Market Monitoring since 2019. In that capacity, he was also the Chairman of the Panel which was responsible for the decisions regarding the audit-related sanctions in the Wirecard case.
