public intérêst entities

If you download our notes they are searchable - at first mention of PIE in s.3.1 of Chapter 4 it does say "eg a company listed on a stock exchange". For the purpose of the AA exam you need to know that a listed company is a PIE. I don't know where you are reading about the AQR team - since this is UK-specific it cannot be relevant to the AA exam because it has only one syllabus which is relevant to every ACCA student in every jurisdiction. According to the UK definition (which you don't need to know): "Public interest entity—These are: (a) An issuer whose transferable securities are admitted to trading on a UK regulated market; (b) A credit institution ...; (c) A person who would be an insurance undertaking ... No other entities have been specifically designated in law in the UK as 'public interest entities'."