News
The New Auditor's Report
13-May-2015
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board's® (IAASB®) Auditor Reporting page is your source for tools and resources to promote awareness, understanding and effective implementation of the new and revised Auditor Reporting standards.
The new and revised Auditor Reporting standards are designed to enhance auditor’s reports for investors and other users of financial statements.
Why Change the Auditor’s Report Now?
The auditor’s report is the key deliverable communicating the results of the audit process. Investors and other financial statement users have asked for a more informative auditor’s report—in particular for auditors to provide more relevant information to users.
Research, public consultations, and stakeholder outreach, including global rountables, indicate that enhanced auditor reporting is critical to influencing the perceived value of the financial statement audit.
What's Changing?
- ISA 720 (Revised)
- ISA 700 (Revised)
- ISA 701 (New)
- ISA 570 (Revised)
- ISA 705 (Revised)
- ISA 706 (Revised)
- ISA 260 (Revised)
Conforming amendments to several other ISAs
What are the Intended Benefits?
- Enhanced communication between auditors and investors, as well as those charged with corporate governance
- Increased user confidence in audit reports and financial statements
- Increased transparency, audit quality, and enhanced information value
- Increased attention by management and financial statement preparers to disclosures referencing the auditor's report
- Renewed auditor focus on matters to be reported that could result in an increase in professional skepticism
- Enhanced financial reporting in the public interest
Effective Date
The new and revised Auditor Reporting standards are effective for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 15, 2016.
Effective Implementation is Key
Effective implementation is critical to the success of the new and revised Auditor Reporting standards. You--investors, regulators, audit oversight bodies, audit committees and others--have an important role in effecting the change you want to see in auditor reporting.