Disaster Relief - The Profession Responds 

"Inquiry—A natural disaster (such as a hurricanes, tornado, fire, or earthquake) strikes and causes substantial damage. Though extreme in the loss of life and financial harm caused, the nature and location of the disaster may be such that one might reasonably expect that type of activity of nature to strike again in greater or lesser magnitude of damage. What are some of the accounting issues that arise and which accounting literature provides guidance for recognizing, measuring, and disclosing losses from natural disasters?"

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• TPA Section 8345.01 Audit Evidence: Destruction of Documents

"Inquiry—Prior to issuance of an auditor's report on financial statements, and either prior to or after the completion of fieldwork, the audit documentation is destroyed by a fire, flood, or natural disaster. To what extent must the auditor recreate the audit documentation in order to express an opinion on the financial statements?"

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"Inquiry—Prior to issuance of an auditor's report on financial statements, and either prior to or after the completion of fieldwork, the audit documentation is destroyed by a fire, flood, or natural disaster. To what extent must the auditor recreate the audit documentation in order to express an opinion on the financial statements?"

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"Inquiry—An auditor completes the field work with respect to an audit of financial statements, performs all of the post-field work procedures required by the firm’s quality control standards and signs the audit report but does not immediately issue the auditor’s report and the related financial statements to the client. During the period that the report was signed but not issued, the client suffers a significant loss due to a natural disaster. What are the auditor’s responsibilities with respect to consideration of a material subsequent event that occurs after completion of field work and after the signing of the auditor’s report but before issuance of the auditor’s report and the audited financial statements?"

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Available for immediate download is a whitepaper published by The Society of Management Accountants of Canada, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, and the AICPA, entitled, Business Continuity Management. This document has several key objectives that may be of interest to business practitioners and auditors, including:

• To define business continuity management as a corporate capability and to identify its essential components and processes;
• To establish and define the roles and responsibilities that corporate managers and boards fulfill in developing effective business continuity management practices;
• To present examples of sound business continuity management capabilities in practice; and, several more.