Audit and Attest
Accounting & Financial Reporting | Industry Insights | Audit & Attest | Review, Compilation & Preparation | Assurance & Advisory
If you perform audit and attest engagements, the information and resources here will help you stay informed of changes to audit and attest standards, perform your engagements, and be aware of common pitfalls in these engagements.
The Auditing Standards Board promulgates Statements on Auditing Standards (SAS), Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) and Statements on Quality Control Standards (SQCS), and, as a part of its due process, releases Exposure Drafts of proposed standards. The AICPA also issues interpretive and other publications to assist practitioners in understanding and applying the standards.
Hot Topics
ASB Releases Final Balloted Draft of Omnibus SAS to More Closely Align to PCAOB Standards
At its October 2018 meeting, the AICPA's Auditing Standards Board (ASB) voted to issue a final Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS), Omnibus Statement on Auditing Standards—2019, to more closely align its guidance with the PCAOB's standards by primarily amending AU-C section 260, Communications With Those Charged With Governance, AU-C section 550, Related Parties, and AU-C section 240, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit (AICPA, Professional Standards). The finalized SAS is expected to be issued in early 2019 in conjunction with a suite of SASs on auditor reporting that the ASB is scheduled to vote to issue as final at its January 2019 meeting. The effective date of the finalized omnibus SAS is expected to be no earlier than for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 15, 2020.
ASB Releases Final Balloted Draft of SAS That Addresses Auditor Reporting on ERISA Plan Financial Statements
The ASB has voted to issue SAS Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA.
The SAS addresses the auditor’s responsibility to form an opinion and report on the audit of financial statements of employee benefit plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the form and content of the auditor’s report issued as a result of an audit of ERISA plan financial statements. The ASB expects to consider whether conforming amendments to this SAS will be necessary once the Proposed SASs Auditor Reporting and Related Amendments are voted to be issued, which is expected to occur in the first half of 2019.
The SAS includes new requirements for engagement acceptance, audit risk assessment and response, communications with those charged with governance, procedures for an ERISA section 103(a)(3)(C) audit, and considerations relating to the Form 5500. It also contains a new report format for ERISA section 103(a)(3)(C) audits. For audits of ERISA plan financial statements only, this SAS would apply in place of AU-C section 700, Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements, and paragraph .09 of AU-C section 725, Supplementary Information in Relation to the Financial Statements as a Whole (AICPA, Professional Standards). The SAS also would amend various other AU-C sections in AICPA Professional Standards.
When issued, the SAS is expected to be effective no earlier than for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 15, 2020.
ASB Issues SAS No. 133 on Exempt Offering Documents
The ASB issued SAS No. 133, Auditor Involvement with Exempt Offering Documents (AICPA, Professional Standards, AU-C sec. 945), to address the auditor’s responsibilities with respect to all exempt offerings of securities undertaken pursuant to federal and state securities laws, and similar laws governing franchise offerings. AU-C section 925, Filings With the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Under the Securities Act of 1933 (AICPA, Professional Standards), addresses other offerings. Prior to the issuance of SAS No. 133, the AICPA provided best practices specific to issuances of municipal securities in industry-specific auditing guidance appearing in the AICPA Audit and Accounting Guides, State and Local Governments and Health Care Entities. SAS No. 133 amends AU-C section 560, Subsequent Events and Subsequently Discovered Facts (AICPA, Professional Standards), and AU-C section 925, and becomes effective for exempt offering documents with which the auditor is involved that are initially distributed, circulated, or submitted on or after June 15, 2018.
ASB Issues Statement on Auditing Standards No. 132
The ASB has issued SAS No. 132 , The Auditor's Consideration of an Entity's Ability to Continue as a Going Concern (AICPA, Professional Standards, AU-C sec. 570), to supersede SAS No. 126 of the same title. In developing the new SAS, the primary objective was to consider the accounting provisions of FASB Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-15, Presentation of Financial Statements—Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40): Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern, and GASB Statement No. 56, Codification of Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidance Contained in the AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards. The SAS becomes effective for (i) audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 15, 2017, and (ii) reviews of interim financial information for interim periods beginning after fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2017.
Learn more in an AICPA Explanatory Memorandum and in an upcoming webcast.
Standards Tracker
In an effort to keep its members informed, the AICPA has created a Standards Tracker. This tool will keep members up to date regarding the most recent guidance made available by standard setters, filtered in order to give you only what you need to know.
