Audit

Critical audit matters have more value when they provide entity-specific language and avoid boilerplate, experts say.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued amendments that are designed to align its independence requirements with SEC rules that were updated in 2019 and 2020.

A proposed standard issued by the AICPA Auditing Standards Board would give practitioners more guidance on auditing management’s estimates of fair value, including on the use of pricing services.

The SEC adopted amendments that are designed to reduce situations that trigger independence rule violations in situations that don’t necessarily impair an auditor’s objectivity or impartiality.

A proposed standard by the AICPA Auditing Standards Board is designed to enhance auditors’ processes for identifying and responding to the risks of material misstatement in financial statements.

The PCAOB released staff guidance documents that are designed to help auditors implement the board’s new standards and amendments on auditing accounting estimates and the auditor’s use of the work of specialists.

The ASB issued a proposal that would update its audit evidence standard to address issues such as emerging technologies and the application of professional skepticism.

The AICPA Auditing Standards Board issued standards that are designed to improve auditors’ ability to communicate in auditors’ reports and align generally accepted auditing standards with those of other standard-setting bodies.

The PCAOB will meet to consider adopting new rules for public company auditors on auditing accounting estimates, including fair value measurements, and on the use of specialists.

The new reporting model for public company audits requires practitioners to disclose “critical audit matters” that arise during their work. A new Center for Audit Quality report examines the results of “dry runs” that are designed to help firms develop methodologies for determining and reporting critical audit matters.

Careful testing and thorough documentation are among the keys for quality single audit performance described by Laurie De Armond, CPA, in her summary of observations from the AICPA Not-for-Profit Industry Conference.

Attention to the right details during planning can save time and enhance audit quality.

Auditor’s reports will provide more information to financial statement users under new rules.