Attestation
Complying with ethical requirements for accepting and continuing engagements contributes greatly to audit quality. Take this quiz to test your knowledge of ethical standards you need to consider when accepting or continuing engagements.
Regulators and standard setters are promulgating new requirements for environmental, social and governance information, and that may lead many companies to call upon external auditors to examine their ESG disclosures.
The AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee issued an amendment that clarifies the responsibilities of AICPA members responding to client requests for client-provided records. PEEC also limited firms’ ability to loan staff to attest clients.
The AICPA staff has posted new FAQ guidance on issues related to System and Organization Controls 2 and 3 (SOC 2 and SOC 3) engagements.
The limited assurance obtained by a practitioner in a review engagement is clarified in a standard issued by the AICPA Auditing Standards Board.
Practitioners can provide services to clients related to cybersecurity beyond their financial statement auditing role, according to a newly published report from the Center for Audit Quality.
How well do auditors perform in assessing and responding to risks of material misstatement? New research provides some answers.
Practitioners will be able to perform a new engagement known as a direct examination for clients under a new standard published by the AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB).
CPA firms’ ability to loan staff to attest clients would be limited to rare circumstances under a newly proposed AICPA ethics interpretation.
Statement on Standards for Attestation
Engagements (SSAE) No. 19, Agreed-Upon
Procedures Engagements, provides practitioners more flexibility for performing agreed-upon procedures engagements.
The SEC issued amendments that exempt smaller reporting companies with less than $100 million in revenue from the requirement to obtain attestation of their internal control over financial reporting from an outside auditor.
A recently issued independence interpretation contains guidance for CPAs’ interactions with attest clients’ information systems.
The steady growth in assurance of sustainability reports suggests that companies increasingly perceive that there are net benefits of having their sustainability reports assured.
If approved, the standard would give practitioners added flexibility.
The AICPA Auditing Standards Board issued a proposal that would make numerous changes to the attestation standards, including changing the terminology for what have been known as “review engagements.”
CPA firms must take care not to run afoul of professional standards if they are asked to sign nondisclosure agreements.
Two new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) issued by the AICPA Professional Ethics Division provide nonauthoritative guidance for the effects on independence when senior personnel have been on an attest engagement team for a long period.
Attestation guidance addresses third-party due-diligence services for asset-backed securities.
Read excerpts from a new AICPA-issued sustainability guide issued to aid practitioners taking on attestation services in this emerging area.
The ASB issued a statement of position providing guidance for attestation engagements related to third-party due-diligence services performed in connection with asset-backed securities.