Corporations Act 2001Corporations Act 2001

Example Auditor’s Report

General Purpose Financial Report

Disclaimer of Opinion (due to limitation of scope)

Corporations Act 2001

(Fair Presentation Framework)

[Aus] Illustration 3:

 Audit of a single company’s financial report.

 The financial report has been prepared under the Corporations Act 2001.

 The terms of the audit engagement reflect the description of management’s responsibility for the financial report in ASA 210.

 The auditor is unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern as the directors have refused to extend their going concern assessment up to the relevant period.

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

[Appropriate Addressee]

Report on the Financial Report[†]

We have audited the accompanying financial report of ABC Company Ltd., which comprises the statement of financial position as at 30 June 20X1, the statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows for the year then ended, notes comprising a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information, and the directors’ declaration.

Directors’ Responsibility for the Financial Report

The directors of the company are responsible for the preparation of the financial report that gives a true and fair view in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards and the Corporations Act 2001, and for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of a financial report that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial report based on conducting the audit in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards. Because of the matter described in the Basis for Disclaimer of Opinion paragraph, however, we were not able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion.

Independence

In conducting our audit, we have complied with the independence requirements of the Corporations Act 2001. We confirm that the independence declaration required by the Corporations Act 2001, which has been given to the directors of ABC Company Ltd., would be in the same terms if given to the directors as at the time of the auditor’s report.[*]

Basis for Disclaimer of Opinion

The company’s financing arrangements expired and the amount outstanding was payable on 30 June 20X1. The company has been unable to re‑negotiate or obtain replacement financing. The directors have refused to extend their assessment of the company’s ability to continue as a going concern beyond 30 September 20X1 given the uncertainty of obtaining suitable replacement financing. We have been unable to obtain alternative evidence which would provide sufficient appropriate audit evidence as to whether the company may be able to obtain such financing, and hence remove significant doubt of its ability to continue as a going concern within 12 months of the date of this auditor’s report.