Conformity with International Standards Conformity with International Standards on Auditing

Conformity with International Standards on Auditing

50 Except as noted below, this Auditing Standard conforms with International Standard on Auditing ISA 800 The Independent Auditor's Report on Special Purpose Audit Engagements, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board of the International Federation of Accountants. The main differences between this Auditing Standard and ISA 800 are:

• This Auditing Standard includes the following mandatory requirements not contained in ISA 800:

♦ the auditor shall consider whether the financial report is intended, or purports, to meet the information needs common to users who are unable to command the preparation of reports tailored so as to satisfy, specifically, all of their information needs (paragraph 20);

♦ although the auditor’s responsibility is to form an opinion regarding presentation in accordance with the identified basis of accounting, rather than whether the framework adopted is appropriate to the needs of users, when the framework adopted is clearly likely to mislead users of the financial report, the auditor shall:

○ consider the steps taken by the preparers of the financial report to determine that the financial reporting framework is appropriate to the needs of the users;

○ consider whether the users identified are the only likely users and the possibility that the financial report will be purported to be a general purpose financial report; and

○ give particular attention to the disclosure of the framework, including consideration of whether the use of any conventional terminology within the financial report needs to be modified or embellished (paragraph 24); and

♦ when a modified opinion on the entire financial report has been expressed, the auditor shall refer to the modification in the auditor’s report if:

○ the modification has a material effect on the component; or

○ on the date of signing the auditor’s report, the auditor is aware that the audit report on the component is to be presented with the entire financial report or other significant components (paragraph 34).

• The auditor’s opinion on a financial report prepared in accordance with an alternative comprehensive basis of accounting or a component of a financial report shall state whether the financial report “gives a true and fair view” or “presents fairly, in all material respects” (paragraphs 22 and 32) whereas ISA 800 provides that the opinion should state whether the financial statements are “prepared, in all material respects”.
• In this Auditing Standard, the matters the auditor is required to include in the auditor’s report on a special purpose audit engagement has been updated based on the requirements in ASA 700 The Auditor’s Report on a General Purpose Financial Report, whereas a number of these matters are not required in ISA 800. Consequently, the example auditor’s reports differ between this Auditing Standard and ISA 800.