Reports on Summarised Financial ReportsReports on Summarised Financial Reports

Reports on Summarised Financial Reports

43 An entity may prepare a financial report summarising its annual audited financial report for the purpose of informing user groups interested in the highlights only of the entity’s financial position and the results of its operations.

44 Unless the auditor has expressed an auditor’s opinion on the financial report from which the summarised financial report was derived, the auditor shall not report on the summarised financial report.

45 Summarised financial reports are presented in considerably less detail than annual audited financial reports. Therefore, such financial reports ought to indicate the summarised nature of the information and caution the reader that, for a better understanding of an entity’s financial position and the results of its operations, the summarised financial report is to be read in conjunction with the entity’s most recent audited financial report which include all disclosures required by the relevant financial reporting framework.

46 Summarised financial reports ought to be titled to identify the audited financial report from which they have been derived, for example, “Summarised Financial Information Prepared from the Audited Financial Report for the Year Ended 30 June 20XX”.

47 Summarised financial reports do not contain all the information required by the financial reporting framework used for the annual audited financial report. Consequently, wording such as “true and fair” or “presents fairly, in all material respects” is not used by the auditor when expressing an opinion on a summarised financial report.

48 The auditor’s report on a summarised financial report shall include the following basic elements ordinarily in the following layout:

(a) a title clearly identifying it as the report of an independent auditor;

(b) an addressee;

(c) an identification of the audited financial report from which the summarised financial report was derived, including the name of the entity and the reporting period covered by the financial report;

(d) a reference to the date of the auditor’s report on the unabridged financial report and the type of opinion given in that report;

(e) a reference to Australian Auditing Standards and relevant ethical requirements relating to audit engagements;

(f) an opinion as to whether the information in the summarised financial report is consistent with the audited financial report from which it was derived. When the auditor has issued a modified opinion on the unabridged financial report yet is satisfied with the presentation of the summarised financial report, the auditor’s report should state that, although consistent with the unabridged financial report, the summarised financial report was derived from a financial report on which a modified auditor’s report was issued;