Other Limitations on Scope not Imposed bOther Limitations on Scope not Imposed by Management

Other Limitations on Scope not Imposed by Management

84 When the auditor concludes that an unqualified conclusion cannot be expressed, the auditor shall express a qualified conclusion when in rare circumstances there is a limitation on the scope of an auditor’s work, that is confined to one or more specific matters that, while material, are not in the auditor’s judgement pervasive to the interim financial report. A qualified conclusion shall be expressed as being “except for” the effects of the matter to which the qualification relates. The conclusion paragraph shall be headed “Qualified Conclusion”.

85 A limitation on scope may occur due to circumstances other than a limitation on scope imposed by those charged with governance. In such circumstances, the auditor is ordinarily unable to complete the review and express a conclusion and is guided by paragraphs 82 and 84. There may be, however, some rare circumstances where the limitation on the scope of the auditor’s work is clearly confined to one or more specific matters that, while material, are not in the auditor’s judgement pervasive to the interim financial report. In such circumstances, under paragraph 84 of this Auditing Standard, the auditor needs to modify the review report by indicating that, except for the matter which is described in an explanatory paragraph to the review report, the review was conducted in accordance with this Auditing Standard, and by qualifying the conclusion. Illustrative review reports with a qualified conclusion are set out in Appendix 4 to this Auditing Standard.

86 The auditor may have expressed a qualified opinion on the audit of the latest annual financial report because of a limitation on the scope of that audit. Under paragraph 84 of this Auditing Standard, the auditor needs to consider whether that limitation on scope still exists and, if so, the implications for the review report.