Documentation (Ref: Para. 57—59)Documentation (Ref: Para. 57—59)

Documentation (Ref: Para. 57–59)

1. Documentation provides evidence that the firm complies with this ASQM, as well as law, regulation or relevant ethical requirements. It may also be useful for training personnel and engagement teams, ensuring the retention of organisational knowledge and providing a history of the basis for decisions made by the firm about its system of quality management. It is neither necessary nor practicable for the firm to document every matter considered, or judgement made, about its system of quality management. Furthermore, compliance with this ASQM may be evidenced by the firm through its information and communication component, documents or other written materials, or IT applications that are integral to the components of the system of quality management.
2. Documentation may take the form of formal written manuals, checklists and forms, may be informally documented (e.g., e-mail communication or postings on websites), or may be held in IT applications or other digital forms (e.g., in databases). Factors that may affect the firm’s judgements about the form, content and extent of documentation, including how often documentation is updated, may include:

• The complexity of the firm and the number of offices;
• The nature and complexity of the firm’s practice and organisation;
• The nature of engagements the firm performs and the nature of the entities for whom engagements are performed;
• The nature and complexity of the matter being documented, such as whether it relates to an aspect of the system of quality management that has changed or an area of greater quality risk, and the complexity of the judgements relating to the matter; and
• The frequency and extent of changes in the system of quality management.

In a less complex firm, it may not be necessary to have documentation supporting matters communicated because informal communication methods may be effective. Nevertheless, a less complex firm may determine it appropriate to document such communications in order to provide evidence that they occurred.

1. In some instances, an external oversight authority may establish documentation requirements, either formally or informally, for example, as a result of the outcome of external inspection findings. Relevant ethical requirements may also include specific requirements addressing documentation, for example, the Code requires documentation of particular matters, including certain situations related to conflicts of interest, non-compliance with laws and regulations and independence.
2. The firm is not required to document the consideration of every condition, event, circumstance, action or inaction for each quality objective, or each risk that may give rise to a quality risk. However, in documenting the quality risks and how the firm’s responses address the quality risks, the firm may document the reasons for the assessment given to the quality risks (i.e., the considered occurrence and effect on the achievement of one or more quality objectives), in order to support the consistent implementation and operation of the responses.