AUASB amends Auditor’s Responsibilities Statements

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

The AUASB amends Auditor’s Responsibilities Statement 1 and Statement 2 resulting from the revised APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards) (the Code) which became effective from 1 January 2020.

These statements provide a description of the auditor’s responsibilities referred by ASA 700 paragraph 41 (c) in the Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Report section of the audit report.

Where auditors refer to the Auditor’s Responsibilities Statements by including a specific reference to the AUASB website in the body of their Audit Report they are reminded to ensure the correct URL is included. This includes updating any relevant report templates and electronical tools where necessary.

Please refer to the AUASB Bulletin on The Revised Code of Ethics and the Auditor’s Report for the key changes and implications arising from the revised Code for audit practitioners.

The changes required to the “Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Report” section of the audit report need to be applied for all Listed Entities whether this part of the audit report is:

• in the body of the auditor’s report;
• within an appendix to the auditor’s report, in which case the auditor’s report shall include a reference to the location of the appendix; or
• included by a specific reference within the auditor’s report to the relevant Auditor’s Responsibilities Statements on the AUASB website (as allowed under ASA 700 paragraph Aus A57.1).

The AUASB would like to remind stakeholders of the need to ensure that references to relevant ethical requirements in an Auditor’s Report or an Auditor’s Review Report are updated where appropriate.

Feedback and queries on this topic are welcome and should be directed to [email protected] or by telephone +61 3 8080 7400.