Auditor's Responsibilities

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Auditing Standard ASA 700 Forming an Opinion and Reporting on a Financial Report requires an auditor’s report to include a section with the heading 'Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Report'. [Ref: ASA 700, paragraph 37-40]

ASA 700 paragraph 41 requires the description of the auditor’s responsibilities required by ASA 700 paragraphs 39-40 to be included:

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
by a specific reference within the auditor’s report to the location of such a description on a website of an appropriate authority, where law, regulation or Australian Auditing Standards expressly permit the auditor to do so.

ASA 700 paragraph Aus A57.1 provides Application and Other Explanatory Material that when the auditor refers to a description of the auditor's responsibilities on a website, the appropriate authority is The Auditing and Assurance Standards Board website and the website address is www.auasb.gov.au/Home.aspx*.

* The auditor’s report should refer to the specific webpage that applies to the auditor’s responsibilities applicable in the context of the engagement.

As a result, when referring to the responsibilities statements the auditor needs to include the correct URL based on the type of engagement listed in the table below.

Authorisation

The Australian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board authorises that descriptions of the Auditor's Responsibilities can be referenced to the following examples. The auditor’s report includes a reference to the specific webpage that applies to the auditor’s responsibilities applicable in the context of the engagement.

	ASA 600 Applies^{^}	ASA 600 Applies^ *	ASA 600 does not apply
Fair presentation framework
Listed (After 1 January 2020)	Statement 1 (2020)	Statement 1	Statement 2 (2020)
Listed (Before 2020)	Statement 1		Statement 2
Non-listed	Statement 3	Statement 3	Statement 4
Non-listed – voluntary reporting of key audit matter(s)	Statement 5	Statement 5	Statement 6
Compliance framework
Non-listed	Statement 7	Statement 7	Statement 8
Non-listed – voluntary reporting of key audit matter(s)	Statement 9	Statement 9	Statement 10

* For Financial reporting periods commencing on or after 15 December 2023

Fair presentation framework	URL
Statement 1 (2020)	https://www.auasb.gov.au/admin/file/content102/c3/ar1_2020.pdf
Statement 2 (2020)	https://www.auasb.gov.au/admin/file/content102/c3/ar2_2020.pdf
Statement 1 (Pre-2020)	https://www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar1.pdf
Statement 2 (Pre-2020)	https://www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar2.pdf
Statement 3	https://www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar3.pdf
Statement 4	https://www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar4.pdf
Statement 5	https://www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar5.pdf
Compliance framework
Statement 7	https://www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar7.pdf
Statement 8	https://www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar8.pdf
Statement 9	https://www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar9.pdf
Statement 10	https://www.auasb.gov.au/auditors_responsibilities/ar10.pdf

^ ASA 600 applies to group audits, in particular those that involve component auditors. Refer to ASA 600 for further detail.

Note: Earlier versions of the auditor’s responsibilities statements remain valid and can be accessed via the following link.