AUDIT STANDARD

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

Financial accounting standards are unique and separate from audit standards. By its nature, auditing
requires that the real-world evidence of financial transactions be compared to financial standards. The
standards to which an international auditor compares financial statements are generally standards in the
reporting country (e.g. FAS in the USA, or national standards in European Union (EU) Member States
which are based on EU Directives. In the future, companies and auditors in the EU and other countries will
use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), formerly called International Accounting
Standards (IAS), which are set by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

In March 2001, the IASC Foundation was formed as a not-for-profit corporation. The IASC Foundation is
the parent entity of the International Accounting Standards Board, an independent accounting standard
setter based in London, UK. In April 2001, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) assumed
accounting standard setting responsibilities from its predecessor body, the International Accounting
Standards Committee._11 New standards issued by the IASB will be called International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS). The EU has agreed to apply most of the IFRS from 2005 onwards.

The EU, formed in 1970, has issued a series of accounting standards for Member States. The European
Commission (EC) achieves its law objectives through two instruments: Directives which must be
incorporated into the laws of Member States; and Regulations, which become law throughout the EU
without the need to pass through national legislatures.

Although all the EU Directives influence international accounting, the Eighth Company Law Directive is
especially applicable to auditing. The Eighth Directive sets the minimum requirements for accounting
training and experience for the community.

Auditing Standards Become International

As international accounting standards acquired more authority, logic dictated a set of international auditing
standards collateral to them. Auditing standards were required by multinational corporations that wanted
consistent auditing throughout the world. With a set of international standards adopted for the world,
international investors can be more confident in financial statements prepared in another country. The
nondomestic auditor’s opinion will lend as much credibility as a domestic auditor’s opinion. In the
Peoples’ Republic of China, Chinese Accounting Standards (CAS) are becoming more and more in line
with IFRS. While CAS are needed for specific Chinese circumstances, convergence with IRFS is seen as
equally important to reach international harmonization.

Developing Nations Adopt International Auditing Standards

International auditing standards encourage and assist developing nations to adopt codified sets of national
auditing standards. The evolution of domestic accounting standards in developing nations can be expected
to flow from the work of the IASB. Many developing countries rely to a large extent on foreign
investment. Foreign investors are more likely to channel funds into a developing country if they have
confidence in the accounting and auditing standards in that country. Audit has played a very important role
in maintaining state financial and economic order, promoting the development of China’s socialist
economy and strengthening the construction of clean governments. The promulgation of the 1994 Audit
Law symbolizes that auditing in China has entered a new phase of development. It is expected that many
developing nations will adopt IASs.

IAASB Auditing Standards

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) is a standing committee of the
Council of IFAC which sets the international standards on auditing. Their objective is to improve the
degree of uniformity of auditing practices and related services throughout the world by issuing
pronouncements on a variety of audit and attest functions. The member bodies in the countries selected by
the IFAC Council to serve on IAASB nominate the members of IAASB.
IAASB issues several sets of standards to be applied to international auditing and assurance services.
IAASB Standards contain basic principles and essential procedures together with related guidance in the
form of explanatory and other material. IAASB issues:
■ International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) as the standards to be applied by auditors in reporting on
historical financial information;
■ International Standards on Assurance Engagements (ISAEs) as the standards to be applied by
practitioners in assurance engagements dealing with information other than historical financial
information;
■ International Standards on Quality Control (ISQCs) as the standards to be applied for all services falling
under the standards of the IAASB; and
■ International Standards on Related Services (ISRSs) as the standards to be applied on related services, as
it considers appropriate
■ International Standards on Review Engagements (ISREs) as the standards to be applied to the review of
historical financial information. Developed by the IAASB.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board aims for voluntary international acceptance of
its guidelines. Therefore, the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) are not intended to override
national regulations or pronouncements relating to audits of financial information. These ISAs are not yet
authoritative in the way that pronouncements of, say, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(PCAOB) are to determine Generally Accepted Audit Standards (GAAS) in the USA. ISAs will be mandatory
in Europe in 2005, and other regions in the world including the USA may follow.

International Standards on Auditing (ISA)

International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) are developed by the International Federation of Accountants
(IFAC) through its International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). The efforts of IFAC,
founded in 1977, are directed towards developing international technical, ethical and educational
guidelines for auditors, and reciprocal recognition of practitioners’ qualifications. The membership of
IFAC member bodies represents several million accountants in public and private practice, education,
academe and government service.

There are several important groups within IFAC. The IFAC Council is responsible for overall governance
of IFAC. The IFAC Board oversees the management of the organization, takes action to enhance the
transparency of certain IFAC activities, and overseas expansion of its size to include more member bodies.
The standard-setting activities of the IFAC are carried out by the International Auditing and Assurance
Standards Board (IAASB), the Ethics Committee, the Education Committee, and the Public Sector
Committee with an interest in governmental financial reporting.

New IFAC Reform Proposals

These provide for more transparent standard-setting processes; greater public and regulatory input into
those processes; regulatory monitoring; and public interest oversight. Key features of the reform proposals
include provision for the establishment of the following groups: the Public Interest Oversight Board
(PIOB), Monitoring Group (MG), and IFAC Leadership Group.

The Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) will oversee IFAC standard-setting activities in the areas of
audit performance standards, independence, other ethical standards for auditors, audit quality control, and
assurance standards. The PIOB will decide other areas that might fall within the scope of its oversight after
consulting with the Monitoring Group (MG) and the IFAC Leadership Group (ILG) (see below). The
composition of the PIOB will be selected by the MG. It will be made up of members of the organizations
within the MG or their representatives.

The Monitoring Group (MG) will comprise international regulators and related organizations including
representatives of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the Basel Committee on
Banking Supervision, the European Commission, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors
and the World Bank. The MG will update the PIOB regarding significant events in the regulatory
environment, and among other things, will be the vehicle for dialogue between regulators and the
international accountancy profession.
The IFAC Leadership Group (ILG) includes the IFAC President, Deputy President, Chief Executive, the
Chairs of the IAASB, the Transnational Auditors Committee, the Forum of Firms, and up to four other
members designated by the IFAC Board. It will work with the MG and address issues related to the
regulation of the profession.

ISAs as Harmonization Standards

International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) are the standards that are of most interest to auditors because
they are the standards for the most frequent work of auditors, that is, financial statement audits and special
purpose engagements. Although not all countries require ISAs, they will be used as the basic standards
throughout this book because they represent the highest and best international representation of generally
accepted auditing standards (GAAS).

ISAs are harmonization standards, the application of which promotes consistent auditing across the world.
The practice and theory of international auditing includes, in addition to knowledge of ISAs, consideration
of quality control standards, allocating materiality, performing the audit, coordinating international reports
and personnel, etc.

A listing of the International Standards on Auditing and International Auditing Practice Statements is
given in Illustration 1.1.
REGULATIONS

Audit Regulation
In the previous section, the demand for audit has been described. In most countries, this demand has long
been on a voluntary basis, i.e. it was left to the companies to decide whether they had their financial
statements audited or not. As for the supply side, the provision of audit services has been left open to the
free market in some countries, without any official legal requirements for auditors. Although regulation
and legislation differ, both the demand and the supply of audit services are currently regulated to some
degree in most countries. Recent accounting and finance research suggests that national legal environments
are among the key determinants of financial market development, corporate ownership structures,
corporate policies, and the properties of accounting information around the world.

In most countries, audits are now legally required for some types of companies. For example, in the USA
and the European Union, large, and in some cases medium-sized enterprises, are required by law to
provide audited financial statements. The European Union audit rules apply to all companies that are
required to be audited by the individual Member States. The requirements may vary from state to state. For
example, in the Netherlands, companies with more than 50 employees, and_or assets greater than Euro 3.1
million, and_or net sales greater than Euro 6.2 million must be audited. The major bourses (including
NYSE, NASDAQ, London Stock Exchange, Tokyo NIKKEI, and Frankfurt DAX) have listing rules that
require all listed companies to have their annual report audited.

The supply of audit services is currently also regulated in most countries. In the European Union, statutory
audits, i.e. audits required by law, can only be performed by auditors who have met specific technical
requirements with regard to education and experience.

■ Public Oversight Board

There is a recent growth in accounting oversight boards – government or professional committees to
review the work of auditors and take an active part in setting and enforcing standards. Three such boards
are in the USA (the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board), Australia (Financial Reporting
Council), and the UK (The Review Board).

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 required the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to create a
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The Board oversees and investigates the audits
and auditors of public companies, and sanctions both firms and individuals for violations of laws,
regulations, and rules. The Board, at this point, has decided the generally accepted auditing standards
(GAAS) set by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) will only be used
temporarily. The PCAOB is empowered to regularly inspect registered accounting firms’ operations and
will investigate potential violations of securities laws, standards, consistency, and conduct. Accounting
firms headquartered outside the USA that “prepare and furnish” an audit report involving US firms
registered with the SEC are subject to the authority of the PCAOB.

Sparked by the Enron and WorldCom debacles and other widely publicized corporate and accounting
scandals, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was passed almost unanimously by Congress and signed into
law by President George W. Bush on July 30, 2002. The Act, described by the President as incorporating
“the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the time of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt,” is intended to establish investor confidence by improving the quality of corporate disclosure
and financial reporting, strengthen the independence of accounting firms, and increase the role and
responsibility of corporate officers and directors in financial statements and corporate disclosures.
In Australia, the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program Act 1999 established a new body, the
Financial Reporting Council (FRC), with the responsibility for the broad oversight of the accounting
standard-setting process for the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. The FRC has an obligation to
monitor the development of international accounting standards and accounting standards that apply in
major international financial centers. It sets the broad strategic direction for the Australian Accounting
Standards Board (AASB), approves and monitors its priorities and business plan, and oversees its
operations.
The Review Board in the UK is funded by the Accountancy Foundation Limited. The Review Board’s
task is to monitor the operation of the regulatory system to confirm that it is fully meeting the public
interest. In carrying out this function the Review Board’s remit covers the work of the three associated
bodies – the Ethics Standards Board, the Auditing Practices Board and the Investigation and Discipline
Board. It also has limited scrutiny over the UK accounting professional bodies’ authority for investigation
and discipline, monitoring, training, qualification, and registration of their members from the accounting
profession

Chapter 14 Corporate Governance and the Future of Auditing will discuss public oversight boards in some
detail.