Audit AssistantIf you are preparing engagement letters for assurance engagements, there are some changes of which you should be aware. These are contained in PS 3: Terms of Engagement, issued by CAANZ. This applies to professional services entered into after 1 January 2024 (early adoption permitted). What is different about the new standard to what auditors […]
Read moreMany audit firms have their own internal policies and methodologies for setting materiality. However many of our smaller firms struggle with a consistent approach. What is best practice? ISA 320 (para 2) describes materiality as follows: “Misstatements, including omissions, are considered to be material if they, individually or in the aggregate, could reasonably be expected […]
Read moreFor those who prepare and audit financial statements for “small” (under $5m expenditure) charities and other not-for-profits, there are some important changes coming up. In New Zealand, these smaller entities are very common – there are about 30,000 of them including some soon to be included in this reporting under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022. […]
Read moreThe new standard for the audit of service performance (NZ AS1 (Revised)) is actually much simpler than the original standard released over three years ago. Diligent auditors (and software/content developers) front-footed it and adopted NZ AS1 anyway, thinking we were doing a good thing – despite complaints from our customers about how complex it was […]
Read moreSo we have a typical small not for profit: poor division of duties, no real controls apart from two signatories for payments, a review of financial results at irregular board meetings, and the annual Performance Report prepared by external accountants.
Read moreSo, you are preparing financial statements for a Tier 3 charity – or auditing them – and the board have come up with the bright idea that they will use a revalued amount for land and buildings. The financial position will look better, so funders and members will feel that the entity is secure. What […]
Read moreIn assisting a range of Audit firms with their Quality Control I get to see quite a few files for review, mostly Tier 3 charities. There are a number of common areas where improvements could be made. We explore some of these below: Qualification for cash income It is still common for audit reports for […]
Read moreAudit Assistant has been making online collaboration tools for auditors for many years, so we thought why not use this incredible functionality to help accountants who prepare financial statements as well? If you carry out the preparation of financial statements for audit, or review, or just want to have a great paperless compilation process to […]
Read moreIs this project that we have all eagerly anticipated actually going to happen? It appears so. I recently attended an IFAC webinar (recording is here) that explained the latest developments. I wrote about this back in 2021 when the draft standard was released. It seems that there has been a bit more clarity as to […]
Read moreWe’ve talked about risk assessment, professional scepticism, responding to identified risks, and the business model in terms of ISA 315 (revised 2019). But the bulk of the actual requirements of the standard (paragraphs 19-27) relate to, as the heading puts it: ‘Obtaining an Understanding of the Entity and Its Environment, the Applicable Financial Reporting Framework […]
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