Revised Standards on Auditing | Audit Report Formats
– CA Vivek Newatia
The Standard on Auditing (SA) 700 deals with the auditor’s responsibility to form an opinion on the financial statements. It also deals with the form and content of the auditor’s report, issued based on audit of the financial statements.
In accordance with the revisions in ISA 700 by The International Federation of Accountants, ICAI has made corresponding revisions to SA 700. Accordingly, the format of auditor’s report has been changed.
The Council of ICAI in its 364th meeting held in March 2017 (in partial modification of decision taken by it at its 350th meeting held in February 2016), has decided that the effective date/applicability of four Standards viz. SA 700 (Revised), SA 705 (Revised), SA 706 (Revised) and SA 701 be deferred by one year and consequently, the said Standards shall now be effective/applicable for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after April 1, 2018 (instead of audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after April 1, 2017 as was earlier decided).
Following Standards of Auditing have also been revised:
- SA 701 Communicating Key Audit Matters in the Independent Auditor’s Report
- SA 705 Modifications to the Opinion in the Independent Auditor’s Report
- SA 706 Emphasis of Matter paragraph & Other matter Paragraph in Independent Auditor’s Report
- SA 720 The Auditor’s Responsibilities Relating to Other Information
Following attachments are the standard formats for the revised Audit Reports, based on the accounting principles followed by the Companies, and some additional points to be considered:
A. GAAP