A report by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) May 15 is still generating reactions from accounting firms and standards organizations.
Comment papers and responses to the IAASB’s report – Enhancing the Value of Auditor Reporting: Exploring Options for Change – have been received by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) as recently as this month.
In its response, Grant Thornton said it favoured a “holistic” approach and would welcome any changes that would increase information usefulness for users.
The goal of the consultation paper was to lead the discussion on increasing the relevance, consistency, helpfulness and quality of auditor reporting internationaly.
This comes as many countries are adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to unify standards and make cross-border financial statement comparisons more understandable.
The paper describes the goals of the consultation process as an attempt to reduce both the “information gap” and the “expectations gap” – the difference between the level of assurance auditors can provide and what the public believes they can guarantee – as well as to promote international audit reporting consistency.
But Toronto-based forensic accountant Al Rosen does not believe the IAASB’s publication will lead to much change.
“Generally speaking, the auditors are just tinkering around with next-to-nothing,” Rosen said.
Emma Crawford