The Auditing Practices Board (APB) has published its first bulletin of 2006, a report which the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) has described as among the board’s ‘most significant ever’. The bulletin, entitled ‘Auditors Reports on Financial Statements in the Republic of Ireland’, provides auditors with illustrative examples of significant changes to the wording of audit reports as a result of recent changes in companies legislation and the introduction of International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) (ISAs).
These include:
Reflecting changes in wording as a result of International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) (UK and Ireland) requirements
• Illustrations of how to describe the financial reporting framework used when an entity has prepared its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the EU
• Changes to the reporting and accounting provisions of the Companies Acts 1963-2005
• Changes to the corporate governance reporting requirements following the publication of the 2003 combined code.
However, the bulletin is not without issue. John Greely, the ICAI President, said, ‘It is however, our view that the adoption of these standards gives rise to a number of issues. For example, the new auditing standards are more detailed, particularly in relation to documentation requirements, and more transparent than those they replace and could add to the cost of audit. This may prove to be a more significant problem here than in the UK where the audit exemption threshold is considerably higher.’ |
