Audit opinions and reporting
Different types of opinions
Emphasis of matter and other matter paragraphs
Key audit matters
Auditing comparison figures
Completing the audit isn’t as simple as writing an opinion paragraph – there are now expanded audit reporting requirements in both international and US standards.
Audit opinions
The opinion is the official output of the audit – here is an overview of the different opinion types.
A worked example of an audit opinions exercise
And now much more detail on each of the requirements – first up, unqualified (clean) opinions
Then when things are not free from material misstatements – you have to give a modified opinion
EoM and OM paragraphs
On all audits – you also have the option of drawing attention to information by highlighting it in your report
Key Audit Matters
Every opinion will end with the Key Audit Matters (similar to Critical Audit Matters in the US)
When Key Audit Matters first were reported in Australia in 2017, KPMG provided some excellent coverage of what sorts of matters auditors were included. Here are links to their reports:
If you are in the USA, then you won’t be using Key Audit Matters – instead you’ll have Critical Audit Matters. What is the difference? This article from the CPA Journal explains.
Comparative figures – what to do?
Most university courses don’t cover the audit requirements for comparative figures – but if yours does, here is a video explaining the auditing standard requirements.