What are auditing standards?
Auditing standards are a measure for measuring the quality of auditors’ work. The American Association of Certified Public Accountants introduced ten auditing standards for the first time in 1947. These standards have been adjusted and changed to adapt to the changes in the audit environment. Auditing standards along with their classification into three groups: 1) general standards, 2) operation (settlement) standards, and 3) reporting standards are as follows:
General standards
The investigation must be performed by a person or persons who have sufficient technical qualifications and training as auditors.
The auditor or auditors must maintain their independence of opinion in all matters related to the audit.
Necessary professional care should be taken in processing and preparing the report.
Operation standards (procedure)
The audit operation should be adequately planned and if there are employees, their work should be properly monitored.
In order to plan the audit and determine the type, time and amount of tests, sufficient knowledge of the internal control structure must be acquired.
Sufficient and appropriate evidence must be obtained through inspection, observation, inquiry and confirmation to provide a reasonable basis for expressing an opinion on the financial statements under consideration.
Reporting standards
The report must state whether the financial statements have been prepared according to accounting principles or not.
The report should specify the circumstances in which such principles have not been uniformly observed in the current period compared to the previous period.
The information disclosed in the financial statements is considered to be reasonably sufficient unless otherwise stated in the report.
The report should either contain an opinion on the financial statements as a whole, or state that no opinion can be expressed. When the general opinion cannot be expressed, the reasons must be stated. In all cases where the auditor’s name is somehow associated with the financial statements, the report must clearly state the nature of any auditor’s proceedings and the extent of responsibility he assumes.
Of course, the professional authorities of each country write commentaries on these ten standards, which are called interpretive statements of auditing standards. In our country, according to the law of its formation, the audit organization is responsible for compiling these statements.
Mehdi Koh Soltani (financial services, accounting, financial and tax consultant):
The group of accountants and auditors of Tabriz
https://t.me/joinchat/BnzBsTuioTshiXBwf9bBPQ