The expectation gap in assurance
One of the key challenges facing assurance providers is understanding and tackling the expectation gap in assurance. This infographic summarises some of the considerations.
Through its Audit & Assurance Faculty, ICAEW promotes dialogue about assurance services to help practitioners and those commissioning and using assurance reports.
The Audit and Assurance Faculty has brought together investors and assurance experts to discuss this fast-developing field and created The Assurance Panel (TAP). The panel works to share emerging best practice, develop innovative thinking and look ahead to where the assurance market is going next.
Our aim is to:
We do this by:
Emerging forms of external reporting are garnering increasing attention and prompting debate. As a result, the Audit and Assurance Faculty has put together a series of articles to bring together comment in this area.
One of the key challenges facing assurance providers is understanding and tackling the expectation gap in assurance. This infographic summarises some of the considerations.
In this article in the series on assurance over emerging forms of external reporting (EER), John Ward, Chair of the Audit and Assurance Innovation Panel and an assurance practitioner with 30 years of experience and expertise performing assurance engagements, addresses the need for principles based assurance guidance.
In this article in the series on assurance over emerging forms of external reporting (EER), John Ward explores the respective responsibilities of preparers and assurers in using established and bespoke reporting frameworks.
In this article in the series on assurance over emerging forms of external reporting (EER), John Ward explores the meaning of a rational purpose for assurance engagements.
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To meet the changing demands of stakeholders, corporate reporting is evolving and going beyond financial statements. In order to meet these demands, trust in new forms of external reporting is essential. The IAASB are working to enable this, says IAASB public member and chair of the EER Assurance project, Marek Grabowski.
Prominence of professional scepticism is growing among standard-setters and other stakeholders in all types of assurance engagement, says Katharine Bagshaw.
Businesses, investors, accountants and regulators are all on a journey to find the right assurance over the right information in the financial statements, the rest of the annual report, and beyond.
Businesses, investors, accountants and regulators are all on a journey to find the right assurance over the right information in the financial statements, the rest of the annual report, and beyond.
In 2016 ICAEW’s Audit and Assurance Faculty ran a consultation to ask different stakeholders in the market what they considered to be the next step. The response encouraged us to move away from thinking about external assurance in isolation, and towards an understanding of how organisations can get the right assurance in the right place.
Applying materiality is as fundamental to an assurance engagement as it is to an audit. But this is more difficult where the information being reviewed is qualitative. Our report suggests how materiality might be applied in assurance. In particular auditors might consider how bias, misstatement and misrepresentation might affect qualitative information. Ultimately, understanding what users need from the information is crucial to appreciating what is material.
This paper uses the example of KPIs to explore the ways in which practitioners can be sure they are providing assurance over the right disclosures.
This paper is the second Milestone in the series following The Journey: Assuring all of the Annual Report.
Whether it’s a miner discussing extraction rates, a retailer talking about footfall, or a food producer quoting yield per hectare, a well-chosen KPI sheds light on the inner workings of a business. This new report in The Journey sequence explores how assurance engagements can be and are being used to build confidence in these important disclosures.
Through its Audit & Assurance Faculty, ICAEW promotes dialogue about assurance services to help practitioners and those commissioning and using assurance reports.
The Audit and Assurance Faculty has brought together investors and assurance experts to discuss this fast-developing field and created The Assurance Panel (TAP). The panel works to share emerging best practice, develop innovative thinking and look ahead to where the assurance market is going next.
Our aim is to:
We do this by:
Emerging forms of external reporting are garnering increasing attention and prompting debate. As a result, the Audit and Assurance Faculty has put together a series of articles to bring together comment in this area.
One of the key challenges facing assurance providers is understanding and tackling the expectation gap in assurance. This infographic summarises some of the considerations.
In this article in the series on assurance over emerging forms of external reporting (EER), John Ward, Chair of the Audit and Assurance Innovation Panel and an assurance practitioner with 30 years of experience and expertise performing assurance engagements, addresses the need for principles based assurance guidance.
In this article in the series on assurance over emerging forms of external reporting (EER), John Ward explores the respective responsibilities of preparers and assurers in using established and bespoke reporting frameworks.
In this article in the series on assurance over emerging forms of external reporting (EER), John Ward explores the meaning of a rational purpose for assurance engagements.
Premium Content: This is exclusive item - please log in or subscribe to view this item.
To meet the changing demands of stakeholders, corporate reporting is evolving and going beyond financial statements. In order to meet these demands, trust in new forms of external reporting is essential. The IAASB are working to enable this, says IAASB public member and chair of the EER Assurance project, Marek Grabowski.
Prominence of professional scepticism is growing among standard-setters and other stakeholders in all types of assurance engagement, says Katharine Bagshaw.
Businesses, investors, accountants and regulators are all on a journey to find the right assurance over the right information in the financial statements, the rest of the annual report, and beyond.
Businesses, investors, accountants and regulators are all on a journey to find the right assurance over the right information in the financial statements, the rest of the annual report, and beyond.
In 2016 ICAEW’s Audit and Assurance Faculty ran a consultation to ask different stakeholders in the market what they considered to be the next step. The response encouraged us to move away from thinking about external assurance in isolation, and towards an understanding of how organisations can get the right assurance in the right place.
Applying materiality is as fundamental to an assurance engagement as it is to an audit. But this is more difficult where the information being reviewed is qualitative. Our report suggests how materiality might be applied in assurance. In particular auditors might consider how bias, misstatement and misrepresentation might affect qualitative information. Ultimately, understanding what users need from the information is crucial to appreciating what is material.
This paper uses the example of KPIs to explore the ways in which practitioners can be sure they are providing assurance over the right disclosures.
This paper is the second Milestone in the series following The Journey: Assuring all of the Annual Report.
Whether it’s a miner discussing extraction rates, a retailer talking about footfall, or a food producer quoting yield per hectare, a well-chosen KPI sheds light on the inner workings of a business. This new report in The Journey sequence explores how assurance engagements can be and are being used to build confidence in these important disclosures.