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Audit

The audit area has information and guidance on completing all stages of an audit as well as making the decision around whether or not an audit is required. There are links to technical help, webinars, publications and events as well as audit representations.

In this section

Audit exemption

Audit exemption eligibility

Learn whether your organisation qualified for audit exemption for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2016, under the Companies Act 2006 as amended by SI 2015/980. ICAEW's Technical Advisory Service provides guidance covering: group eligibility; eligibility of UK subsidiaries; and audit exemption conditions.

Quality management

Applying professional scepticism and judgement

Coronavirus considering going concern

The Audit and Assurance Faculty have produced this two part guide for auditors, covering COVID-19 considerations for auditing going concern, and how to report when a material uncertainty relating to going concern exists.

Scepticism: the practitioners' take

Professional scepticism is central to the work of auditors and yet audit regulators and others continue to express concerns that auditors are not sufficiently sceptical. This report explores what auditors and other stakeholders think about how it can be enhanced and who is responsible for it.

Appointment and engagement terms

Remote auditing - administration

The spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) resulted in the rapid adoption of remote working, including remote auditing techniques. This extract from the Audit and Assurance Faculty Know-How guide 'Remote auditing in practice' focuses on audit administration.

Risk assessment, internal control and response to risks in external audit

Supporting audit quality

Remote auditing – remote team working

The spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) resulted in the rapid adoption of remote working, including remote auditing techniques. This extract from the Audit and Assurance Faculty Know-How guide 'Remote auditing in practice' focuses on remote team working, quality control and IT security.

Remote auditing – obtaining evidence

The spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) resulted in the rapid adoption of remote working, including remote auditing techniques. This extract from the Audit and Assurance Faculty Know-How guide 'Remote auditing in practice' focuses on obtaining evidence.

Remote auditing in practice

The spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) resulted in the rapid adoption of remote working, including remote auditing techniques. This Audit and Assurance Faculty Know-How guide focuses on lessons learned from COVID-19 on the practicalities of audits conducted remotely.

Auditing accounting estimates

Reporting and completion

Reporting in an ISA audit

IAASB issued a suite of revised and new auditor reporting standards (ISAs) addressing the audits of complete sets of general purpose financial statements in 2015. The changes mainly focus on increasing transparency about the audit performed. This guide outlines the key requirements for auditors.

Groups audits

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Considerations for group auditors

This Audit and Assurance Faculty Know-How guide explores COVID-19 issues faced by UK group auditors with overseas component auditors. It offers practical considerations in relation to the work of component auditors to address the requirements in ISAs (UK). It may also be relevant for group auditors in other jurisdictions with similar requirements.

Group audits and recent guidance

All group audits will be affected by recent Financial Reporting Council guidance on review of component auditors’ work. Geoff Swales of PwC explains the requirements of ISA (UK) 600 and outlines the work of the group engagement team.

Audit and technology

Ready for a renaissance: the art of the audit is getting a major technological boost

Article discusses the convergence of innovative technologies and increased client and staff expectations which is spurring notable changes within the audit profession. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) scans each document, identifies its relationship to the client engagement, and accurately files it, allowing your staff the time to focus on the more complex aspects of the audit and the client relationship

Audit and technology – a new era

ICAEW’s new audit and technology hub highlights tech-led changes that are transforming audit, and offers resources to help firms on the journey

Coronavirus and audit

Coronavirus considering going concern

The Audit and Assurance Faculty have produced this two part guide for auditors, covering COVID-19 considerations for auditing going concern, and how to report when a material uncertainty relating to going concern exists.

Understanding audit reports

The FAQs below, created by ICAEW’s Audit and Assurance Faculty, are designed to help investors and other users of audit reports to better understand the different types of audit report wordings used by auditors, and their significance. They also highlight how economic uncertainty resulting from wider external factors can impact audit reports.