Assurance Services Consists of 9 Sections Plus Notes
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Future of the Financial Statement Audit This report of the Special Committee on Assurance Services consists of 9 sections plus notes. Executive Summary Objectives and Scope of this Report The Value of the Current Audit Criticisms of the Current Audit Competition The Current Audit's Information Set The Changing Audit Paradigm The Scenario Entities • Scenario 1 - Publicly-held Company (Table 1) • Scenario 2 - Small, Privately-Held Company, Enterprise-Based Financing (Table 2) • Scenario 3 - Small, Privately-Held Company, Owner-Based Financing (Table 4) • Scenario 4 - Small Local Government Unit (Table 5) Recommendations Notes Pág. 1 Executive Summary This report focuses on the future of the current audit of historical financial statements. It considers the effects of changes in market demand for audits and various other external factors (for example, information technology). The report also considers whether the existing audit will survive in its present form. To explore the future of audits, the Committee developed scenarios for four different types of entities: large publicly held; small private; very small private; and small local government unit. The scenarios evaluate each entity's future need for an audit and explore what an audit might look like in the year 2006. Major Findings The Committee believes that a major paradigm shift is currently underway involving both the kinds of information with which auditors are involved and the nature of that involvement. The shift may be described as follows: Old Audit Paradigm New Audit Paradigm A set of yearly financial A set of real time financial and non-financial statements accompanied by an information accompanied by continuous assurance annual audit report (to clients and possibly to the public) Other findings related to users, preparers, and audits and CPAs are as follows: Users Users include lenders, individual and institutional investors, suppliers, customers, employees, unions, government, top management, and boards of directors. During the next ten years, a shift in power, enabled by information technology, is expected to take place from preparers to individual users of information. Users are expected to establish electronic connections with preparers, not only to provide feedback on their unmet information needs, but also to monitor risks and performance results. Users will continue to view unqualified annual audit reports (or other forms of auditor reporting) as a significant signal regarding the integrity of entities and financial markets. They will demand that auditors to do a better job in dealing with the "tough problems," which include detecting fraud and illegal acts, providing early warning of financial distress and going concern issues, and dealing wi th risks, uncertainties, and estimates. Preparers In an increasingly competitive environment, entities of all sizes will continue to sharpen their "customer focus" in order to compete effectively, including a "customer focus" regarding users of their financial information. In short, preparers will become increasingly responsive to the demands of users and will increase the timeliness, breadth, and depth of financial and non-financial information they make available. Preparers will continue to upgrade their internal information systems to cope with increasingly complex business and financial arrangements and to integrate all company activities. The arrangements include temporary alliances, electronic commerce, and new financial instruments made more complex by the "multi" issues (such as multiple countries, multiple currencies, and multiple laws). Pág. 2 Preparers will seek timely auditor involvement with respect to non-routine issues. They will also expect more value-added from an audit in terms of analysis and interpretation. Audits and CPAs Audits of GAAP information for public companies will continue to be demanded by the market and will remain as an SEC-mandated "core" service for the profession. In contrast, audits will become less important for small and very small private companies, which will look to agreed-upon procedures engagements to tailor assurance to particular users. On all engagements, whether for large or small companies, auditors will need to capitalize on their "audit knowledge base" by providing additional value through analysis and interpretation. User demands for better detection of fraud and illegal acts will encourage auditors to develop new weapons for detecting fraud, including electronic sensors, software agents, computer modeling, and triangulation (i.e., exploitation of the connectivity relationships among various entities in the preparer's value chain). Auditors will continue to be requested by large-company preparers to give timely assurance to them on significant, non-routine transactions, which will gradually lead to continuous auditing as the norm. In turn, continuous auditing may lead to continuous reporting (on an exception basis) supplemented with an annual audit report. Given the increased skill level expected in the financial area of small and very small companies, CPAs will be able to maintain their current role as trusted business advisors if they are able to (1) deliver more value in audits of historical financial information, (2) assist in the design and implementation of other types of performance measures, and (3) assist in dealing with compliance issues and risks associated with operating in global electronic markets. Recommendations The Committee concludes its report by with recommendations for standard setters and CPA firms. The recommendations address, among other matters, the need to (1) expand the business reporting model; (2) develop new weapons to tackle the "tough problems," such as fraud detection; (3) develop worldwide audit teams with new skills to assist clients in dealing with the "multi" issues (e.g., multiple currencies, taxes, regulations, financial instruments, etc.); (4) develop audit guidance regarding highly integrated (worldwide) databases, electronic commerce, and electronic business reporting; (5) identify/understand users' evolving information needs; and (6) train CPAs in information technology, the "multi" issues, and business processes. In addition, the Committee strongly urges firms to reconsider two key aspects of their audit processes: (1) the level of audit partner involvement (higher levels may be needed to add value and to fight the "tough problems") and (2) effective use of knowledge acquired during the audit to bring additional value to the client and others. To succeed in these two areas the mind-sets and skill-sets of audit team members, particularly engagement partners, will have to undergo fundamental changes. Pág. 3 Objectives and Scope of this Report The three objectives of this report are to: 1. Identify anticipated changes in users and preparers, 2. Assess the implications of those changes on audits and auditors/CPAs, and 3. Develop a set of recommendations for the AICPA and firms that are responsive to those changes. The recommendations focus on ways in which the current audit process might be changed in order to meet the future needs of users. The ultimate goal of the recommendations is to continuously improve the current audit so that it remains competitive and provides a strong foundation upon which to build new assurance services. Although the report focuses on the current audit, certain implications and recommendations deal with current CPA services that provide other types of assurance, such as agreed-upon procedures engagements. In order to achieve the objectives just stated, the Committee developed a set of scenarios for the year 2006 for four different types of entities. The scenario-building exercise was intended to develop a coherent picture of future users and preparers as they relate to four prototypical entities and to stimulate thinking regarding the possibilities and opportunities in store for audits of historical financial information during the next ten years. Obviously, some details set forth in a scenario will not occur, and other details omitted from a scenario will inevitably take place. Such details are not as important as the overall direction of evolution that is suggested by each scenario. Before presenting the findings from the scenarios, several elements of the status of the current audit and some major types of change are briefly set out. Pág. 4 The Value of the Current Audit The financial-statement audit service has generated fees of over $7 billion per year (in 1995 dollars) in the United States in each of the past five years, which exceeds revenues earned by either of the profession’s other two major services — tax and consulting.1 In addition, the current audit: • Increases the reliability of information for users, • Offers tremendous potential for adding additional value to user s by encompassing new types of information, • Reduces the cost of capital and improves liquidity, • Is presently the key service by which the profession distinguishes itself as independent and objective "information specialists," • Provides unimpeded access to all facets of an organization’s activities, • Is relatively stable and profitable, • Is presently legally protected as an exclusive service that can only be performed in most of the United States by CPAs, and • Is the key CPA service by which "branding" of new assurance services will be accomplished. These characteristics testify to the great value of the current audit. Pág. 5 Criticisms of the Current Audit At the same time, the current audit is frequently