What is an audit? General framework defined at overall level by a new SAS

One of the new SAS that will go into effect at the end of 2012 provides an explanation of the overall objective of an audit and how to conduct an audit at an overall conceptual level.  This provides the framework of an audit under GAAS.

You would do well to read this SAS cover to cover as you start to get up to speed on the complete overhaul of the entire body of GAAS.  Here are a few highlights.

What will the new structure of the SASs look like after the clarity project is complete?

All of the SASs are being rewritten. All those new/revised/updated/clarified/etc documents will go into effect on the same day.

Ouch.  For us change-phobic CPAs, there is a world of change on the horizon.

If you want a description of what the new SAS structure will look like, the AICPA has a video for explanation. …

Documentation of reviews – time to stop saying ‘done’

The list of required documentation in the previous posts here and here doesn’t really seem to be a massive expansion of requirements, right?  Obviously the impact will depend on what the level of documentation has been in your firm.  For the firms I’m familiar with, those specifics are not going to open up a lot of new documentation requirements.

There is one place where a lot of firms may need to make a change:

Specific required documentation for a review under SSARS 19 – part 2

Previous post started  a discussion of the specific documentation required for a review.  Here is part 2.

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. The entire body of knowledge has been revised. See:

SSARS 19 says the documentation for a review should include (remember should is a loaded word in the SSARS literature):

Specific required documentation for a review under SSARS 19 – part 1

Yesterday’s post discussed the overall objective of accumulating documentation for a review.  This post gets into the specific requirements.

SSARS 19 says the documentation accumulated depends on the circumstances.

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. The entire body of knowledge has been revised. See:

Documentation requirements for a review under SSARS 19

I discussed the documentation requirements for compilations previously here and here.  Now it is time to start the discussion of documenting a review.

Our starting point is to address the word should.

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. The entire body of knowledge has been revised. See:

CPE class on SSARS, written by Jim Ulvog – arriving soon

(cross-posted from Nonprofit Update.)

I have written an on-line CPE course on SSARS called Compilation and Review: Practice Issues.  It is a 3 hour course covering a variety of practice issues for CPAs providing comps and reviews.  It is written at the overview level. 

Arriving soon at the CCH Learning Center.  When it is available on-line, I’ll give more detail and a link to the course.

I wrote the course in a little more casual voice that you might expect to see in a technical class, but not quite as casual as you see on this blog.  If you enjoy the style of writing you see here, you might enjoy the online CPE.

More detail to follow!

UDPATE:  Course now available. See post here.

Reports on comparative financial statements under SSARS 19

Oops! Looks like I got a little ahead of the professional literature when I drafted samples of comparative review and compilation reports.  SSARS 19 does not explicitly address comparative financials.

What’s the issue?

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. The entire body of knowledge has been revised. See: