top stories

Share

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) today welcomes the new series of International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) for the UK and Ireland from the Auditing Practice Board (APB).
 
David York, head of auditing practice at ACCA, says: 'These new standards have global implications for audit and regulation – they are vital for the London financial market in advance of the European Commission adoption of ISAs, which points to a growing acceptance of international standards.
 
'The last time something of this magnitude happened was December 2004 when the APB replaced its Statements of Auditing Standards with ISAs (UK and Ireland).'
 
Mr York adds: 'The issue of a revised quality control standard and 33 new ISAs is the outcome of a major project from the APB to implement the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board's (IAASB's) recently clarified ISAs. The new standards will increase the understanding of the audit profession, those businesses that undergo an audit and stakeholders such as investors.
 
'Ultimately, the aim of the standards is to ensure public confidence in the auditing process. The APB is to be congratulated on introducing these new standards in a timely and seamless way with little fuss. The issuing of separate guidance on what changes have been made is also a very helpful step towards implementation.'
 
David York concludes: 'We expect that the APB will soon be providing guidance for documentation of smaller entity audits - such as charities and smaller companies. This will assist smaller audit firms to implement the changes. We are entering a whole new era for the audit profession here in the UK and Ireland.'

Glenn Collins, head of advisory services, ACCA UK, says: 'The next step for ACCA will be to provide members with guidance about the new ISAs. This will include a whole raft of support materials to help our members working in audit to understand the new standards. ACCA's website will include details of the ISAs that have been substantially modified or issued as new under the Clarity Project. The material will include presentations as well as written guidance on individual standards. The guidance will also focus on how clarified ISAs affect practical aspects of audit engagements.'
 
ACCA UK will also run a series of professional courses and regional members' networks will run a series of seminars on clarified ISAs from autumn 2009 to prepare practitioners for their application for accounting periods ending from December 2010.

---

For further information please contact:

For further information, please contact: Helen Thompson, ACCA Newsroom +44 (0)20 7059 5759 +44 (0)7725 498654 helen.thompson@accaglobal.com