ACCA believes that this Practice Note is no longer necessary and should, therefore, be withdrawn rather than revised.
The main reasons for this are:
- Such material is not considered necessary for the purposes of the International Standard on Auditing 501 Audit Evidence-Specific Considerations for Selected Items (ISA 501) and we have no reason to believe that auditors in the UK and Ireland are in need of extra guidance on such a relatively simple aspect of an audit.
- There are no specific UK and Ireland matters that necessitate the production of the document. (The only matter mentioned is the Companies Act requirement to keep adequate accounting records including any statements of stocktakings)
Should the Practice Note, nevertheless, be revised we suggest that it be restructured to align with clarified ISA 501, especially in terms of suggested procedures. This would ensure that further guidance was provided for all relevant requirements in ISA 501.