The Auditing Practices Board (APB) has published Bulletin 2008/10 ‘Going concern issues during the current economic conditions' to assist auditors in responding to the challenge posed by the consideration of going concern assessment and reporting within the current economic environment.
The current economic circumstances generate uncertainty in respect of bank lending intentions, the availability of finance in general, the impact of the recession on a company's own business and on its customers and suppliers. Such uncertainty may have an impact on the assessment of an entity's going concern but auditors would need to refer to it in their report only when appropriate. In fact the current difficult economic conditions do not of themselves necessarily mean that a material uncertainty exists about an entity's ability to continue as a going concern, or justify auditors modifying their auditor's report to draw attention to going concern.
The Bulletin gives guidance on relevant factors to be considered when going concern is assessed. It also supplements Bulletin 2008/1 ‘Audit issues when financial market conditions are difficult' and in particular updates the list of risk factors included in that Bulletin and provides guidance on a number of going concern issues likely to be encountered by auditors during the next reporting cycle.
The Bulletin can be downloaded free of charge from the bulletins section of the APB's website (via the related links section of this page).