8017 Report Content Approval and Date of the Report

Dec-2022

What the CSAE 3001 means for report content approval and date of the report

CSAE 3001 requires that the engagement leader

• be satisfied (through documentation review) that sufficient appropriate evidence has been obtained to support the conclusion(s) reached;

• be satisfied that members of the team have undertaken appropriate consultation (including internal specialists) during the course of the audit and that conclusions reached from such consultations are documented and agreed with the party consulted;

• discuss with the engagement quality reviewer significant matters arising during the audit, including those identified by the reviewer;

• does not date the report until the completion of the engagement quality review, including resolution, to the satisfaction of the engagement quality reviewer, of matters raised by him/her; and

• obtain written confirmations from entity management.

The approval of the content of the audit report is the process that allows for such requirements to be validated and confirmed before dating the report and submitting the transmission draft to the audited entity. The report content approval process serves to confirm that the audit work is complete.

Date of the report

The date of the assurance report for purposes of CSAE 3001 and the “tabling date” are not the same. It is important that the audit team distinguishes between the two dates in:

• Considering whether procedures are required with respect to events occurring after the date of the report in accordance with paragraph 66 of CSAE 3001; and

• Determining the appropriate response to facts that become known after the date of the assurance report in accordance with paragraph A142 of CSAE 3001

The date of the report is a key concept around which multiple audit events are linked. The report can NOT be dated before the following events have occurred:

• Sufficient and appropriate audit evidence has been obtained (OAG Audit 1051 Sufficient appropriate audit evidence; OAG Audit 7021 Evaluate the sufficiency and appropriateness of audit evidence) to support the audit conclusion(s) (OAG Audit 7040 Audit conclusion).

• The engagement leader completed his/her review of audit documentation such as critical areas of judgment, significant matters, high-risk areas of the audit report, etc. (OAG Audit 1162 Engagement leader review: minimum documentation requirements).

• The engagement leader has received a notification from the engagement quality reviewer to indicate that the engagement quality review has been completed (OAG Audit 1163 Engagement quality reviewer: minimum documentation requirements).

• Appropriate consultations, occurred during the course of the audit, and agreement have been obtained on resulting conclusions that are documented (OAG Audit 3081 Consultations).

• Differences of opinion that arose during the course of the audit have been resolved and the resulting conclusions documented (OAG Audit 3082 Resolution of differences of opinion).

• The audit team has obtained written confirmation that the audited entity has provided all information of which it is aware that has been requested or that could significantly affect the findings or the conclusion of the audit report (OAG Audit 8019 Submitting the principal’s (PX) draft and transmission draft).

• Impacts of subsequent events on the content of the audit report have been considered from the end of the period covered by the audit until the date of the report (OAG Audit 8030 Subsequent events).

The date of the report cannot be determined before the date by which all of the events listed above have occurred. The engagement leader must evaluate the sufficiency and appropriateness of the audit evidence before the date of the report. Also, failure to obtain the written confirmation from the audited entity that it has provided all information requested or that could significantly affect the findings or the conclusion of the audit report should not, however, delay the report date. If this written confirmation cannot be obtained, the audit team should disclose this fact in the report. The engagement leader must consider the effect, if any, on the audit work and report and document his or her assessment (OAG Audit 8019 Submitting the principal’s (PX) draft and transmission draft). The date of the report is indicated in the About the Audit section of the report.

Next steps

The audit team prepares the transmission draft for its issuance to the audited entity. The team will also need to go through the last level of approval before tabling the performance audit report or submitting the special examination report to the board of directors.