At its meeting on April 11, 2017, the AASB unanimously approved new and revised CASs relating to auditor reporting, and the auditor’s responsibilities relating to other information. The Board also unanimously approved related conforming amendments to other standards, and amendments to address disclosures in the audit of financial statements. The Board concluded that changes made in finalizing the standards were significantly different from the proposals in the Exposure Drafts and Invitations to Comment.

The significant differences from the proposals are:

• deferring the effective date for application by one year; and
• amending the scope of reporting of key audit matters so that such matters are communicated in the auditor’s report only when required by law or regulation or the auditor decides to do so.

Since these changes were made in response to feedback received, the Board unanimously decided not to re-expose the CASs. The new and revised standards will be effective for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 15, 2018 and are expected to be included in a Handbook update in mid-2017.

Review the executive summary on the AASB's Web site.