At its meeting on January 24-25, 2019, the Board discussed various alternatives to clarify that the auditor’s consent is provided by the firm and not by the engagement partner. The Board requested that the Securities Regulations Advisory Group further consider ways to address this issue.

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

At its meeting on January 24-25, 2019, the Board discussed some of the key issues stakeholders raised in their responses to the Exposure Draft, including: the scope of the standard; engagement acceptance and continuance; and disclosure of the basis of accounting. The Board will continue to discuss these issues at a future meeting.

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

At its meeting on January 24-25, 2019, the Board discussed the approach to drafting guidance to assist practitioners who are required to report under both Canadian and U.S. standards. The guidance will address differences between each jurisdiction’s overarching attestation standards. The Board decided that the need for guidance for attestation engagements is limited to service and organization controls (SOC) engagements. Therefore, guidance should be developed that is targeted to SOC engagements.

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During its December 14, 2018, conference call, the AASB unanimously approved amendments to the effective date of paragraph 46 of CAS 700. Paragraph 46 requires disclosure of the engagement partner name in the auditor’s report on financial statements of listed entities. At its meeting on January 24-25, 2019, in light of further information obtained since the December conference call, the Board decided that the amendments to the effective date of paragraph 46 will apply for one year.

Therefore, paragraph 46 will not apply to audits of financial statements for periods ending before December 15, 2019, of entities whose engagement partner name appears on Form AP, Auditor Reporting of Certain Audit Participants, to be filed with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board for that engagement. This amendment will allow time for stakeholders to evaluate issues relating to Canadian Generally Accepted Auditing Standards auditor’s reports that are required to be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Once the Auditing and Assurance Standards Oversight Council confirms that the Board followed due process with proper regard for the public interest, the amendments will be included in a March 2019 Handbook update.

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

At its meeting on January 24-25, 2019, the AASB discussed issues relating to this project, including:

1. the distinction in the guidance between “practitioner” and “legislative auditor”;
2. adapting acceptance and continuance requirements for public sector circumstances;
3. guidance for identifying relevant internal controls;
4. considerations when using the work of experts and consultants; and
5. options for addressing subsequent events. The Board will discuss, and expects to approve, an exposure draft of an Assurance and Related Services Guideline at its March 2019 meeting.

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At its meeting on January 24-25, 2019, the AASB unanimously approved the exposure drafts of proposed Canadian Standard on Quality Management (CSQM) 1, Quality Management for Firms that Perform Audits or Reviews of Financial Statements, or Other Assurance or Related Services Engagements; CSQM 2, Engagement Quality Reviews; and CAS 220, Quality Management for an Audit of Financial Statements. The exposure drafts are based on the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board exposure drafts of proposed International Standard on Quality Management (ISQM) 1, ISQM 2, and International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 220 (Revised). The exposure draft for CSQM 1 proposes to adopt the same scope as ISQM 1. This would be a significant change in Canada because the current Canadian standard does not apply to related services engagements such as compilation and agreed-upon procedures engagements. The Board expects to issue the exposure drafts in late March 2019, with a comment deadline of June 7, 2019.

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