At its meeting on September 9- 10, 2019, the AASB unanimously approved amendments to CAS 700 which will require auditors to communicate key audit matters in the auditor’s report for audits of complete sets of general purpose financial statements of other listed entities for periods ending on or after December 15, 2022. This excludes listed entities required to comply with National Instrument 81-106, Investment Fund Continuous Disclosure.

The Board concluded that the revisions to the standard are significantly different from the proposals issued in its Exposure Draft, but decided not to re-expose the changes as they were based on the feedback received on the Exposure Draft. Once the Auditing and Assurance Standards Oversight Council confirms that the AASB followed due process with proper regard for the public interest, the amendments will be included in the December 2019 Handbook update.

The AASB also discussed the status of matters that caused the deferral of paragraph 46 of CAS 700. This paragraph relates to disclosure of the engagement partner name in certain audit reports. The Board concluded that deferring paragraph 46 has served its purpose and that the issues which led to the deferral have been resolved. Accordingly, paragraph C5B will be removed from the CPA Canada Handbook – Assurance in December 2020.

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