The fact sheet highlights aspects of a group audit that may be affected by ISA 220 (Revised) and International Standard on Quality Management 1 addressing quality management at the firm level. This includes the revised definition of engagement team and leadership and direction, supervision, and review responsibilities.

Review the press release and fact sheet on the IAASB's website.

In keynote remarks at annual AICPA conference, Chair Williams tells firms: “Resist complacency, sharpen your focus and meet your responsibility to verify the honesty our system depends on with a vigilance that is worthy of [investors’] trust.”

Review the full speech on the PCAOB's website.

Topics covered in the report include:

1. recurrences in audit deficiencies and higher deficiency rates observed in 2021;
2. observations on quality control systems; and
3. good practices related to internal control over financial reporting, accounting estimates related to business combinations, critical audit matters, auditor independence, supervision of audits, and engagement quality review.

Review the press release and report on the PCAOB’s website.

Key findings of the follow-up report include:

• “The average number of CAMs per audit report has declined over time, and the proportion of audit reports that communicate a single CAM has increased.”
• “Investor awareness and use of CAMs continues to develop.”
• “The staff has not found evidence of significant unintended consequences from auditors’ implementation of the CAM requirements.”

To accompany the report, the PCAOB also released the following two staff white papers that provide “technical detail and additional information related to the methodologies by which the PCAOB gained information to support the findings in the interim analysis reports”:

• Second Stakeholder Outreach on the Initial Implementation of CAM Requirements
• Second Econometric Analysis on the Initial Implementation of CAM Requirements.

Review the report and postimplementation review page on the PCAOB’s website.

Review the FAQ on the AASB's website.

The proposed standard, if adopted, would replace the current QC standards in their entirety and would provide a framework for a firm’s QC system that is grounded in proactively identifying and managing risks to quality, with a feedback loop from ongoing monitoring and remediation designed to drive continuous improvement. Among other provisions, the proposal would foster a more structured approach where a firm would annually evaluate its QC system and report the results of its evaluation on new Form QC.

Review the following on the PCAOB's website:

• Press release
• Proposed standard
• PCAOB Chair Erica Y. Williams' remarks on the proposal

The proposed amendments are consistent with the amendments proposed by the IAASB to its International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 500, “Audit Evidence”. The AASB plans, subject to comments received following exposure, to adopt proposed ISA 500 (Revised), and the proposed conforming and consequential amendments to other ISAs. The result would be revised respective CASs.

Re­view the press release and related Exposure Draft on the CPA Canada's web­site.

While the IAASB remains framework neutral when developing the ISAs, it considers financial reporting framework developments that may affect the ISAs, such as changes to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Amendments to IAS 1 and the Impact on the ISAs: Disclosure of Material Accounting Policy Information, among other matters, provides users with guidance on how to address the effect of the amendments on a number of illustrative auditor reports throughout the ISAs that assume, as part of the fact pattern, that the financial statements are prepared by the management of the entity in accordance with IFRS Standards.

Review the press release and guidance on the IAASB's website.

The report and accompanying staff white papers providing additional technical information are available at the following links:

• Interim Analysis Report: Evidence on the Initial Impact of New Requirements for Auditing Accounting Estimates and Auditor’s Use of the Work of Specialists
• Staff White Paper: Stakeholder Outreach on the Initial Implementation of Estimates and Specialists Audit Requirements
• Staff White Paper: Econometric Analysis on the Initial Implementation of the New Specialists Requirements

Modernizing standards is one of four key strategic goals for the PCAOB. In pursuit of this goal, the Board has set one of the most ambitious standard-setting agendas in PCAOB history. Given these efforts, the role of robust economic analysis in standard setting is more important than ever for the PCAOB. Post-implementation reviews are an important component of high-quality economic analysis that the PCAOB conducts as part of standard setting to ensure that PCAOB standards are working effectively to enhance audit quality and protect investors.

The staff findings suggest that the new requirements improved auditing practices in some instances and did not result in significant increases in audit hours or audit fees. There is also no evidence of unintended consequences from auditors’ initial implementation of the new requirements. The Board plans to continue to monitor the implementation of the new requirements and their impact on the quality of audit services, as well as on audit committees, preparers, and audit firms.

Review the post-implementation review on PCAOB's website.

The current ISA 500 addresses an auditor’s responsibility to design and perform audit procedures to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence to draw reasonable conclusions on which to base the auditor’s opinion.

The proposed changes:

• Clarify ISA 500’s purpose and scope and explain its relationship with other standards;
• Provide a principles-based approach to considering and making judgments about information intended to be used as audit evidence and evaluating whether sufficient appropriate audit evidence has been obtained;
• Modernize ISA 500 to be adaptable to the current business and audit environment, while considering scalability for different circumstances, including the entity and the auditor’s use of technology, such as automated tools and techniques; and
• Emphasize the role of professional skepticism when making judgments about information intended to be used as audit evidence and evaluating the audit evidence obtained.

Proposed International Standard on Auditing 500 (Revised), Audit Evidence, provides a “reference framework” for auditors when making judgments about audit evidence throughout the audit.

Review the press release and proposed changes on the IAASB's website.