Deloitte responded to the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s Exposure Draft: Reporting on Audited Financial Statements: Special Considerations – March 2015

Consistent with our global firm comment letter to the IAASB, we agree that it is in the public interest to consider the implications of the new and revised Auditor Reporting standards on proposed CAS 800 (Revised) and proposed CAS 805 (Revised), and that any amendments therein should be limited to reporting matters of such engagements. However, we do have fundamental concerns relating to some of the proposed enhancements, particularly the following:

• The option to include a reference in a CAS 805 auditor’s report to key audit matters (“KAM”) communicated in the auditor’s report on the complete set of general purpose financial statements; and
• The requirement to include a “Material Uncertainty Related to Going Concern” section in a CAS 805 auditor’s report when it has been included in the auditor’s report on the complete set of general purpose financial statements, without consideration of whether the Going Concern (“GC”) basis of accounting is even relevant in the context of the CAS 805 engagement.

We recommend that the effective date of proposed CAS 800 (Revised) and proposed CAS 805 (Revised) be aligned with the effective date changes made to the CAS 700 series of new and revised auditor reporting standards (and related conforming amendments). As auditors will be permitted to apply these revised CASs before the effective date, we also recommend that if early adoption is chosen, that auditors be required to early adopt the entire suite of new and revised auditor reporting standards, including proposed CAS 800 (Revised) and proposed CAS 805 (Revised) to ensure consistency in auditor reporting.

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