Standard forms to include in a quality control system

After appropriate consideration of the circumstances of a your practice, you may use the forms as they are set out. Alternatively, you may use the forms as a basis for similar forms tailored to suit your particular practice.

Before using any of the forms, you should read the warning and disclaimer message below.

These forms are set out as a guide only. In many cases, practices will have a number of other forms appropriate to the quality control system in their particular circumstance. You may wish to use only those forms which they regard as being necessary to maintain an appropriate level of quality control within your practice.

Developing a system of quality control

The standard sets the general framework for ensuring that a practice adheres to professional standards. There are six elements of quality control which are specified within the quality control standard.

The quality control standard is: APES 320 Quality control for firms

APES 320 applies to all firms. However, the operating characteristics of the firm will determine the extent to which compliance is required. For the purposes of compliance with APES 320, there is a distinction between assurance and non-assurance services. An assurance practice is defined as the section of the firm that encompasses every assurance engagement conducted by the firm. An assurance engagement is defined as any engagement in which a practitioner expresses a conclusion designed to enhance the degree of confidence of the intended users, other than the responsible party, about the outcome of the evaluation. For example, an audit is a type of assurance engagement the member undertakes in order to provide an opinion on the reliability of the information contained in the financial report.

If a practitioner conducts any of the following engagements, the practitioner conducts an assurance practice:

• financial report audits
• financial report reviews
• excluded self-managed superannuation fund audits
• certification of sophisticated investors or an applicant's net asset backing
• trust account audits
• honorary audits
• opinions on the reliability of:
  • internal control systems
  • environmental performance
  • IT systems
  • performance measures
  • corporate governance
  • risk management systems

Firms that have an 'Assurance Practice' are required to apply the whole of APES 320 as applicable to their assurance engagements. Firms that do not have an assurance practice, or the non-assurance parts of firms with an assurance practice, need not apply those paragraphs of APES 320 designated 'Assurance Practices only'.

The six elements of quality control in APES 320

APES 320 describes six elements of a system of quality control. These are:

• Leadership Responsibilities for Quality Within the Firm 
  • places responsibility on partners to promote a strong internal culture of quality, and to assume ultimate responsibility for the firm's system of quality control.
• Ethical Requirements 
  • requires the firm and its personnel to act with integrity and objectivity, and to be free from relationships with a client which may impair independence.
• Acceptance and Continuance of Client Relationships and Specific Engagements
  • aims to minimise the likelihood of association with a client whose management lacks integrity, and to ensure the firm has the necessary competence to perform the engagement.
• Human Resources 
  • expects firms to have sufficient personnel with the necessary capabilities, competence, and commitment to ethical principles to perform its engagements.
• Engagement Performance 
  • requires engagements to be performed in accordance with relevant standards and requirements, appropriate consultation to be available and to take place, and engagement documentation to be properly documented and stored.
• Monitoring 
  • places an emphasis on independent monitoring of the quality control system to ensure it is relevant, adequate, operating effectively, and complied with in practice.

In addition to the six elements above, there are overarching responsibilities for the quality control policies and procedures to be documented and communicated to the firm's personnel.