Submission issued on 21 May 2007 to the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board on:

• ED1/07: Proposed Amendments to ASA 700 The Auditor’s Report on a General Purpose Financial Report
• ED 2/07: Proposed Framework for Assurance Engagements (re-issuance of AUS 108)
• ED 3/07: Proposed Standard on Assurance Engagements ASAE 3000 Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (re-issuance of AUS 110)

CPA Australia supports the public interest intent of the FRC and the AUASB, but disagrees with the proposal to require the auditor to include in the audit report an explicit reference to the entity’s statement of compliance with IFRS (where the entity has included such a statement in the notes to the financial statements, and the auditor agrees with the statement).

It is suggested that the existing requirements contained in ASA 700 Paragraphs 50 to 52 provide a mechanism for the auditor to address additional reporting responsibilities which is the more appropriate mechanism for dealing with the FRC’s request to give more prominence to compliance with IFRS.