APB issues new SIR on Reporting on GAAP Reconciliations

The Auditing Practices Board (APB) has issued:

- SIR 5000 ‘Investment Reporting Standards applicable to Public Reporting Engagements on financial information reconciliations under the Listing Rules’

- A paper providing feedback on the actions taken by APB in response to comments received on the exposure draft issued in June 2007.

SIR 5000 establishes specific Investment Reporting Standards and guidance for reporting accountants engaged to report publicly on reconciliations of the financial information of targets to the accounting policies of an issuer to be included in a Class 1 circular under the Listing Rules. Such reconciliations are…

An Overview of Auditing

Auditing in the United Kingdom and Ireland has become somewhat arduous over the last couple of years.  More stringent regulations i.e. the International Standards on Auditing and an increased emphasis being placed on technical compliance means that Auditing can be particularly complex.

One of the key features of the audit process is the actual planning of the audit.  Thorough and concise planning means that the detailed audit work carried out will also be concise and thorough.

This article by Steven Collings considers some of the testing the auditor will do during their audit and looks at the different types of…

Chairs of the ASB and the FRRP are confirmed in post and become Directors of the FRC

As part of the arrangements for restructuring the FRC, which were announced on 29th March last year, it was agreed that the Chairs of the FRC’s Operating Bodies should in future be ex officio Directors of the new FRC with effect from the start of a new or extended period of tenure.

The non-executive Directors of the FRC today extended the tenure of Ian Mackintosh as Chair of the ASB and Bill Knight as Chair of the FRRP to enable both to complete six years of tenure, expiring on 31st July 2010 and 28th February 2010 respectively.

Both become Directors…

ICAEW welcomes APB’s considered stance in its proposed revisions to the auditor independence

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has given a welcome to the considered and pragmatic stance taken by the Auditing Practices Board in proposed revisions to the Ethical Standards on auditor independence, in its response to the APB today.

Martyn Jones, chairman of the ICAEW’s Ethics Standards Committee, said:

“The APB has proposed relatively minor changes in the next version of the their Ethical Standards, largely based on changes to the International Federation of Accountants Code of Ethics and the revised Statutory Audit Directive. As we see no evidence in the UK at present of a significant…

Regulation of Audit and of the Accountancy Profession

The respective roles and responsibilities of the government, the FRC and the accountancy profession in relation to regulation of audit and of the accountancy profession.

This note summarises the respective roles of the government, the FRC and the accountancy profession in relation to regulation of audit and the accountancy profession.

The Government

The Government is responsible for maintaining the legislative framework for audit regulation. In January 2003, the Government concluded that there should be a strengthening of the regulatory framework for corporate governance, auditing and financial reporting. The Companies (Audit, Inspection and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, provided the legislative underpinning…