Ebook: Interpretation and Application of International Standards on Auditing

Written by Steven Collings, winner of Accounting Technician of theYear at the British Accountancy Awards 2011, this book dealswith the significant changes auditing has undergone in recentyears, due in large part to well-publicised corporate disasterssuch as Enron and Parmalat, which have shaken the profession. Inresponse, many countries have replaced pre-existing domesticstandards with International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) in anattempt to ensure that auditors throughout the world apply the samelevel of standards during all audit assignments, and that auditquality remains consistent on a global basis. International Standards on Auditing are frequently updated toimprove and clarify their application throughout the audit andaccounting profession. They can be extremely complex and difficultto apply in real life situations. It is essential to apply thestandards with sufficient rigor to enable an efficient audit totake place, to satisfy the regulators and ensure that the clientreceives and audit which is beneficial, cost effective, and whichconforms to the prescribed framework; however, auditors are oftencriticised for failing to do so.

Recognising that auditing is not always an exact science, andthat in many cases the auditor is called upon to make a judgementin situations open to differing opinions, this book takes apractical and pragmatic approach to following InternationalStandards on Auditing. Steve Collings looks at the full ISAs intheir final form, as reissued following the IAASB 'ClarityProject', and give auditors guidance on how to interpret and applythem in real life situations. Each redrafted or rewritten ISA isdealt with in a separate chapter, containing case studies andillustrative examples. The book also covers the regulatoryframework of auditing and gives a summary of the five ethicalstandards applicable to auditors, as mapped by the IAASB. Detailedappendices provide an overview of IFRS and IAS, illustrative audittests and illustrative financial statements.