Assurance engagement

Assurance engagement

Assurance engagement

Assurance can be either reasonable or limited. The level of assurance that can be provided to the intended user should be communicated in a transparent way.
Compliance audit Financial audit
Concept
Ref: 12.900
The ECA conducts its engagements so as to express a conclusion(s) and, where required, an opinion on a given subject, whether it be the reliability of the consolidated annual accounts or compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The ECA's engagements are called assurance engagements, as they are designed to enhance the
degree of confidence
, or assurance, of the intended users in the subject concerned, by applying objective criteria thereto. An assurance engagement may be:
  • a reasonable assurance engagement: this requires the auditor to reduce risk to an acceptably low level so as to obtain reasonable assurance as the basis for a positive form of expression of the conclusion(s) and, where required, an opinion reached on the basis of audit procedures performed (e.g. "the accounts present/do not present fairly...");
  • a limited assurance engagement: the auditor performs more limited procedures than those required of an audit, thus enabling him/her to obtain limited or moderate assurance as the basis for a negative form of expression of his/her conclusion ("nothing has come to our attention to indicate that...").
Regular audits conducted by ECA are reasonable assurance engagements. In compliance audit both reasonable and limited assurance are possible in both
direct reporting
and
attestation engagements
.
Last Modified: 02/02/2021 15:09   Tags: