Hampered access to evidence 'could impact upon financial statements'

News Article - 23 May 2012
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A lack of access to sufficient audit evidence could adversely affect financial statements, a report has warned.

Research by the Audit Quality Forum (AQF) has discovered that third parties may be in possession of information which relates to the fairness and truth of financial statements, but which has not been seen by the board or auditors.

The forum states that boards are responsible for ensuring that financial statements are prepared and business relationships are maintained

"Directors are also responsible for confirming that the auditors have been given appropriate audit evidence – this may also need to be fed into instructions to third parties, to make sure it happens," said chairman of the AQF working group, Stephen Lewis.

Meanwhile, third parties are responsible for their own integrity and for conducting their work appropriately, Mr Lewis stated, adding that public policy makers should be aware of the impact third parties can have on audit quality.

Findings by the Financial Executives Research Foundation recently showed that chief financial officers are becoming increasingly concerned about the quality of their firm's financial data.

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