31 mars 2020
Source: International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health and humanitarian crisis. Beyond the significant challenges that lay ahead in all facets of life, the pandemic has the potential to significantly impact the way that audits are undertaken.
Audits should continue to comply with the required standards, which may necessitate different and enhanced considerations by auditors in the current circumstances. Auditors may need to consider developing alternative procedures to gather sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support their audit opinion, or to modify the audit opinion.
The following resources, assembled by the IAASB staff, have been included to help our stakeholders, and the larger accounting community, navigate some of the challenges ahead.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health and humanitarian crisis. Beyond the significant challenges that lay ahead in all facets of life, it also poses unprecedented risks to the world economy. The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) are committed to doing our part to support a strong global response.
IAASB and IESBA are committed to continuing our work, albeit virtually, and seizing opportunities to adapt how we work, and what we work on, considering global needs and priorities.
In the short-term, we have transitioned to fully digital platforms to execute day-to-day work, plenary meetings and stakeholder outreach. In addition, we are developing, or will consider commissioning and/or sourcing reference materials, as appropriate for each Board, to help our stakeholders continue their work. To that end, we will be creating web resources on each board’s website with COVID-19 related messages and materials.
We are coordinating with the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB), regulatory authorities, and national standard setters on our approach. We are also discussing with the PIOB the best way to balance timeliness and the very real operational constraints many stakeholders face. These discussions will consider our stakeholders’ ability to provide feedback according to existing timelines and whether flexibility is required.
We are adapting rapidly and trying to be sensitive to many difficulties. We will place a priority on remaining closely linked with all our stakeholders during these trying times and will continue to review our response, as we may not get it right the first time, and may need to adjust further as the global situation changes. The IAASB, IESBA, and their staff stand ready to help where and when possible.
We continue our work for the public interest. We understand the unprecedented crisis will bring unprecedented challenges. And we will meet them with a decisive and timely response.
In response to the unprecedented global circumstances, the IAASB issued the following staff alerts to provide some guidance to auditors: