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Audit Reports
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Tip
There are four types of audit reports: and unqualified opinion, a qualified opinion, and
adverse opinion, and a disclaimer of opinion. An unqualified or "clean" opinion is the
best type of report a business can get.
Unqualified Opinion
Often called a clean opinion, an unqualified opinion is an audit report that is issued
when an auditor determines that each of the financial records provided by the small
business is free of any misrepresentations. In addition, an unqualified opinion
indicates that the financial records have been maintained in accordance with the
standards known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). This is the
best type of report a business can receive.
Typically, an unqualified report consists of a title that includes the word “independent.”
This is done to illustrate that it was prepared by an unbiased third party. The title is
followed by the main body. Made up of three paragraphs, the main body highlights the
responsibilities of the auditor, the purpose of the audit and the auditor’s findings. The
auditor signs and dates the document, including his address.
Qualified Opinion
In situations when a company’s financial records have not been maintained in
accordance with GAAP but no misrepresentations are identified, an auditor will issue
a qualified opinion. The writing of a qualified opinion is extremely similar to that of an
unqualified opinion. A qualified opinion, however, will include an additional paragraph
that highlights the reason why the audit report is not unqualified.
Adverse Opinion
The worst type of financial report that can be issued to a business is an adverse
opinion. This indicates that the firm’s financial records do not conform to GAAP. In
addition, the financial records provided by the business have been grossly
misrepresented. Although this may occur by error, it is often an indication of fraud.
When this type of report is issued, a company must correct its financial statement and
have it re-audited, as investors, lenders and other requesting parties will generally not
accept it.
Disclaimer of Opinion
On some occasions, an auditor is unable to complete an accurate audit report. This
may occur for a variety of reasons, such as an absence of appropriate financial
records. When this happens, the auditor issues a disclaimer of opinion, stating that an
opinion of the firm’s financial status could not be determined.
Auditor's Report
By
WILL KENTON
Reviewed by
MARGARET JAMES
The independent and external audit report is typically published with the
company's annual report. The auditor's report is important because banks and
creditors require an audit of a company's financial statements before lending to
them.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The first paragraph states the responsibilities of the auditor and directors.
The second paragraph contains the scope, stating that a set of standard
accounting practices was the guide.
The third paragraph contains the auditor's opinion.
An additional paragraph may inform the investor of the results of a separate audit
on another function of the entity. The investor will key in on the third paragraph,
where the opinion is stated.
The type of report issued will be dependent on the findings by the auditor. Below
are the most common types of reports issued for companies.
Clean or Unqualified Report
A clean report means that the company's financial records are free from material
misstatement and conform to the guidelines set by GAAP. A majority of audits
end in unqualified, or clean, opinions.
Qualified Opinion
A qualified opinion may be issued in one of two situations: first, if the financial
statements contain material misstatements that are not pervasive; or second, if
the auditor is unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence on which to
base an opinion, but the possible effects of any material misstatements are not
pervasive. For example, a mistake might have been made in calculating
operating expenses or profit. Auditors typically state the specific reasons and
areas where the issues are present so that the company can fix them.
Adverse Opinion
An adverse opinion means that the auditor has obtained sufficient audit evidence
and concludes that misstatements in the financial statements are both material
and pervasive. An adverse opinion is the worst possible outcome for a company
and can have a lasting impact and legal ramifications if not corrected.
Disclaimer of Opinion
A disclaimer of opinion means that, for some reason, the auditor is unable to
obtain sufficient audit evidence on which to base the opinion, and the possible
effects on the financial statements of undetected misstatements, if any, could be
both material and pervasive. Examples can include when an auditor can't be
impartial or wasn't allowed access to certain financial information.
In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the
financial position of the Company as of September 29, 2019, and September 30,
2018, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three
years in the period ended September 29, 2019, in conformity with accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States of America."
Definition:
The audit report is the report that contains the audit’s opinion, which independent
auditors issue after they examine the entity’s financial statements and related
reports.
After completing their testing, the auditor then issues the audit report on
the financial statements that they just audited. This report will also include their
opinion on the financial statements.
Using:
The audit report is used by many stakeholders, including the entity’s
management, directors, shareholders, investors, government bodies, banks, and
many others.
In most cases, the audit report is issued to cover financial statements over 12
months or a year period. Investors use audit reports and audited financial
statements to assess the entity’s financial performance and financial position for
their investment opportunity.
The government agency uses the audit reports and financial statements to
assess the completeness and accuracy of the tax declaration.
Shareholders and the board of directors use the audit report to assess the
integrity of management and transparency of financial statements.
Noted:
Different audit reports contain different audit opinions, and the main cause is the
different misstatements found in the financial statements. Therefore, different
types of audit reports represent a different level of assurance.
Here are the four types of report that we mentioned above,
For example, the opening balance of the entity contains a large number of
inventories that could not verify.
In this case, the auditor issue a qualified audit opinion on the qualified audit
report. However, if the auditor thinks that the misstatement is pervasive, they will
issue an adverse opinion in their report.
This kind of report, only inventories that mention are matters. Others information
in the financial statements is true and fair.
The term of seriousness, the qualified audit report is more serious than
unqualified due to material misstatements on the mention items or accounts in
the financial statements.
#3 Adverse Audit Report:
An adverse Audit Report is a type of audit report issued to the financial
statements when auditors found material misstatements in the financial
statements.
The misstatements found here are different from the material misstatements
found in qualified audit reports. They are materially misstated for themselves and
affect others’ accounts and items in the whole financial statements. These are
called pervasive.
That means all the items and accounts in the whole financial statements could
not be trusted by shareholders, investors, and other stakeholders. In this report,
auditors will list down the client name, financial statements that they were audited
and the period the financial statements covered.
Auditors will also state all misstatements found and how they have affected the
financial statements and the users of financial statements.
In most cases, auditors also state all the material found in the Others Matters,
which is the message to the users of financial statements to be aware of when
they read the financial statements for their own purpose.
#4 Disclaimer Audit Report:
The disclaimer audit report is the report that issues the financial
statements where there is matter to auditor’s independence and those mater
cause auditors not be able to obtain sufficient audit evidence to support their
opinion.
This has happened when auditors are prevented to access to certain information
related to items or accounts in financial statements while those items or accounts
are believed to be materially misstated and pervasive.
Auditors might not issue the disclaimer opinion if the restrictions are made only
the items or accounts that material misstated but not pervasive.
Advantages of Audit Reports:
Assure Financial Statements. Audit reports are issued by a professional
and independent auditor who is operational independent from the entity’s
management. The report issued from them could help the financial statement
users to assure that financial information is correct.
Prove management integrity on their shareholders. As an auditor is
independent of management, the report could prove whether managements are
honest to their shareholders or not. But, again, this is related to principle and
agency theory.
It is the requirement of law and regulation. Most countries required the
entities that have the specific criteria to have their financial statements audited by
independent auditors—those criteria like annual turnover, the value of assets,
and the number of employees. The auditor is the evidence that could prove to the
government that the entity complies with the law.
It is the requirement of shareholders. Most of the corporate shareholders
want their entity’s financial statements to be audited. This report is examined by
the experts and express in the easy words that could be understood by most of
the shareholders who do not have financial or audit background.
Parent company’s requirement. Many parent companies that have
subsidiaries operating in other countries or even in the same country normally
required their subsidiaries’ financial statements to be audited. This report could
help them manage the subsidiary even more effectively.
Help stakeholders to understand about entity’s financial and operational
situation. This is probably the most important point. The auditor is required to
state the auditor report whether the entity has any going concern problem or not.
This includes financial and non-financial problems that could lead the entity to
face bankruptcy in the next foreseeable period from the audit report date.
Limitation of Audit Reports:
The scope of the audit might be limited by management. This is a popular
discussion about audit’ issues. In the audit standard, auditors should have the full
right to access information that could help them obtain audit evidence to express
their opinion. However, in practice, management might try their best to prevent
auditors from obtaining some sensitive information. These are probably the
management don’t fully trust auditors ethic related to confidentiality or
management themselves have integrity problems. These problems might prevent
auditors from providing the best quality of audit opinion that it should be.
Time too constraints for auditors. In practice, auditor normally faces time
constraints which do not provide them enough time to perform their testing as
they should be.
Auditors’ Independence. The code of ethics required auditors to stay
independent from their audit clients. This is to ensure that auditors do not bias
when they perform their works and issue audit opinion.
Risks that might not detect by auditors: Inherent Risks and Fraud Risks.
The audit standard requires auditors to have proper audit planning as well as risk
assessment. This ensures that the auditing quality is maintained and audit risks
are identified and minimized. However, these things could not auditor eliminate
all kinds of material misstatement risks from financial statements. For example,
inherent risks and fraud risks.
Auditors Qualification and Competency. This is also an important point. To
run an audit firm, we all know that someone who represents the firm needs to
hold a CPA qualification. But the thing is because of the competition, and
because of the number of works, the quality of the audit report might have some
problems. As you may know
Conclusion:
As listed above, there are four types of audit reports, and those reports are
different because of the nature of material misstatements found by auditors.
Different types of audit reports contain different audit opinions. The unqualified
report issued for the financial statements contains no material misstatement.
Qualified reports, on the others hand issued to the financial statements that
contain material misstatements, yet those misstatements are only for
themselves.
The auditor will issue an adverse opinion when the financial statement contains
pervasive misstatement. Yet, they will disclaim not to express their opinion if they
could not have enough to review financial statements.
Understanding the Four Types of Audit
Reports
July 1st, 2019
Nicholas J. Price
A couple of things that make audit reports so complicated is that some of the
information isn’t readily available and some of the information is subjective
in nature. Auditors have to make various judgmental assumptions in
finalizing reports. The audit opinion is a very important part of the audit
report because it makes a statement about a company’s financial status to
investors. The audit report provides a picture of a company’s financial
performance in a given fiscal year. Investors analyze audit reports and base
much of their investment decisions on information contained in the audit
reports.
Investors are particularly interested in the audit opinion because it’s a
reflection of the integrity of the audit report and projects an image of the
company. The audit opinion is based on such things as how available the data
was to them, whether they had an opportunity to follow all due procedures,
the level of materiality and other issues along those lines. All of these things
are subjective in nature and depend on the auditor’s opinion.
An adverse audit opinion can deflate a company’s status. In some cases,
adverse audit opinions may lead to litigation. Regulatory bodies may also
scrutinize the audit opinion and the audit report to verify the information for
accuracy and any impact on taxation matters.
Board management software programs support the accountability and
transparency of financial reporting to ensure that companies get the best
auditor opinion letter. Governance Cloud by Diligent Corporation is a fully
integrated platform of board management software solutions that will ensure
that companies get through the audit process with flying colors. The platform
assures confidentiality with its state-of-the-art security features. Boards can
set granular permissions so that only authorized parties have access to various
parts of the auditing process.
Auditors form their opinions by making professional judgments and getting
legal opinions. It’s vital that companies have internal controls and financial
policies in place and have them reviewed regularly by the company’s internal
audit team to ensure that everything is in order before the audit ensues.
12 min read
For any enterprise, the audit report is a key deliverable which shows the end
results of the entire audit process. The users of financial statements like
Investors, Lenders, Customers, and others base their decisions and plans on
audit reports of any enterprise. An audit report is always critical to influencing
the perceived value of any financial statement’s audit.
The auditor should be careful in issuing the audit report as there is are a large
number of people placing reliance on such report and taking decisions
accordingly. The report should be issued by being unbiased and objective in
discharging the functions.
Addressee Should mention clearly as to whom the report is being given to. For
Members oMentions that it is the Management’s responsibility to P
Financial Statements. f the company, Board of Directors
Management’s
Responsibility for Financial
Statements
Opinion Should mention the overall impression obtained from the audit of fi
statements. For example Modified Opinion, Unmodified Opinion
Basis of the Opinion State the basis on which the opinion as reported has been achieved
basis should be mentioned.
Other Reporting If any other reporting responsibility exists, the same should be men
Responsibility example Report on Legal or Regulatory requirements
Signature of the Auditor The engagement partner (auditor) shall sign the audit report.
Issued for any audit where the auditor is satisfied that the financial statements
present a true and fair view of the operations and transactions in an enterprise
during the period. An audit report with an Unmodified Opinion is also known
as a ‘Clean Report’. An Unmodified report develops confidence among users
of Financial statements and annual reports of an enterprise. It provides an
impression that the financial statements are reasonably free from any
misstatements and results as appearing there are true and fair.
Modified Opinion
Whenever the auditor has specific findings during his / her audit and
concludes that an Unmodified Opinion cannot be issued due to the nature of
findings, a Modified Opinion is issued in the audit report. There are two basic
reasons due to which an auditor concludes on issuing a Modified Opinion:
Based on the audit and evidence, finds out that the financial
statements contain a certain degree of material misstatements.
There are three kinds of modified opinions which are issued according to the
findings and circumstances:
Adverse Opinion
Qualified Opinion
Disclaimer of Opinion
Qualified Opinion
The auditor concludes that misstatements are material but the impact
is not so high that it would render the whole financial statements
unacceptable; or
In case of Profit and Loss Account, of the profit/loss for the year
ended on that date; and
In case of the Cash Flow Statement, of the cash flows for the year
ended on that date.
Adverse Opinion
In case of Profit and Loss Account, of the profit/loss for the year
ended on that date; and
In case of the Cash Flow Statement, of the cash flows for the year
ended on that date.
Disclaimer of Opinion
The auditor discovers some facts after the date of an audit report and
the auditor issues new or amended audit report.