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Assurance & Attestation Insights

This document discusses assurance services which are independent professional services that improve the quality of information for decision makers. It defines assurance services and notes that they can be performed by CPAs or other professionals. It then describes different types of attestation services including audits of historical financial statements and internal controls over financial reporting, reviews of historical financial statements, attestation services on information technology, and other assurance services.

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Yusuf Hussein
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45 views8 pages

Assurance & Attestation Insights

This document discusses assurance services which are independent professional services that improve the quality of information for decision makers. It defines assurance services and notes that they can be performed by CPAs or other professionals. It then describes different types of attestation services including audits of historical financial statements and internal controls over financial reporting, reviews of historical financial statements, attestation services on information technology, and other assurance services.

Uploaded by

Yusuf Hussein
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Assurance Services

An independent professional service that improves the


quality of information for decision makers.

Individuals who are responsible for making business


decisions seek assurance services to help improve
the reliability and relevance of the information used
Can be performed by CPAs or by a variety
of other professionals
1-1

Assurance Services
CPAs have provided many assurance
services for years, particularly
assurances about historical financial
statements
They have also performed assurance
services related to lotteries and
contests to provide assurance that
winners were determined in an
unbiased fashion in accordance with
contest rules

Attestation Services
Five Categories:
1. Audit

3. Review
Historical
Financial
Statements

2. Internal
Control over
Financial
Reporting

5. Other

4. Information
Technology
1-3

1. Audit of historical financial


statements
The auditor issues a written report
expressing an opinion about whether
the financial statements are fairly
stated in accordance with the
applicable accounting standards.

2. Audit of Internal Control over


Financial Reporting
Management asserts that internal controls
have been developed and implemented
following well established criteria
Section 404 of the SOX act requires public
companies to report managements
assessment of the effectiveness of control
The act also requires auditors to attest to
the effectiveness of internal control over
financial reporting
This evaluation increases user confidence
about future financial reporting

3. Review of Historical Financial


Statements
Management asserts that the
statements are fairly stated in
accordance with accounting standard
The CPA provides only a moderate
level of assurance for reviews of
financial statements, compared to a
high level for audits, therefore less
evidence is needed

4. Attestation Services on
Information Technology
Management makes various assertions
about the reliability and security of
electronic information
WebTrust and SysTrust also meet the
criteria of attestation service

1-7

5. Other Assurance Services


Most of the other assurance services that CPAs
provide do not meet the formal definition
of attestation services.
The CPA is not required to issue a written report.
The assurance does not have to be about the
reliability of another partys assertion about
compliance with specified criteria.
1-8

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