New audit opinion for 2012 – example for commercial client of one-partner firm

A brand new audit report is one of the biggest changes in the clarified audit standards.  It will apply for audit reports issued in 2013 for our audits of 12-31-12 financial statements.

This is a biggie.

The new opinion is discussed in AU-C Section 700, Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements.

You can find all the new clarified standards on this page at the AICPA website. You can click directly to section 700 here.

Here is the new report, adjusting pronouns to a one partner firm. Don’t forget the title, Independent Auditor’s Report:

Independent Auditor’s Report

[Appropriate Addressee]

Report on the Financial Statements

I  have audited the accompanying financial statements of Clientname, which comprise the balance sheet as of Balancesheetdate, and the related statements of income, changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year then ended, and the related notes to the financial statements.

Management’s Responsibility for the Financial Statements

Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America; this includes the design, implementation, and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s Responsibility

My responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on my audit.  I conducted my audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those standards require that I plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control. Accordingly, I express no such opinion. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. I believe that the audit evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my audit opinion.

Opinion

In my opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Clientname as of Balancesheetdate, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements  [This section usually won’t apply unless the auditor has other reporting responsibilities.]

[Auditor’s signature]

[Auditor’s city and state]

[Date of the auditor’s report]

 

You can copy and paste the AICPA’s example, or get one from your third-party provider, or copy and paste my example above.

If you copy my example, you will need to make a few changes:

• Convert I/my to We/our.
• Replace the Clientname, which is intentionally misspelled so it will jump out at you if you forget to change it.
• Update the Balancesheetdate

Next post: sample audit report for NPO.