ICAP showcases revised Audit Practice Manual

Workshop held to outline amendments and structure of the document.

KARACHI:
If you think chartered accountants are serious learners by nature who can be trusted to have skimmed through the assigned reading material before showing up at a workshop on the recently revised Audit Practice Manual (APM) for professional auditors, you’re wrong.

When asked by the facilitator of the workshop as to how many participants actually read the document, only two out of approximately 30 members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) present in the Moosa D Desai Auditorium at the ICAP house on Thursday acknowledged.

The Quality Assurance Board (QAB) of ICAP had first issued the APM in two volumes over a decade ago to help practising members implement the International Standards on Accounting (ISAs), which are professional standards for the performance of financial audit.

In 2007, however, certain amendments were introduced to the document, and a revised APM was issued. Later on, in February 2009, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) finalised its ‘Clarity Project’ and, as a consequence, 36 updated and clarified ISAs and the International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC) are now available to professional auditors worldwide.

Against this background, the QAB decided to merge the two volumes of the APM, and issued a revised edition of the document.


Speaking to Icap members, FCA Abbas -- who is the proprietor of Abbas & Co Chartered Accountants -- said that the revised APM is divided into four sections, namely, pre-engagement, planning, execution and reporting.

Each of the four sections consist many chapters. For example, the pre-engagement section has two chapters, namely prospective client acceptance and/or existing client’s continuation memorandum, and agreeing terms of engagement on acceptance of the audit.

The planning section consists of 11 chapters, including the ones on fraud risk assessment, internal audit function evaluation, and staff planning and time allocation.

The execution section has 12 chapters on issues like the companies ordinance compliance checklist, income tax provision checklist, and labour laws compliance checklist.

The final section on reporting is comprised of 14 chapters, including those concerning financial statements and conclusion analytical procedures.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2012.
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