Auditing standards require auditors to plan and perform their work with professional scepticism – recognising that circumstances may exist which cause the financial report to be materially misstated.
Yet, scepticism remains one of the hardest qualities for auditors to demonstrate and document.
ASIC and international regulators repeatedly highlight concerns where auditors rely too heavily on management, overlook contradictory evidence, or fail to show how assumptions were challenged.
We’ll also explore how the recently revised ASA 570 Going Concern and ASA 240 The Auditor’s Responsibilities Relating to Fraud reinforce and strengthen the application of professional scepticism.
This session will also cover:
- What professional scepticism means in practice and the risks to its application (e.g., non-assurance services, long association, bias, and emerging issues such as AI)
- Key regulator concerns and inspection findings
- What auditing standards require – objectives, fraud, and risk assessment
- Applying scepticism to critical areas – revenue recognition, accounting estimates, impairment, and going concern, and
- Documentation techniques that demonstrate challenge and stand up to regulatory review.
