Audit & Risk

Auditing Practices Board calls for greater scepticism

External auditors need to be more sceptical when judging financial reports, according to the Auditing Practices Board (APB), which has published a paper designed to increase understanding of professional scepticism.

in News.

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The document builds on the APB’s 2010 discussion paper, “Auditor scepticism: raising the bar”, and aims to stimulate new thinking on the subject.

Richard Fleck, chairman of the APB and a director of the Financial Reporting Council, the corporate governance watchdog that oversees the board, said that there was still “a lack of consensus as to [scepticism’s] nature and its role in the audit”.

The board hopes that external auditors will accept the paper’s conclusions and build them into their working practices. It also wants audit committee members and management teams to recognise the key contribution they can make to support the exercise of professional scepticism when responding to challenges raised in audits.

To download a copy of the paper, visit bit.ly/HZGuuC

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