Audit Evidence

What the Project Aims to Achieve

The IAASB is currently working on a project to revise ISA 500, Audit Evidence. In revising this standard, the IAASB aims to:

• Clarify the purpose of ISA 500 and how it relates to the other ISAs.
• Modernize how the standard deals with the variety of information available to an auditor, and the various sources of such information.
• Recognize the use of technology, both in the context of:
• An entity’s use of technology in preparing the financial statements and in generating other underlying information; and
• The auditor’s use of technology in performing audit procedures.
• Clarify the concept of sufficient appropriate audit evidence.
• Emphasize the auditor’s responsibility to exercise professional skepticism.

 Project Timeline

The following table sets out the project timeline. Please note that these are current targeted milestones and may change as the work in this area progresses.

Current Status of the Project

At the June 2022 IAASB meeting, the Board discussed and broadly supported a draft of proposed ISA 500 (Revised) that reflected the changes made by the Audit Evidence Task Force based on the Board’s discussion in March 2022. Such changes included a separate requirement to obtain audit evidence about the accuracy and completeness of information intended to be used as audit evidence when those attributes are applicable in the circumstances.

In progressing the draft standard, the Board suggested clarifications to emphasize that designing and performing audit procedures in an unbiased manner applies to both risk assessment procedures and further audit procedures. The Board also discussed clarifications in the application material to address the meaning of the term “information intended to be used as audit evidence,” given concerns about a disconnect with the wording used in the definition of audit evidence.

The Audit Evidence Task Force will present an updated draft of proposed ISA 500 (Revised) for approval for public exposure at the September 2022 IAASB meeting, along with proposed conforming and consequential amendments to other ISAs.

Task Force Information

IAASB Staff Contact

• Phil Minnaar
• Dan Montgomery

Task Force Members

• Sue Almond (Chair)
• Sachiko Kai
• Edo Kienhuis
• Kai-Uwe Marten
• Eric Turner
• Dominika Taraszkiewicz (PCAOB Observer)

Project Stages