AICPA Issues Proposal to Revise SSAE 18 on Standards for Attestation Engagements

The Auditing Standards Board (ASB) has exposed for public comment proposed Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements, Revisions to Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 18: Clarification and Recodification, which would supersede AT-C section 105, Concepts Common to All Attestation Engagements; AT-C section 205, Examination Engagements; AT-C section 210, Review Engagements; and AT-C section 215, Agreed-Upon Procedures Engagements, in AICPA Professional Standards.

The proposed SSAE would:

no longer require the practitioner to request a written assertion from the responsible party when the practitioner is reporting directly on the subject matter or performing an agreed-upon procedures engagement.

more closely harmonize AT-C section 210 with the limited assurance provisions of International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements Other than Audits and Reviews of Historical Financial Information, including changing the term review engagement to limited assurance engagement. The proposed revisions to AT-C section 210 more explicitly describe the types of procedures a practitioner may perform in a limited assurance engagement. These procedures are much the same as the procedures a practitioner may perform in an examination engagement, except that the nature, timing, and extent of those procedures are tailored to a limited assurance engagement. Finally, the proposed revisions to AT-C section 210 would require that the practitioner’s report include an informative summary of the work performed as a basis for the practitioner’s conclusion.

revise the agreed-upon procedures section by no longer requiring that all of the parties to the engagement (the engaging party, the responsible party [where applicable], and users of the practitioner’s report) agree to the procedures to be performed and, therefore, take responsibility for their sufficiency. Instead, the proposed revision would require that the engaging party acknowledge, prior to the issuance of the report, the appropriateness of the procedures for the intended purpose of the engagement, and would explicitly allow the practitioner to develop, or assist in developing, the procedures. The proposed revision would also allow the practitioner to issue a general-use report, unless the procedures are prescribed and the practitioner is precluded from designing or performing additional procedures, or the criteria are not available to users or are suitable only for a limited number of users.

Interested parties are encouraged to review the revisions and submit their informal feedback by October 11, 2018.