PricewaterhouseCoopers Nigeria has advised Nigerian companies to try out the International Auditing and Assurance Standard Board auditors’ report model.
Senior officials of the professional services firm gave the advice at a breakfast meeting held by the professional services firm recently, a statement said.
“The new IAASB standard is long overdue and a product of many years of discussions among stakeholders on how to make the auditor’s report better,” the Country Senior Partner, PwC Nigeria and Regional Senior Partner for West Africa, Uyi Akpata, said.
“The new model is exigent at this time when there is increased call even among the general citizenry for transparency, good governance and clarity in financial reports. This new model gives more insight into the auditing process and is sure to provide answers to many of the concerns raised over the years about audit reports.”
Akpata, who observed that the country was moving closers to the December 2016 implementation period, said that PwC was committed to being at the forefront on issues, adding that it would continue to engage stakeholders in open fora as well as through individual private discussions as it explores the new model and prepare to implement it in its audit reports.
On how the new model is different from the current reporting standard, the Partner and Assurance Leader, PwC Nigeria, Tola Ogundipe, said, “Essentially, the regulator’s objectives which informed the review revolves around enhancing the communicative value and relevance of the auditor’s report and modifying International Standards on Accounting to accommodate evolving national financial reporting regimes.
“We strongly advise as is our practice at PwC, that companies do at least one dry run with the new standards. This will enable them learn from the experience when actual reporting with it commences in December 2016.”
He explained that the new standard was the product of a process, which commenced in in 2006 when the IAASB and the American Institute of certified public accountants started a joint academic research to identify, and provide information and insights on user perceptions regarding the financial statement audit and the auditor’s report among different classes of financial statement users.
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Source : Punch