Upcoming IAASB Virtual Roundtable: Narrowing the Gap

The IAASB invites you to listen in to a high-level roundtable discussion between global leaders, stakeholder groups and the IAASB addressing differences between public perceptions and the auditor’s responsibilities as well as feedback on the new and revised auditor reporting standards on September 28 at 8:15 am live streaming on YouTube. This roundtable, the second in part of an IAASB series, will:

• Consider the “expectation gap” with regards to fraud and going concern, which includes (among others) knowledge, performance, and evolution gaps;
• Stimulate discussions with stakeholders to better understand expectations for auditors in relation to fraud and going concern in financial statement audits, and explore how this “expectation gap” may be narrowed; and
• Gather stakeholder views on the implementation of the IAASB’s new and revised auditor reporting standards, including how practical challenges and concerns are being address and whether there is global demand for additional information in the auditor’s report to improve transparency.

Moderated by IAASB Deputy Chair Fiona Campbell, the September 28 roundtable participants, including governance experts, corporate directors, academics, auditors and audit profession leaders, audit regulators, and representatives from banking, investor and ratings groups will address, among other topics:

• The main causes of differences between public perception and auditor’s responsibilities with regard to fraud and going concern in audits of financial statements;
• What can be done across the external reporting ecosystem to address these differences; and
• New auditor’s reports, including Key Audit Matters (KAM) and if the IAASB standards issued in 2016 have increased confidence in audits.

This discussion will help the IAASB determine appropriate responses to global conversations on audit and the direction of future projects. It will also feed into the IAASB’s post-implementation review of the auditor reporting standards released in 2016, which includes the current auditor reporting survey for stakeholders. Stakeholders who are interested in these issues are encouraged to respond to the survey as well as read the recently released Discussion Paper on fraud and going concern.

We hope you are able to listen in to the group sessions on YouTube. We will also post the full sessions, including breakout small group discussion we aren’t able to live stream, online following the event—follow us on Twitter and YouTube or register/subscribe for updates and announcements.

Roundtable Agenda
September 28, 2020, 8:15-8:45 am EDT and 9:30-10:00 am EDT
IAASB YouTube

Save the date for the final IAASB roundtable in this series: