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STANDARDS

THE FOLLOWING TOPICS ARE DISCUSSED IN THIS

ISSUE:

• Important information for Tax Practitioners registered with the

IRBA.

• Draft Guidelines for Preparation of Public School Financial

Statements.

• Standards:

o

Revised Guide for Registered Auditors: Access to

Working Papers.

o

Proposed Revised Guide for Registered Auditors:

Assurance Engagements on the Annual Financial

Statements and Annual Statutory Returns of a Medical

Scheme.

o

Illustrative engagement letters, assurance reports and

related guidance notes – sustainability engagements.

o

Revision of the

Guide for Registered Auditors: Auditing

in the Public Sector Vol 1

.

o

Webpage repository on documents related to the assur-

ance of integrated reports.

o

Survey on the IAASB’s future strategy.

o

IAASB projects in progress

.

• Ethics:

o

Proposed Revised and Restructured IRBA Code of Pro-

fessional Conduct.

o

Proposed IESBA Strategy and Work Plan 2019-2023.

o

IESBA Consults on Professional Scepticism.

o

IESBA projects in progress

.

Important Information for TaxPractitionersRegistered

with the IRBA

From our ongoing liaison with the South African Revenue Service

(SARS), we would like to make tax practitioners (TPs) aware of the

following matters:

Tax compliance

SARS is concerned about the increasing number and growing trend

of TPs that are themselves not tax compliant. TPs should ensure

that their tax affairs are up to date. Further, in the 2018 budget,

National Treasury proposed an amendment to the tax legislation to

deregister TPs who continuously fail to be tax compliant and who

do not correct their behaviour after being notified by SARS.

IRBA Code of Professional Conduct for Registered

Auditors (the Code)

TPs registered with the IRBA must comply with the requirements of

the Code. Failure to comply with any requirements in the Code may

be regarded as improper conduct and may be investigated; and, if

appropriate, the TP might be charged with improper conduct.

A SARS official in terms of the Tax Administration Act may lodge

a complaint with the IRBA if a TP has, in the opinion of the official,

conducted himself/herself improperly or behaved unethically.

Examples of improper conduct include claiming fraudulent Value

Added Tax (VAT) refunds or withholding a client’s tax profile due to

unpaid fees.

Further, SARS is also in the process of establishing formal disciplinary

processes to take action against TPs that are unethical.

Auditing of Public Schools

Draft Guidelines for Preparation of Public School

Financial Statements

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) raised concerns

regarding the audit of schools, and in particular the perceived lack

of consistency in scope and audit quality between the provinces,

the lack of segregation of duties between the auditor and the

bookkeeper, and audit reports. The DBE recently issued Draft

Guidelines for public comment by 31 July 2018. Registered

auditors and others are encouraged to submit comments on the

Draft Guidelines to the DBE. The Draft Guidelines are available

on the

DBE website .

All comments should be submitted to

moodley.d@dbe.gov.za .

SAICA is also involved in this area. Please refer to its communications

in this regard.

Please note that the IRBA was not involved in the preparation of the

Draft Guidelines.

Committee for Auditing Standards (CFAS)

Revised Guide for Registered Auditors: Access to

Working Papers

The CFAS approved the issue of the

Revised Guide for Registered

Auditors: Access to Working Papers

(this Revised Guide) in May

2018 for issue.

This Revised Guide deals with the circumstances in which

registered auditors (auditors) or firms are requested or required to

grant access to working papers to the client, to another auditor or

to a third party that support an auditor’s opinion, conclusion and/

or report on financial statements or other financial or non-financial

information, where such engagements are governed by auditing

pronouncements, as prescribed or issued by the IRBA and which

include the Standards of the International Auditing and Assurance

Standards Board (IAASB).

Guidance is provided in respect of access requested or required in

the following circumstances:

1. Access required by law.

2. Access required in compliance with International Standards

on Auditing (ISAs) and International Standards on Assurance

Engagements (ISAEs), or the IRBA Code of Professional

Conduct for Registered Auditors (the Code) and any other

auditing pronouncements prescribed or issued by the IRBA, by

the group engagement partner or component auditor in a group

audit engagement; and by a successor auditor/s where there is

a change from the predecessor auditor/s.

3. Access requested in terms of a contractual agreement.

In summary, this Revised Guide has been updated for the following:

1. Changes to legislation.

Issue 42 | April - June 2018

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