IRBA NEWSLETTER ISSUE 43 Draft 10

4 / 18

STANDARDS
THE FOLLOWING TOPICS ARE DISCUSSED IN THIS
ISSUE:
• Standards:
o Note on the Revised Guide for Registered Auditors:
Engagements on Attorneys’ Trust Accounts.
o Exposure Draft: Proposed International Standard on
Auditing 315 (Revised): Identifying and Assessing the
Risks of Material Misstatement.
o South African Assurance Engagements Practice
Statement (SAAEPS) 1, Sustainability Assurance
Engagements: Rational Purpose, Appropriateness of
Underlying Subject Matter and Suitability of Criteria.
o Revision of the Guide for Registered Auditors: Auditing
in the Public Sector Vol 1.
o IAASB projects in progress.
• Ethics:
o IRBA Code of Professional Conduct for Registered
Auditors (Revised 2018).
o IESBA projects in progress.
Note on the Revised Guide for Registered Auditors:
Engagements on Attorneys’ Trust Accounts
According to the Department of Justice and Constitutional
Development, the Legal Practice Act, No. 28 of 2014 (LPA), will be
implemented and the statutory provincial Law Societies dissolved on
31 October 2018. The Legal Practice Council will assume regulation
over all legal practitioners, attorneys and advocates as defined in
the LPA. The final South African Legal Practice Council Rules made
under the authority of sections 95(1), 95(3) and 109(2) of the LPA
were gazetted (Government Gazette No. 41781) on 20 July 2018.
The Rules will be applied by the Legal Practice Council after its
establishment in terms of Chapter 2 of the LPA and on the date
fixed by proclamation by the President in the Government Gazette,
bringing the remaining provisions of the LPA into operation.
A health warning will be placed on the Revised Guide for Registered
Auditors: Engagements on Attorneys’ Trust Accounts (the Guide)
to alert auditors that the Guide has not been updated for changes
to legislation and the South African Legal Practice Council Rules.
Committee for Auditing Standards (CFAS)
Exposure Draft: Proposed International Standard on
Auditing 315 (Revised): Identifying and Assessing the
Risks of Material Misstatement
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)
has issued the proposed International Standard on Auditing (ISA)
315 (Revised), Identifying and Assessing the Risks of Material
Misstatement (ED-ISA 315 (Revised)), for public comment.
To ensure that ISAs continue to form the basis for high-quality,
valuable and relevant global audits, the IAASB’s ED-ISA 315
(Revised) proposes more robust requirements and improved
guidance.
ED-ISA 315 (Revised):
• Drives consistent and effective identification and assessment
of risks of material misstatement;
• Is modernised to meet evolving business needs, including
information technology, and address how auditors use
automated tools and techniques, including data analytics, to
perform procedures;
• Improves the standard’s applicability to entities across a wide
spectrum of circumstances and complexities; and
• Focuses auditors on exercising professional scepticism
throughout the risk identification and assessment process.
CFAS welcomes comments on all matters addressed in ED-ISA 315
(Revised), including responses to the specific questions set out in
the Explanatory Memorandum. Comments should be submitted via
email to by 5 October 2018. All comments
will be considered as a public record.
Alternatively, we invite registered auditors and other interested
parties to submit comments directly to the IAASB via the
by 2 November 2018.
A copy of the exposure draft is available on the exposure drafts
page on the
CFAS Sustainability Standing Committee (SSC)
South African Assurance Engagements Practice
Statement (SAAEPS) 1, Sustainability Assurance
Engagements: Rational Purpose, Appropriateness of
Underlying Subject Matter and Suitability of Criteria
CFAS approved the issuing of the South African Assurance
Engagements Practice Statement (SAAEPS) 1, Sustainability
Assurance Engagements: Rational Purpose, Appropriateness of
Underlying Subject Matter and Suitability of Criteria (SAAEPS 1), in
August 2018 for use by practitioners.
SAAEPS 1 is aimed at providing practical assistance to practitioners
on certain preconditions that need to be present when requested
to accept a sustainability assurance engagement in accordance
with the requirements of the International Standards on Assurance
Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements
Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information. The
characteristics dealt with in SAAEPS 1 are whether the sustainability
assurance engagement exhibits:
• A rational purpose;
• The underlying subject matter is appropriate; and
• The criteria that the practitioner expects to be applied in the
preparation of the subject matter information are suitable for
the engagement circumstances.
The preparation of appropriate engagement documentation is
emphasised.
The guidance is supplemented by a series of questions that the
practitioner may ask. After receiving feedback from the reporting
Issue 43 | July-September 2018 4