IRBA Newsletter Issue 50

Issue 50 | April - June 2020 6 STANDARDS cont. Appropriateness of Underlying Subject Matter and Suitability of Criteria , for use by practitioners. SAAEPS 1 was issued for use by practitioners on 5 September 2019 , effective for the Acceptance and Continuance - Preconditions for the Assurance Engagement phase of the sustainability assurance engagement for reporting periods beginning on or after 15 December 2020. Early adoption is permitted. The effective date for the updated SAAEPS 1 remains the same as that of SAAEPS 1. The updated 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 International Standards on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information. An extended period of two years was provided before the effective date of SAAEPS 1 to give practitioners time to prepare for its implementation, receive training, implement it and then provide feedback to the IRBA on any implementation lessons. Also, the extended effective date allowed time for preparers of sustainability reports to receive training on the content of SAAEPS 1, as it relates to them. Subsequent to the original issue of SAAEPS 1 in September 2018, SAAEPS 1 has been updated based on feedback from practitioners and other interested parties as follows: • Tabulated questions contained in SAAEPS 1: o The questions have been converted into considerations that may assist the practitioner in making professional judgments in determining whether the sustainability assurance engagement exhibits the characteristics set out in the objective paragraph of SAAEPS 1, thereby easing the responsibility on practitioners to answer the questions, with corresponding changes made throughout. • Extent of work to be performed during this pre-engagement stage of the assurance engagement: o Paragraph 12 of SAAEPS 1 has been updated to acknowledge that, for example, when the sustainability assurance engagement is an initial engagement, it is likely that the work effort to determine whether the preconditions are present may be greater than in the case of a continuing engagement. This is especially so when the entity’s process to prepare the sustainability report is in the early stages and still evolving, or when the sustainability assurance engagement is complex. The effective date of SAAEPS 1 remains unchanged and early adoption is allowed. INTERNATIONAL AUDIT AND ASSURANCE STANDARDS BOARD (IAASB) IAASB Publications Relating to COVID-19 The IAASB staff released several publications to highlight key areas of focus in the current environment and these may be found on the IAASB COVID-19 webpage . These publications include the following: • Staff Audit Practice Alert: Auditor Reporting in the Current Evolving Environment Due to COVID-19 ; • Staff Audit Practice Alert: Subsequent Events in the Current Evolving Environment – Audit Considerations for the Impact of COVID-19; • Staff Audit Practice Alert: Going Concern in the Current Evolving Environment – Audit Considerations for the Impact of COVID-19; and • Staff Audit Practice Alert: Highlighting Areas of Focus in an Evolving Audit Environment Due to the Impact of COVID-19. IAASB’s New Strategy and Work Plan Focus on an Increased Agility, Enhanced Coordination and a Priority on Responding to Emerging Challenges The IAASB has published its strategy for 2020-2023 (the Strategy) and Work Plan for 2020-2021 (the Work Plan). The Strategy sets the following three strategic objectives to focus IAASB priorities and resources during 2020-2023: • Increase the emphasis on emerging issues to ensure that the IAASB International Standards provide a foundation for high- quality audits, assurance and related services engagements; • Innovate the IAASB’s ways of working to strengthen and broaden its agility, capabilities and capacity to do the right work at the right time; and • Maintain and deepen relationships with stakeholders to achieve globally relevant, progressive and operable standards. The Work Plan describes, as at the time of the December 2019 approval, how the IAASB intends to increase its focus on emerging issues, while completing the existing work already committed to and underway. In the Work Plan, the IAASB anticipates standard- setting projects on going concern, fraud and audit evidence, as well as work to address the needs of auditors of less complex entities, among other topics. To support an evidence-based and structured consideration of new topics, the IAASB Work Plan highlights a new Framework for Activities that comprises several key components to help the board develop informed and targeted responses to address emerging issues and topics of global relevance. As International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) are prescribed for registered auditors in South Africa, and as the CFAS closely follows the work of the IAASB, consideration will be given to including the IAASB’s Strategy and Work Plan into the CFAS Strategy and Work Plan.