Chapter 2 Organization and Structure of the Auditing Profess(17)

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understanding of several of them has changed significantly over the years and they have been amended to reflect that understanding and resulting changes in terminology). Of the ten standards, three are concerned with personal qualities that the auditor should possess

(general standards), three with how an audit should be conducted (field work standards), and four with the form and content of the auditor's report (reporting standards). The ten GAAS are discussed in detail in Chapter 3.

The authority to amplify and interpret the ten GAAS resides in a senior technical committee of the AICPA. From 1939 to 1972, that committee was called the Committee on Auditing Procedure and issued 54 pronouncements called Statements on Auditing Procedure. The Committee on Auditing Procedure was replaced in 1972 by the Auditing Standards Executive Committee, and in 1978 the Auditing Standards Board (ASB) was formed to succeed the Executive Committee. The ASB is now responsible for promulgating auditing standards and procedures to be observed by AICPA members in accordance with the Institute's Code of Professional Conduct. The pronouncements of the Auditing Standards Executive Committee and the ASB are called Statements on Auditing Standards (SASs). They define the nature and extent of auditors' responsibilities and provide guidance to auditors in carrying out their duties. From 1972 through September 1997 the two committees issued 82 SASs. While statements issued by all three committees are technically amplifications and interpretations of the ten original GAAS, they and the ten GAAS are frequently referred to collectively as generally accepted auditing standards.

In addition to issuing SASs, the ASB approves for publication auditing interpretations of the SASs; the interpretations are prepared by the Audit Issues Task Force of the ASB. As they are issued, SASs, auditing interpretations, and other AICPA professional standards are

incorporated in the AICPA's looseleaf service, Professional Standards, which results in a continuous codification of those pronouncements. Once a year, a bound version of the latest AICPA Professional Standards is published.

(b) International Auditing Standards

The desirability of developing more uniform auditing standards and practices worldwide has long been recognized and is gaining increasing support as international business continues to expand. Efforts to promote international uniformity in auditing standards were formally initiated in 1977, when representatives of approximately 50 countries, including the United States,

established the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). The broad objectives of IFAC, as stated in paragraph 2 of its Constitution, are "the development and enhancement of a

coordinated worldwide accountancy profession with harmonized standards." IFAC's efforts are directed toward developing international technical, ethical, and educational guidelines for auditors, and reciprocal recognition of practitioners' qualifications.

Responsibility for developing and issuing exposure drafts and standards on generally accepted auditing practices and audit reports is vested in IFAC's International Auditing Practices Committee (IAPC); through September 1997 it has issued 30 International

Standards on Auditing (ISAs), plus three others in its series entitled International Standards on