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

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(c) Certified Internal Auditor (CIA),

(d) Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA),

2.6 ASSURANCE STANDARDS AND STANDARD-SETTING BODIES

(a) Generally Accepted Auditing Standards,

(b) International Auditing Standards,

(c) Role of the SEC and the Courts,

(d) Standards for Internal Auditing,

(e) Standards for Government Auditing,

(f) Attestation Standards,

(g) Statements on Standards for Accounting and

Review Services,

2.1 TYPES OF ASSURANCE SERVICES

Although the focus of this book is on audits of historical financial statements, the auditing profession provides other types of assurance services, some of which are described in this section. Some of these services continue to be referred to as "audits," while others-particularly some of the newer ones-are called "attest engagements." Still other services in which CPAs provide assurance to their clients and others are referred to in this book as "other assurance services."

(a) Financial Audits

In a financial audit, an auditor seeks evidence about assertions related mainly to financial

information, usually contained in a set of financial statements or some component thereof. The established criteria against which that financial information is measured are generally

accepted accounting principles or some other specified basis of accounting (such as might be stipulated in a rental agreement). Generally, the information will be used by parties other than the management of the entity that prepared it. Sometimes, however, the information is

intended to be used primarily by management for internal decision-making purposes. In that event, it may include nonfinancial as well as financial data. While most often financial audits are associated with independent auditors whose work results in an opinion on financial

statements, both internal auditors and government auditors also perform financial audits, often in conjunction with compliance or performance audits.

(b) Compliance Audits

Compliance audits are intended to determine whether an entity has complied with specified policies, procedures, laws, regulations, or contracts that affect operations or reports. Examples of compliance audits include auditing a tax return by an Internal Revenue Service agent, auditing components of financial statements to determine compliance with a bond indenture, auditing a researcher's expenditures under a government grant to determine compliance with the terms of the grant, and auditing an entity's hiring policies to determine whether it has complied with the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. As with all audits, a compliance audit