Chapter 2 Organization and Structure of the Auditing Profess(4)

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quantifiable objectives and goals may not relate to economic actions and events, however, which raises the question of whether their evaluation falls within the definition of auditing. For example, in an audit of program results in a state's prison system, program objectives and goals almost surely will not be stated in terms of economic actions or events; instead, they may be stated in terms of the number of prisoners rehabilitated and released, the number of repeat offenders, or the percentage of prison capacity utilized. While such program audits may at times stretch the definition of auditing, they are widely performed, particularly by

government auditors, and are almost always referred to as audits.

(d) Reviews of Financial Information

A review engagement consists of applying certain limited procedures to financial statements as a basis for expressing limited assurance that there are no material modifications that should be made to them. That limited assurance is less than the assurance provided by an audit. (e) Attest Engagements

An attest engagement is defined in Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements, Attestation Standards (), as "one in which a practitioner is engaged to issue or does issue a written communication that expresses a conclusion about the reliability of a written assertion that is the responsibility of another party." The scope of services covered by this definition is similar, if not identical, to that in the American Accounting Association's

definition of auditing, which was discussed in Chapter 1. Examples of attest services include testing and reporting on representations about the characteristics of computer software, investment performance statistics, internal control, prospective financial information, and historical occupancy data for hospitals.

The profession has not yet reached a consensus about which services should be called audits and which attest engagements. For the foreseeable future, however, it is clear that attest services related to historical financial statements will continue to be called audits. Also, the term "attest engagement" will be limited to an engagement in which the practitioner issues a written opinion about a written assertion.

(f) Other Assurance Services

Many of the services CPAs in public practice currently perform do not fall into any of the categories previously described. These services-as well as new services that are not being provided currently-are best described as "other assurance services." They may include providing assurance on performance measures, such as the effectiveness of health care providers, or on an entity's compliance with its human resource policies or operating policies. The AICPA Special Committee on Assurance Services considered the potential scope of assurance services, which the Committee defined broadly as "independent professional services that improve the quality of information, or its context, for decision makers," and identified and developed detailed business plans for six new assurance services. Those services are risk assessment, business performance measurement, information systems