AUD Reporting, Attestation, and Related Engagements

This part moves from fieldwork into reporting, attestation, and related service lines. The core issue is not just what happened during the engagement, but how the practitioner communicates the result, including when opinions change and when the engagement type itself is different.

In This Part

• Audit Reporting, Opinion Types, and Explanatory Language covers standard and modified audit opinions.
• Reporting on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting addresses ICFR-specific reporting logic.
• Special Reporting Frameworks, Interim Work, and Summary Reporting covers reporting adjustments and special contexts.
• Review, Compilation, and Preparation Engagements Under SSARS separates non-audit service levels.
• Attestation Services, Compliance Reporting, and SOC Reports explains attestation work outside a standard financial statement audit.
• Governmental Audits, Single Audits, and Restricted-Use Reporting covers special environments with additional reporting consequences.
• Auditing Employee Benefit Plans and ERISA Reporting introduces a specialized but testable engagement area.

Reporting questions should begin with engagement classification. A financial statement audit, ICFR audit, review, compilation, preparation, attestation engagement, SOC report, and governmental audit do not provide the same assurance or use the same report language. Once the engagement type is clear, the remaining question is usually whether scope, criteria, findings, or users require modified wording.

Reporting Classification Lens

Reporting Decision Sequence

How to Use This Part

• Read this part carefully if AUD questions feel similar until the reporting outcome changes.
• Focus on what triggers a modified report, an added reporting layer, or a different service type.
• Revisit these chapters whenever a missed question turns on wording, opinion type, or engagement classification.

In this section

• Audit Reporting, Opinion Types, and Explanatory Language
  AUD reporting coverage for opinion types, explanatory paragraphs, comparative statements, supplementary information, and disclosure problems.
  • Selecting the Proper Audit Opinion for Misstatements and Scope Limitations
    How auditors choose unmodified, qualified, adverse, or disclaimer opinions based on evidence, misstatement, and pervasiveness.
  • Using Emphasis-of-Matter, Other-Matter, and Explanatory Paragraphs
    How auditors use emphasis-of-matter, other-matter, and explanatory paragraphs without necessarily modifying the audit opinion.
  • Reporting on Comparative Statements and Predecessor Auditor Involvement
    How auditors report on comparative financial statements, prior periods, predecessor auditors, and consistency matters.
  • Reporting on Required Supplementary, Supplementary, and Other Information
    How auditors distinguish RSI, supplementary information, and other information presented with audited financial statements.
  • Responding to Omitted, Incomplete, or Inconsistent Required Disclosures
    How auditors evaluate omitted, incomplete, or inconsistent disclosures and decide whether the report must be modified.
• Reporting on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
  AUD ICFR reporting coverage for issuer requirements, integrated audits, deficiency communication, and report structure.
  • Applying PCAOB Requirements to Issuer ICFR Reporting
    How PCAOB integrated-audit requirements shape issuer ICFR testing, deficiency evaluation, and reporting.
  • Structuring Financial Statement and ICFR Reporting in Integrated Audits
    How integrated audit reports present financial statement and ICFR opinions, criteria, cross-references, and report effects.
  • Classifying and Communicating ICFR Deficiencies and Material Weaknesses
    How auditors classify ICFR control deficiencies, significant deficiencies, and material weaknesses and determine communication and opinion effects.
  • Choosing Combined or Separate Reports for Integrated Audits
    How auditors present financial statement and ICFR opinions in combined or separate integrated-audit reports.
• Special Reporting Frameworks, Interim Work, and Summary Reporting
  AUD special-reporting coverage for special-purpose frameworks, interim reviews, consistency issues, and summarized statements.
  • Reporting on Financial Statements Prepared Under Special-Purpose Frameworks
    How auditors report on cash, tax, regulatory, contractual, and other special-purpose accounting frameworks.
  • Performing Public Company Interim Reviews and Reporting Negative Assurance
    How auditors review issuer interim financial information using inquiry, analytical procedures, and negative assurance reporting.
  • Reporting on Consistency, Accounting Changes, and Error Corrections
    How auditors evaluate accounting principle changes, estimate changes, reporting-entity changes, and error corrections when comparability is affected.
  • Reporting on Summary Financial Statements Derived From Audited Statements
    How auditors report when summary financial statements are derived from a complete set of audited financial statements.
• Review, Compilation, and Preparation Engagements Under SSARS
  AUD SSARS coverage for reviews, compilations, preparation engagements, reports, and assurance limits.
  • Applying the SSARS Framework to Preparation, Compilation, and Review Engagements
    How SSARS separates preparation, compilation, and review engagements by assurance level, independence requirements, procedures, and reporting.
  • Review Reports and Negative Assurance Under SSARS
    How SSARS review reports communicate limited assurance, required procedures, report elements, and engagement limitations.
  • Compilation Reports and No-Assurance Disclaimer Language Under SSARS
    How compilation engagements present management financial information, disclaim assurance, handle omitted disclosures, and respond to known departures.
  • Preparation Engagements and the No-Assurance Legend Under SSARS
    How AR-C 70 preparation engagements work when the accountant prepares financial statements but provides no assurance and normally issues no report.
• Attestation Services, Compliance Reporting, and SOC Reports
  AUD attestation coverage for examinations, reviews, agreed-upon procedures, prospective information, compliance, and SOC reports.
  • Comparing SSAE Examinations, Reviews, and Agreed-Upon Procedures
    How SSAE examinations, reviews, and agreed-upon procedures differ by subject matter, criteria, assurance level, procedures, and report wording.
  • Reporting on Forecasts, Projections, and Prospective Financial Information
    How practitioners distinguish forecasts from projections and report on prospective financial information through examinations or agreed-upon procedures.
  • Reporting on Compliance Attestation Engagements and Special Reports
    How practitioners evaluate compliance with laws, regulations, contracts, and grants through examination or agreed-upon procedures reports.
  • Distinguishing SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, Type 1, and Type 2 Reports
    How SOC reports differ by control objective, intended users, Trust Services Criteria, financial statement relevance, and Type 1 versus Type 2 coverage.
• Governmental Audits, Single Audits, and Restricted-Use Reporting
  AUD specialized-engagement coverage for Yellow Book work, single audits, governmental engagements, and restricted-use reports.
  • Applying Yellow Book Government Auditing Standards to Public-Sector Engagements
    How Government Auditing Standards add public-interest, independence, quality-management, internal-control, compliance, and reporting requirements to governmental engagements.
  • Performing Single Audits of Federal Awards Under Uniform Guidance
    How Single Audits combine financial statement audits, Yellow Book reporting, SEFA procedures, and major-program compliance testing for federal awards.
  • Applying Performance, Program-Specific, and Other Specialized Governmental Engagements
    How AUD candidates should distinguish performance audits, program-specific audits, state and local reviews, and other governmental engagements from ordinary financial statement audits.
  • Applying Restricted-Use Alerts and Compliance Reporting in Specialized Engagements
    How restricted-use alerts, specified-party reports, noncompliance findings, and compliance-reporting layers affect governmental and specialized engagements.
• Auditing Employee Benefit Plans and ERISA Reporting
  AUD specialized-audit coverage for employee benefit plans, ERISA requirements, plan procedures, and reporting.
  • Distinguishing Defined Contribution, Defined Benefit, and Other Employee Benefit Plan Types
    How employee benefit plan type changes the audit focus for contributions, participant accounts, benefit obligations, investments, funding, and disclosures.
  • Applying DOL, ERISA, and Form 5500 Requirements in Employee Benefit Plan Audits
    How DOL filing rules, ERISA fiduciary duties, Form 5500 reporting, and ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C) elections shape employee benefit plan audits.
  • Performing Employee Benefit Plan Audit Procedures for Participant Data, Contributions, Investments, and Distributions
    How auditors test employee benefit plan participant data, contributions, distributions, loans, investments, certifications, and ERISA compliance risks.
  • Reporting on Employee Benefit Plan Financial Statements and ERISA Supplemental Schedules
    How employee benefit plan audit reports address plan financial statements, ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C) elections, disclosures, and required supplemental schedules.