AICPA Completes Clarity Project for Attestation Standards

The American Institute of CPAs' Auditing Standards Board has completed its Clarity Project by issuing its final standard.

The issuance of Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 18, Attestation Standards: Clarification and Recodification clarifies the SSAEs, also known as the attestation standards.

The now-completed Clarity Project involved redrafting the standards that the ASB issues by using drafting conventions that make the standards easier to read, understand and apply.

As part of the  ASB’s general strategy to converge its standards with those of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, the  foundation for AT-C sections 105, Concepts Common to All Attestation Engagements;  205, Examination Engagements;  and 210, Review Engagements; is International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews  of Historical Financial Information.

The attestation standards establish requirements for performing and reporting on examination, review, and agreed-upon procedures engagements that enable practitioners to report on subject matter other than historical financial statements, such as an entity’s compliance with laws or regulations, the effectiveness of an entity’s controls over the security of a system, and the fairness of the presentation of a statement of greenhouse gas emissions.

SSAE No. 18 is effective for practitioners’ reports dated on or after May 1, 2017.

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