Where businesses or stakeholders identify a particular need to build confidence in information and reinforce relationships of trust, assurance can play a valuable role. Statutory audit is by far the best known and most widely practiced of this kind of service, but it is far from being the only option. Find out here what options are available.
External assurance services by subject matter
Unaudited financial statements
Many organisations that are exempt from mandatory audits seek independent assurance of their financial statements. There are a range of services available including: accounts preparation; agreed-upon procedures and assurance reviews.
FINANCIAL SERVICES FACULTY
Assurance: benchmarks and indices
ICAEW’s guidance to assist assurance practitioners engaged to perform work on submission to, or compilation of, benchmarks, indices and independent price reports.
Information services
This guidance, Technical Release ITF 01/07: Assurance reports on the outsourced provision of information services and information processing service, was issued by the Information Technology Faculty of the ICAEW.
AUDIT AND ASSURANCE FACULTY
Investigative services
Investigative services are not assurance within the meaning of the Assurance Framework and should not result in provision of a formal assurance conclusion in accordance with assurance standards.
AUDIT AND ASSURANCE FACULTY
Non-financial information
Assurance can be provided on information that is entirely non-financial and ICAEW provides practical guidance on the opportunities and challenges offered by such engagements.
Internal audits offer organisations the opportunity to examine a wide range of business activities, both financial and non-financial, such as information security, corporate governance and social responsibility. Internal audits require many of the same skills and knowledge of external audits, but are also subject to unique pressures reflective of working within the organisation being examined.
The Audit and Assurance Faculty and ICAEW's Internal Audit Panel has collated a range of resources to support the provision of effective internal audits, including links to professional standards and guidance, and a series of insightful discussions on the challenges and opportunities internal auditors face.
