On 1 May 2011 the new Companies Act 2008 (Act) introduced the concept of an Independent Review as an alternative form of external independent assurance of financial statements. Private companies in South Africa are now able to replace the annual audit with an Independent Review. As such the profession have seen a shift in the services demanded by clients, creating a need for more Independent reviews.
Unfortunately, trainees only study the auditing standards and are at a disadvantage when they start their traineeship with regards to these Independent reviews. They don’t know what exactly is an Independent Review and what are the procedures that must be performed by a practitioner during the independent review. They are also unaware of how these procedures differ from audit procedures.
For this specific reason we have created a training session where delegates will be provided with training on the International Standard on Review Engagements 2400 (ISRE2400).
The purpose of this training is to provide delegates with the practical knowledge of how to perform an Independent review in terms of ISRE 2400, and to provide them with a chance to perform a review from beginning to end.
This session will be based on Draftworx, and delegates will be shown what documents to complete and where to insert the relevant working papers.
The objective of this course is to provide delegates with a basic understanding of the requirements of ISRE 2400. The course will also provide clarity on matters such as which clients will require independent reviews, which reporting framework to use and who may perform the independent reviews, as well as how to report a reportable irregularity during a review engagement.
By the end of this course delegates will be able to perform an Independent review from beginning to end.
The delegates will be provided with the financial statements of a “client” as well as all the supporting documents necessary to perform an Independent review, after which they will be guided in the requirements of ISRE 2400, focusing on the following:
• An analysis of what type of companies are required in terms of the Companies Act to be subject to an Independent Review.
• Section 29 of the Companies Act. Why is this section so important to the compiler and the independent reviewer of financial statements?
• How to calculate the public interest score
• Who can perform an Independent Review?
o What is meant by the word independent?
o Who is an accounting professional?
• What exactly does the following mean: Independently compiled and reported?
• Reportable irregularity i.r.o. regulation 29 of the Companies Act
• Professional scepticism and professional judgement within the review engagement
• Documentation requirements
• Pre-conditions and accepting the engagement
• Engagement letter
• Ethical requirements
• Obtaining an understanding of the client through enquiries
• Preliminary analytical review
• Overall materiality assessments
• Areas that are likely to be misstated
• Performing the review for all Financial Statement Areas
o Focused enquiries
o Additional procedures
o Reconciling the financial statements to the underlying records
o Related parties
o Fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations
• Subsequent events
• Going concern conclusion
• Overall analytical review
• Evaluation of misstatements
• Letter of representation
• Report
o Modified conclusion
o Unmodified conclusion
• Reporting in terms of regulation 29 (RI).
This course is on a Basic to Intermediate level and all staff who will be involved in Independent reviews of financial information should attend.
Delegates must bring their own computers with Draftworx already loaded. All software must be fully licensed. All other material and stationery will be provided.
