Quality reviews performed on self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) audit reports by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia have found not all practitioners are adhering to the newly imposed requirements under the Clarity auditing standards.
Specifically a lot of auditors are ignoring the need to include an emphasis of 'matter paragraph' because they are auditing financial reports prepared in accordance with a special purpose framework.
The aforementioned framework is one that is designed to satisfy the financial information needs of specific users.
The requirement to include an emphasis of 'matter paragraph' is detailed under Clarity standard ASA800 and must alert users of the audit report to certain conditions surrounding the preparation of the associated financial report.
The conditions are that the financial report has been compiled in accordance with a special framework and due to this fact the financial report may not be suitable to be used for any other purpose.
In addition to this, the auditor may also find it necessary to stipulate the auditor's report should only be used by the people intended for its use.
In other SMSF related news, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will be repeating its activities from 2009 and 2011 that involves conducting site visits to superannuation advisers.
The SMSF regulator will be attempting to establish and understanding of current SMSF trends as well as trying to identify aggressive tax planning issues and other critical issues.
The ATO's overall goal is to provide better support services for SMSF advisers and trustees. Theses visits are set to begin in July.
