Other assurance services

… are assurance engagements other than audits or reviews of historical financial information such as special audits and reviews, evaluations and examinations of the measurement of non-monetary contributions, merger and demerger reports and the legality of transactions (to determine the legal compliance or non-compliance of the transactions that are the subject of the engagement).

Other assurance services may be both reasonable assurance and limited assurance engagements.

In accordance with the Framework for Assurance Engagements, an assurance engagement will only be accepted if the auditor’s preliminary knowledge of the circumstances of the engagement indicates that the relevant ethical requirements, including independence and professional competence requirements, will be satisfied and the engagement has all of the following elements:

•  a three party relationship involving, for example, an auditor, the client (the responsible party) and the intended users (e.g. the public);

 

• an appropriate underlying subject matter that is identifiable and capable of measurement or evaluation against the identified criteria so that the outcome can be expressed in the auditor’s report on the subject matter information;

 

•  identified criteria that must be available to the intended users to allow them to understand how the underlying subject matter has been measured or evaluated;

 

• evidence – during the engagement the auditor gathers and documents evidence from various sources on which to base the report on the subject matter;

 

• an output – the auditor’s report on the outcome of the engagement. For example, an auditor’s opinion expressed as a result of an audit or an auditor’s conclusion expressed as a result of a review of financial information as to whether the subject matter (e.g. the financial statements) is in accordance with the Estonian Financial Reporting Standard.

If a potential engagement cannot be accepted as an assurance engagement because it does not have all the required elements, the client may find another service that meets the needs of the intended users.