Wiley Practitioner's Guide to GAAS 2013: Covering all SASs, SSAEs, SSARSs, and Interpretations

PCAOB 15: Audit Evidence1

EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICABILITY

Effective Date	This standard currently is effective.
Applicability	All audit planning.

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

Appropriateness. The measure of the quality of audit evidence.

Audit evidence. All of the information obtained from audit procedures and other sources that is used by the auditor to arrive at the conclusions on which his or her opinion is based. The evidence consists of information that supports and corroborates management’s assertions regarding the financial statements or internal control over financial reporting, and information that contradicts these assertions.

Sufficiency. The measure of the quantity of audit evidence.

OBJECTIVES OF PCAOB STANDARD 15

PCAOB Auditing Standard 15 sets the objective of planning and performing the audit to obtain appropriate audit evidence that is sufficient to support the opinion expressed in the auditor’s report.

FUNDAMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

Sufficient Appropriate Audit Evidence

The auditor must plan and perform audit procedures to obtain sufficient audit evidence to provide a basis for his or her opinion. The quantity of audit evidence needed is affected by:

• The level of risk (quantity of evidence increases with the risk level)
• The quality of audit evidence (quantity of evidence decreases as the quality of evidence rises)

Audit evidence should be both relevant and reliable in providing support for the conclusions reached by the auditor.

Relevance and Reliability

The relevance ...