The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board seeks your views on Draft ‘Audits of financial statements of less complex entities’ standard

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has published an exposure draft of its new, stand-alone standard for audits of financial statements of less complex entities (LCEs). This project has been worked on for several years and looks to respond to demands to have a set of high-quality requirements tailored for the needs of LCEs. The new standard for audits of financial statements of LCEs looks to provide a globally consistent approach.

The new stand-alone standard for audits of LCEs:

· Is designed specifically for audits of a less complex entities

· Is based on the underlying concepts from International Standards on Auditing

· Was developed to be understandable, clear, and concise

· Reduces the risk of jurisdictional divergence by driving consistency and comparability globally

Will achieve a quality audit engagement

The IAASB strongly encourages all interested stakeholders to provide their feedback by January 31, 2022. Stakeholders can submit responses through the “Submit Comment” button online. The IAASB is also planning outreach on the new draft standard; and an outreach plan will be available on the IAASB’s website in late August 2021.

What Mercia are doing

Mercia will be providing an overview of the central themes within their Audit update courses and are working with professional bodies as to the provision of feedback to the IAASB and others. We will be including more detailed thoughts in future articles. If you have any thoughts on the standard or would like to discuss in more detail, please contact

jenny.faulkner@mercia-group.com