An opinion is not a guarantee of an outcome, but
rather a statement of professional judgement. The
auditor cannot obtain absolute assurance that
financial statements are free from material
misstatement because of the inherent limitations of
an audit. These are caused by a number of factors.
For example, many financial statement items involve
subjective decisions or a degree of uncertainty (e.g.,
accounting estimates). Consequently, such items are
subject to an inherent level of uncertainty which
cannot be eliminated by the application of
auditing procedures.