Professional judgement and
scepticism
In undertaking an audit, the auditors consider the
mandatory and detailed GAAP that set out how a
company should account for and disclose even the
most complex transactions. However, many of the
issues that arise in an audit—particularly those
involving valuations or assumptions about the
future—involve estimates to which the auditor must
bring their professional judgement and experience to
bear.
Indeed, many accounting measures can only ever be
estimates that are inevitably based on imperfect
knowledge or dependent upon future events. For
example, if a company was involved in legal action, it
would need to estimate the amount at which the case
would be resolved; or if it was planning to sell an
office building it owns, it would have to estimate the
sale price.
In such cases, the auditor may determine the
reasonable range of possible values, and consider
whether the company’s estimates lie within that
range. The uncertainties that affect this judgement
need to be disclosed and—if they could have a
material effect—the auditors may include an
emphasis of matter paragraph in their report.
These are areas where the auditors must use their
experience and skill to reach an opinion on the
financial statements. The words ‘opinion’ and ‘true
and fair’ are deliberately chosen to make clear that
judgement is involved. They underline the fact that
the auditor’s report is not a guarantee but rather
reflects the auditor’s professional judgement
based on work performed in accordance with
established standards.