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.
It should not be assumed that every single fact and
detail in a set of audited financial statements has
been checked and verified by the auditors, and is
therefore guaranteed to be 100 percent accurate.
The auditor obtains reasonable assurance by
gathering evidence through selective testing of
financial records.