5 Engagement agreement
We obtain an engagement agreement prepared in accordance with GAPM 2.9 Engagement agreements, supplemented by local audit requirements, if applicable.13
On recurring engagements, we assess whether circumstances require the terms of the engagement to be revised. If we conclude that the terms do not need to be revised, we remind management of the terms of the engagement, and document the reminder. 15
The terms of the engagement agreement help avoid misunderstandings about our responsibilities and management’s responsibilities.
We do not begin performing services until an engagement agreement has been obtained. In limited circumstances, an audit team may need to start some activities, such as preliminary planning or attending inventory counts, before receiving the engagement agreement.
Refer to GAPM 2.9.5 Timing of engagement agreement execution for further guidance.
Refer to COMMS 3.1 for guidance on communicating the engagement agreement.
Documentation
Client and engagement acceptance and continuance
When we assess the results of the client and engagement acceptance and continuance process, we document:17
•That our conclusions remain unchanged from the beginning of the current audit, or if not, the effect the revised conclusions have on our audit strategy.
•Matters relevant to identifying risks of material misstatement. In particular, we document risk factors that caused a designation of other than ‘low risk’ and our response to address those risk factors.
•Conclusions on compliance with independence requirements and any relevant discussions that support those conclusions.
We retain a copy of our independence communications in our workpapers (e.g., audit committee presentations or annual independence letters).
Refer to EY Global Independence Policy for the documentation requirements related to independence.
Engagement agreement
We retain a copy of the engagement agreement in the workpapers, or we document the location where a copy of the agreement is retained for inspection.18
Audit strategy
We document any matters that will affect our audit strategy, such as significant risks or significant changes to the entity and the environment in which it operates, in our audit strategy documentation i.e., as appropriate, the ASM or the APT.20