Chapter 4

Auditor Reporting Requirements and Other Communication Considerations of Government Auditing Standards

Appendix A —

Illustrative Auditor's Reports Under Government Auditing Standards

4.51 This appendix contains examples of the reports issued under generally accepted auditing standards and Government Auditing Standards in various circumstances, based primarily on the guidance found in Government Auditing Standards, AU-C section 700, Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements (AICPA, Professional Standards) and AU-C section 265, Communicating Internal Control Related Matters Identified in an Audit (AICPA, Professional Standards). Government Auditing Standards requires that in addition to providing an opinion or a disclaimer of opinion on the financial statements,[1] auditors should report on the scope and results of testing of the auditee's internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws, regulations, and provisions of contracts or grant agreements. They also should report certain fraud or abuse.

Auditors should exercise professional judgment in any situation not specifically addressed in this guide. For additional generally accepted auditing standards reporting guidance for those industries where Government Auditing Standards reporting is often required, refer to applicable AICPA Audit and Accounting Guides, such as Depository and Lending Institutions, Health Care Entities, Not-for-Profit Entities, and State and Local Governments.

Example No. / Title /
4-1 / Unmodified Opinions on Basic Financial Statements Accompanied by Required Supplementary Information and Other Information—State or Local Governmental Entity
4-2 / Unmodified Opinion on Consolidated Financial Statements Accompanied by Other Information —Not-for-Profit Entity
4-3 / Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting and on Compliance and Other Matters Based on an Audit of Financial Statements Performed in Accordance With Government Auditing Standards (for a Governmental Entity)
(No Material Weaknesses No Significant Deficiencies Identified, No Reportable Instances of Noncompliance or Other Matters)
4-4 / Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting and on Compliance and Other Matters Based on an Audit of Financial Statements Performed in Accordance With Government Auditing Standards (for a Governmental Entity and With Reference to Audits by Other Auditors Using the Reference Option)
(No Material Weaknesses Identified, No Significant Deficiencies Identified, No Reportable Instances of Noncompliance or Other Matters Identified)
4-5 / Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting and on Compliance and Other Matters Based on an Audit of Financial Statements Performed in Accordance With Government Auditing Standards (for a Governmental Entity)
(No Material Weaknesses Identified; Significant Deficiencies Identified; and Reportable Instances of Noncompliance and Other Matters Identified)
4-6 / Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting and on Compliance and Other Matters Based on an Audit of Financial Statements Performed in Accordance With Government Auditing Standards (for a Governmental Entity and With Reference to Audits by Other Auditors Using the Inclusion Option)
(No Material Weaknesses Identified; Significant Deficiencies Identified; and Reportable Instances of Noncompliance and Other Matters Identified)
4-7 / Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting and on Compliance and Other Matters Based on an Audit of Financial Statements Performed in Accordance With Government Auditing Standards (for a Governmental Entity)
(Material Weaknesses and Significant Deficiencies Identified; and Reportable Instances of Noncompliance and Other Matters Identified)

Example 4-1

Unmodified Opinions on Basic Financial Statements Accompanied by Required Supplementary Information and Other Information—State or Local Governmental Entity[2] [3]

Independent Auditor’s Report

[Appropriate Addressee]

Report on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying financial statements of the governmental activities, the business-type activities, the aggregate discretely presented component units, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of the City of Example, Any State, as of and for the year ended June 30, 20X1, and the related notes to the financial statements, which collectively comprise the City’s basic financial statements as listed in the table of contents.

Management’s Responsibility for the Financial Statements

Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America; this includes the design, implementation, and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express opinions on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America and the standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards,[4] issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control.[5] Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinions.

Opinions

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities, the business-type activities, the aggregate discretely presented component units, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of the City of Example, Any State, as of June 30, 20X1, and the respective changes in financial position and, where applicable, cash flows thereof for the year then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Other Matters

Required Supplementary Information [6]

Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America require that the [identify the required supplementary information, such as management’s discussion and analysis and budgetary comparison information] on pages XX–XX and XX–XX be presented to supplement the basic financial statements. Such information, although not a part of the basic financial statements, is required by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board who considers it to be an essential part of financial reporting for placing the basic financial statements in an appropriate operational, economic, or historical context. We have applied certain limited procedures to the required supplementary information in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America, which consisted of inquiries of management about the methods of preparing the information and comparing the information for consistency with management’s responses to our inquiries, the basic financial statements, and other knowledge we obtained during our audit of the basic financial statements. We do not express an opinion or provide any assurance on the information because the limited procedures do not provide us with sufficient evidence to express an opinion or provide any assurance.

Other Information [7] [8]

Our audit was conducted for the purpose of forming opinions on the financial statements that collectively comprise the City of Example’s basic financial statements. The [identify accompanying supplementary information such as the combining and individual nonmajor fund financial statements and schedule of expenditures of federal awards,[9] as required by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations and the other information, such as the introductory and statistical section] are presented for purposes of additional analysis and are not a required part of the basic financial statements.

The [identify accompanying supplementary information] is the responsibility of management and was derived from and relates directly to the underlying accounting and other records used to prepare the basic financial statements. Such information has been subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audit of the basic financial statements and certain additional procedures, including comparing and reconciling such information directly to the underlying accounting and other records used to prepare the basic financial statements or to the basic financial statements themselves, and other additional procedures in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. In our opinion, the [identify accompanying supplementary information] is fairly stated, in all material respects, in relation to the basic financial statements as a whole.

The [identify accompanying other information] has not been subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audit of the basic financial statements, and accordingly, we do not express an opinion or provide any assurance on it.

Other Reporting Required by Government Auditing Standards[10]

In accordance with Government Auditing Standards, we have also issued our report dated [date of report] on our consideration of the City of Example's internal control over financial reporting and on our tests of its compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements and other matters.[11] The purpose of that report is to describe the scope of our testing of internal control over financial reporting and compliance and the results of that testing, and not to provide an opinion on internal control over financial reporting or on compliance.[12] That report is an integral part of an audit performed in accordance with Government Auditing Standards in considering City of Example’s internal control over financial reporting and compliance.

[Auditor’s signature]

[Auditor’s city and state]

[Date of the auditor’s report]


Example 4-2

Unmodified Opinion on Consolidated Financial Statements Accompanied by Other Information—Not-for-Profit Entity[13] [14]

Independent Auditor’s Report

[Appropriate Addressee]

Report on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated financial statements of Example NFP, which comprise the consolidated statement of financial position as of June 30, 20X1, and the related consolidated statements of activities, and cash flows[15] for the year then ended, and the related notes to the financial statements.

Management’s Responsibility for the Financial Statements

Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America; this includes the design, implementation, and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of consolidated financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America and the standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards,[16] issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation of the consolidated financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control.[17] Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.

Opinion

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of Example NFP as of June 30, 20X1, and the changes in its net assets and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Other Matters

Other Information [18] [19]

Our audit was conducted for the purpose of forming an opinion on the consolidated financial statements as a whole. The [identify accompanying supplementary information (such as the schedule of expenditures of federal awards[20], as required by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations)] is presented for purposes of additional analysis and is not a required part of the consolidated financial statements. Such information is the responsibility of management and was derived from and relates directly to the underlying accounting and other records used to prepare the consolidated financial statements. The information has been subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audit of the consolidated financial statements and certain additional procedures, including comparing and reconciling such information directly to the underlying accounting and other records used to prepare the consolidated financial statements or to the consolidated financial statements themselves, and other additional procedures in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. In our opinion, the information is fairly stated, in all material respects, in relation to the consolidated financial statements as a whole.

Other Reporting Required by Government Auditing Standards[21]

In accordance with Government Auditing Standards, we have also issued our report dated [date of report] on our consideration of Example NFP’s internal control over financial reporting and on our tests of its compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements and other matters.[22] The purpose of that report is to describe the scope of our testing of internal control over financial reporting and compliance and the results of that testing, and not to provide an opinion on internal control over financial reporting or on compliance.[23] That report is an integral part of an audit performed in accordance with Government Auditing Standards in considering Example NFP’s internal control over financial reporting and compliance.[ ]