The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released a new staff publication aimed at auditors of broker-dealers who are performing review engagements involving exemption reports.
The publication, “Broker-Dealer Audit Focus: Review Engagements Regarding Exemption Reports,” comes as the PCAOB staff continues to see deficiencies related to the review procedures required by Attestation Standard No. 2, Review Engagements Regarding Exemption Reports of Brokers and Dealers.
The standard, which dates back to 2013, sets requirements for when an auditor is engaged to perform a review of the statements made by a broker-dealer in an exemption report prepared according to SEC rules.
AT No. 2 requires the auditor to plan and coordinate the review engagement with the audit of the financial statements and the audit procedures performed on supplemental information of the broker-dealer. The auditor is required to get moderate assurance by performing, with due professional care, the inquiries and other procedures required by the standard. The goal is to say whether one or more conditions exist that would cause one or more of the broker-dealer’s assertions not to be fairly stated, in all material respects.
The document is part of a new series of Broker Dealer Audit Focus staff publications aimed at auditors of SEC-registered broker-dealers. The PCAOB received more authority to regulate broker-dealer auditors under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. For more information, click here.
