the years.
MAIN DISCUSSION
Throughout the process of performing our research, we have read and analysed 18 journals, which have provided us much information related to our topic of discussion:
As all of us have known, assurance service is an independent professional service with the aim to improve the information so that decision makers can make more informed and better decisions. Non-assurance services differ from assurance services; accounting and bookkeeping services, tax services, and management consulting services fall outside the scope of assurance services.
Established in 1995, accountability has developed in the non-financial reporting assurance area. Assurance standards have been developed, and example is the 'AA1000 Assurance Standard' (AA1000AS), which was issued in March 2003. Developed market economies such as Australia, and the US, concentrated on assurance of financial reports, which has been mandated by law. Assurance serves as a useful mechanism to ensure the credibility of disclosed information, in that it reduces the level of noise contained in the disclosed information and facilitates greater user confidence (Simnett, Vanstraelen & Wai, 2006). It results in more appropriate resource allocation decisions by the information users, particularly those in the public sector.
There are two main groups of assurance providers, which are specialised non-accounting consultants and accountants. As a consultant, he or she would provide the organization to improve the organization's performance, develop the skills of employees, implement sophisticated technology, develop management strategies, or improve operational services. On the other hand, accountants perform accounting functions such as audits or financial statement analysis. These assurance services provide independent and professional opinions that would help to reduce the information risk that comes from incorrect and inaccurate information.
An assurer's experience can be very useful when performing assurance engagements on non-ï¬nancial information. When assurers provide external assurance report, they should consider the purpose of providing the report. This is to ensure that they are able to understand the needs of the users of the non-ï¬nancial information. Needless to say, assurers or auditors need to be clear about what information they need to report on and why it is needed. They should clearly communicate their considerations in their report to avoid the formation of different expectations from different stakeholders.
External assurance provides a reasonable assurance that the non-ï¬nancial information provided to the stakeholders is reliable. However, we need to bear in mind that the assurance provided by assurers is just reasonable; the assurance is not an absolute guarantee. Assurers ensure that the non-financial information reported by the management follows the rigorous ethical standards, deï¬ned framework and standards that cover the whole assurance engagement (ICAEW, 2008). Absence of established auditing standards reduces accountability to the external audiences and stakeholder groups.
There are certain international auditing standards in relation to the audit of non-financial information. ISAE 3000 provides mandatory guidance for professional accountants in per
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