Auditing and assurance standards govern the conduct and responsibilities of auditors. Investors rely on auditing and assurance standards and their rigorous and consistent enforcement by regulators for confidence that audited financial statements and related disclosures are free of material misstatement from errors or fraud.

CFA Institute advocates for auditing and assurance standards that:

Improve auditing and assurance quality and transparency to investors to enable the evaluation of audit and assurance quality.

Clearly recognize investors as the key “customer” of audited financial information who compensate auditors and bear the risks of materially misstated financial information.

Enhance auditors’ independence from issuer management by, for example, limiting non-audit services that audit firms can provide to the companies they audit.

Are promulgated by standard setting bodies with investor representation, public agenda-setting and due process, sufficient funding, technical expertise, and adequate protections from political considerations.