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The IAIS believes that issues related to the information gap pertaining to the entity cannot be solved by the auditor. It is the responsibility of management, and not that of the auditor, to provide users with information about the entity. As the IASB sets the standards for financial statements disclosure, and the IAASB for the auditor’s report, the IAIS asks whether the two bodies should work together to promote better disclosure.
Investors, lenders and analysts, policyholders are important users of audited financial statements for the insurance industry and may be particularly affected by expectation and/or information gaps. As supervisors, IAIS members pay particular attention to the auditor’s report and place reliance on the work carried out by the auditors in forming an audit opinion.
Where the auditor provides additional information about the audit, it should be made clear that this information is provided to reduce the expectation and information gaps relative to the conduct of the audit and to explain how the auditor arrives at his audit opinion. It is essential that this additional information about the context and the conduct of the audit is not seen by the auditor, management and users as an easy way of expressing an implicit qualified opinion.
The IAIS fully agrees that the standard auditor’s report should include: