Nieuws 20 augustus 2009

MARC vergelijkt ISA's en PCAOB-standaarden

Het Maastricht Accounting, Auditing & Information Management Research Center (MARC) van de Univeristeit van Maastricht heeft in opdracht van de Europese Commissie onderzoek gedaan naar de verschillen tussen de International Standards on Auditing (ISA's) en de controlestandaarden van de Amerikaanse PCAOB.

Study on the Evaluation of the differences between International Standards on Auditing (ISA) and the standards of the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)

The European Commission has published an independent study comparing the ISAs and PCAOB auditing standards. An identification of differences regarding the auditors' ethical and independence requirements between ISAs and PCAOB standards is outside the scope of this study. 

The identification and understanding of the differences between IAASB and PCAOB standards serves mainly two purposes relating to EU capital markets. First, a technical examination of the differences will be useful for the European Commission to address the audits of US companies listed in an EU jurisdiction in case the ISAs would be adopted in the EU. Second, an overview of the differences between ISAs and PCAOB standards may also serve European oversight bodies for inspection purposes. As a consequence, the results of this study reflect an EU capital market perspective and should be interpreted solely in the EU context. 

The study does not aim to provide any qualitative comparison between the two sets of standards. The study recognises that differing legislative backgrounds, resulting for instance in different scopes of application for audits or differing frameworks regarding internal controls in companies, have a pervasive effect on the analysis. 

• Executive summary
• Report
• Appendix

(Bron: Europese Commissie)