Main Features 
This Auditing Standard:

1. Sets out the objective of an audit of a financial report;
 

2. Requires the auditor to comply with relevant ethical requirements relating to audit engagements; 
   
3. Requires the auditor to conduct an audit in accordance with Auditing Standards;
 

4. Requires the auditor to comply with each of the Auditing Standards relevant to the audit in determining the audit procedures to be performed and to not represent compliance with Auditing Standards unless all of the Auditing Standards relevant to the audit have been complied with;
 

5. Requires the auditor to, if possible, perform appropriate alternative audit procedures and to document certain matters where, in rare and exceptional circumstances, factors outside the auditor’s control prevent the auditor from complying with an essential procedure contained within a relevant mandatory requirement. Where the auditor is unable to perform appropriate alternative audit procedures,the auditor is required to consider the implications for the auditor’s report;
 

6. Requires the auditor to exercise professional judgement and to maintain an attitude of professional scepticism throughout the conduct of the audit;
 

7. Requires the auditor to obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the financial report taken as a whole is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; and
 

8. Requires the auditor to plan and perform the audit to reduce audit risk to an acceptably low level that is consistent with the objective of an audit.