[The following paragraphs of AS 1301, amended to read as follows, will be effective for audits of fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2017. See PCAOB Release No. 2017-001. The current standard can be found here.]
The Auditor's Report
.21 The auditor should provide to and discuss with the audit committee a draft of the auditor's report.
.23 The auditor should communicate to the audit committee any significant difficulties encountered during the audit. Significant difficulties encountered during the audit include, but are not limited to:
- Significant delays by management, the unavailability of company personnel, or an unwillingness by management to provide information needed for the auditor to perform his or her audit procedures;
- An unreasonably brief time within which to complete the audit;
- Unexpected extensive effort required by the auditor to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence;
- Unreasonable management restrictions encountered by the auditor on the conduct of the audit; and
- Management's unwillingness to make or extend its assessment of the company's ability to continue as a going concern when requested by the auditor.
Note: Difficulties encountered by the auditor during the audit could represent a scope limitation,39 which may result in the auditor modifying the auditor's opinion or withdrawing from the engagement.
39 See paragraphs .05-.15 of AS 3105, Departures from Unqualified Opinions and Other Reporting Circumstances, for a discussion of scope limitations.
[Effective pursuant to SEC Release No. 34-81916, File No. PCAOB-2017-01 (October 23, 2017)]