Paragraph 4 Of Auditing Standard 3 (PCAOB 2004)

According to Paragraph 4 of Auditing Standard No. 3 (PCAOB 2004), “The auditor must prepare audit documentation in connection with each engagement conducted pursuant to the standards of the PCAOB. Audit documentation should be prepared in sufficient detail to provide a clear understanding of its purpose, source, and the conclusions reached. Also, the documentation should be appropriately organized to provide a clear link to the significant findings or issues.”
Referring to Paragraph 4, the audit work papers are expected to contain facts and other supporting information relevant to the specified engagement. So as to help auditors in preparing a clear and accurate audit report. All stages of the audit are organized and coordinated by the work
3, the documentation should (PCAOB 2004) “demonstrate that the engagement complied with the standards of the PCAOB, support the basis for the auditor's conclusions concerning every relevant financial statement assertion, and demonstrate that the underlying accounting records agreed or reconciled with the financial statements.” By paragraph 5, it is expected that the work papers will contain documentation supporting and showing that the audit engagement was in accordance to PCAOB standards. In addition, it is expected that evidence supporting the auditor’s conclusions and financial statement reconciliation will also be
3, (PCAOB, 2004) “Prior to the report release date, the auditor must have completed all necessary auditing procedures and obtained sufficient evidence to support the representations in the auditor's report. A complete and final set of audit documentation should be assembled for retention as of a date not more than 45 days after the report release date (documentation completion date). If a report is not issued in connection with an engagement, then the documentation completion date should not be more than 45 days from the date that fieldwork was substantially completed. If the auditor was unable to complete the engagement, then the documentation completion date should not be more than 45 days from the date the engagement ceased” Yes, I do believe that the shredding of documents acquired during the audit process still occurs. Referring to paragraph 15, it does specify obtaining sufficient evidence to support the auditor’s report. When obtaining the needed evidence, there is a chance that the auditor may also collect evidence that is unnecessary or serves no use to supporting an auditor’s conclusion. In this case, it would be reasonable to shred these documents because it is private information about the company they are auditing. However, if the information is necessary to support the conclusion, the documentation should not be