What's New (Apr, 2012)

April 27,2012

Redrafted Quality Control Standards Committee Statement (hereafter referred to “QCSCS”) and Auditing Standards Committee Statements (hereafter referred to “ASCSs”) are now effective for the periods beginning on or after April 1, 2012.

Redrafted QCSCS and ASCSs are prepared primarily based on the clarified ISAs and ISQC 1 (including conforming amendments) of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of International Federation of Accountants. There are, however, some modifications from the IAASB pronouncements, as  those sections of “Considerations Specific to Public Sector Entities,” that appear in the ISAs under the headings of “Application and Other Explanatory Materials,” are not included in the redrafted ASCSs.  

JICPA issued, on December 22^nd 2011, one QCSCS and 34 ASCSs with the same numbers used in clarified ISAs and ISQC1. These redrafted QCSCS and ASCSs are as follows:

April 19,2012

JICPA issued, on March 22, 2012, the Auditing and Assurance Practice Committee Research Report No. 25, "Considerations for Auditors in the event of Inappropriate Accounting Treatments."

The report has been issued after careful analysis of the recent cases of inappropriate accounting treatments by listed companies, in order to provide the points to be noted by the auditors to appropriately respond to those circumstances.

JICPA will continue to study the specific procedures to be taken by auditors, when inappropriate accounting treatments are noted.

April 19,2012

JICPA issued, on March 30, 2012, the Law and Regulation Committee Research Report No. 14, "Illustrative Example for an Engagement Letter for Audits and Reviews."

The report was issued, through revising the Law and Regulation Committee Research Report No. 11, "An engagement letter for audits and reviews," with due consideration to the Quality Control Standards Committee Statement and Auditing Standards Committee Statements, newly redrafted along with the new drafting conventions, as well as the current practice of audits and reviews.

The revisions relate to the text for an engagement letter and audit and review agreements. Similarly, an illustrative example for the automatic renewal of an engagement letter has also been added to the new report.

April 19,2012

Financial Services Agency of Japan, Stock Exchanges, Japan Securities Dealers Association and JICPA.

It includes, among others, details about measures that would need to be taken by the companies preparing for the new listings, particularly those that they need to consider when coping with the first year audits by accounting auditors.

This guidebook is available only in Japanese

April 19,2012

On March 15, 2012, part 1 of the JICPA seminar series, "New Practice Areas for Accounting Professionals: A Round-Table Discussion on CFO and its Roles" was successfully held, with topics covering the roles of CFOs, current situation in companies of career developments by age, and possible requirement for CPAs to become CFOs. In this seminar, a member of the JICPA currently working as a CFO of a certain company was also invited to participate in the round-table discussion. The seminar was attended by more than 140 JICPA members, including those PAIBs aiming to become CFOs, as well as those currently working in audit firms but in view of moving into the area of PAIBs in future.

April 19,2012

JICPA issued, on March 22, 2012, the Professional Standards and Services Pronouncement No.1, "Considerations in the Audit of the Statements involving Accounting Treatments for Lost Plan Assets."

This pronouncement has been issued, in response to the recently reported loss of the plan assets of several pension plans, who had invested funds with a reported investment advisors company. The pronouncement includes matters to be noted by the auditors when dealing with this issue of lost plan assets in their audits of financial statements.