The auditing standards board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is working to modernize standards governing nonfinancial information to include cybersecurity and environmental, social and corporate governance issues. The board, which sets the standards for audits of private companies in the U.S., is tackling projects to better define the role of new technology in gathering information for auditors of private companies. One of the projects, which spans three standards proposed in 2018, represents a broader effort to revise “attestation standards,” which establish requirements for procedures related to reporting on nonfinancial subjects. Under the current rules, external auditors of private companies can only test nonfinancial information if management of the company being audited had measured and provided it first, with the intent of providing performance indicators to interested parties such as investors, regulators and creditors. To view the full article visit the Wall Street Journal.
