1.6 Attest Services

In addition to financial statement audits, accountants are frequently called upon to provide assurance to third parties that information provided to them is reliable. Auditors may be engaged to attest to a company’s compliance with laws, regulations, contracts, or forward-looking financial information, such as pro-forma financial statements. Attest services are a form of consulting where a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) provides a written report providing assurance regarding a subject matter that is the responsibility of someone else (see AT Section 101.01).

According to standards outlining attest services, the subject matter of the service can include many items, such as the following (see AT Section 101.07):

• Historical or prospective performance or condition (e.g., historical or prospective financial information, performance measurements, and backlog data)

• Physical characteristics (e.g., narrative descriptions, square footage of facilities)

• Historical events (e.g., the price of a market basket of goods on a certain date)

• Analyses (e.g., break-even analyses)

• Systems and processes (e.g., internal control)

• Behavior (e.g., corporate governance, compliance with laws and regulations, and human resource practices)

Note also that a key distinction between attest services and other assurance services is the issuance of a written report providing assurance.