AS-17 Introduction… “The Board is adopting Auditing Standard No. 17, Auditing Supplemental
Information Accompanying Audited Financial Statements (the “standard”). The standard
sets forth the auditor's responsibilities when the auditor of the financial statements is
engaged to perform audit procedures and report on whether supplemental information
accompanying the financial statements is fairly stated, in all material respects, in
relation to the financial statements as a whole. The standard supersedes AU sec. 551,
Reporting on Information Accompanying the Basic Financial Statements in AuditorSubmitted
Documents. The Board also is amending certain other related PCAOB
auditing standards.”
https://pcaobus.org/Rules/Rulemaking/Docket036/PCAOB_Release_2013_008.pdf
My interpretation… when auditing financial statements AS-17 states the auditor should apply certain audit procedures for the financial statements “simultaneously” to the supplementary information to increase efficiency… As far as the report on the “S.I.” goes, I think it is mainly for the auditor to ensure that the “S.I.” is consistent with the financial statements – due to the “S.I.” being an important part of the financial statements. Also, unless I'm misunderstanding – when supplementary information presented with financial statements departs from GAAP or is inconsistent with requirements the auditor would add an emphasis of matter paragraph.
Also, Sunni – your question earlier about “Why can an attest engagement to examine and report on nonissuers internal control be distributed but an auditors report on significant deficiencies has to be restricted?” I think this has to do a lot with the users understanding of the report and its implications. I believe reports on significant deficiencies are always addressed to client management with a disclaimer. The auditors report on internal control includes written communication over identified significant deficiencies and material weaknesses but that is not the main purpose of the report. There is a simulation in the Becker homework (A5 – Sim3) similar to this discussion.
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