What is an audit report?
The audit report is the final product submitted by the certified public accountant to the client after completing the audit work, and has the following characteristics: First, the certified public accountant shall carry out the audit work in accordance with the auditing standards of China (hereinafter referred to as the auditing standards). Auditing standards are standards used to regulate CPA's auditing business, including six aspects: general principles and responsibilities, risk assessment and response, auditing evidence, using other subjects' work, auditing conclusions and reports, and auditing in special fields, covering the whole process and every link of CPA's auditing business. Second, certified public accountants can only issue audit reports on the basis of implementing audit work. Certified public accountants should implement risk assessment procedures as the basis for assessing the risk of material misstatement at the level of financial statements and identification. The risk assessment procedure itself is not enough to provide sufficient and appropriate audit evidence for expressing audit opinions. Certified public accountants should also implement further audit procedures, including the implementation of control tests (when necessary or when deciding to test) and substantive procedures. Through the implementation of the above audit procedures, certified public accountants obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence and draw reasonable audit conclusions as the basis for forming audit opinions. Third, certified public accountants perform their duties as stipulated in the business agreement by expressing their opinions on financial statements. The goal of financial statement audit is for certified public accountants to express audit opinions on the legality and fairness of financial statements by performing audit work. Therefore, on the basis of audit work, certified public accountants need to form audit opinions on financial statements and submit audit reports to clients. Fourth, certified public accountants should issue audit reports in written form. Audit reports have specific elements and formats, and only when certified public accountants issue reports in written form can they clearly express their audit opinions on financial statements. Certified public accountants shall clearly express their opinions on the financial statements based on the conclusions drawn from the audit evidence. A financial statement refers to a structured statement of an enterprise's financial position, operating results and cash flow, which should at least include a balance sheet, an income statement, a statement of changes in owners' (shareholders') equity, a cash flow statement and notes. Whether it is a standard audit report or a non-standard audit report, once the CPA signs and seals the audit report, it shows that he is responsible for the audit report issued by himself. A certified public accountant shall attach the audited financial statements to the audit report.