Statements amended after you signed, before issue
What to do when statements change after the auditor's report is signed but before issue: a new report, extended subsequent events work and a new date.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
The partner signed the auditor's report on Tuesday. On Thursday the financial director phones: the board wants a note reworded, a lender has asked for an extra disclosure, and while they were at it they reclassified a balance. The statements have not gone to shareholders yet. Can the firm simply swap in the new pages behind the signed report?
No. A signed auditor's report is an opinion on a particular set of financial statements, as they stood on the date it was signed. Once those statements change, the report no longer describes what it is attached to. This article sets out what the firm must do when statements are amended in that window between signing and issue, how to date the new report, and how to keep the versions straight.
A signed report belongs to one version
The auditor's opinion is formed on the evidence available up to the report date and on the statements management approved at that date. Change a note, a classification or a figure, and the evidence behind the opinion may no longer cover it. Even a change that looks cosmetic, such as rewording an accounting policy, can alter what a reader understands.
That is why the starting point is not "is the change material?" but "is this still the document we reported on?" If it is not, the old report cannot be reused, whatever the size of the change.
A new report on the amended statements
ACCA's article on ISA 560, Subsequent Events, explains that where the financial statements are amended after the auditor's report has been signed but before they are issued, the auditor must issue a new auditor's report on the amended statements. In practice that means:
- Understand the amendment. Get the marked-up changes from management and find out why they were made.
- Audit the change. Obtain evidence over any new or changed figure or disclosure, as you would have during fieldwork.
- Extend subsequent events work to the date of the new report (below).
- Update written representations so they are dated to suit the new report.
- Reconsider the opinion and other report content, including any key audit matters or emphasis paragraphs affected.
- Sign and date a new report on the amended set, and withdraw the earlier signed copy from circulation.
Extending subsequent events work
The objective of ISA 560, as ACCA describes it, is for the auditor to perform procedures that give reasonable assurance that all events up to the date of the auditor's report have been identified and properly accounted for or disclosed. ACCA's completion article stresses that subsequent events procedures run up to the report date.
When the report date moves, the subsequent events window moves with it. ACCA is explicit that in this situation the auditor must extend subsequent events testing up to the expected date of the new report. Typical steps for the extra period:
- read board and committee minutes since the original report date;
- ask management whether anything has happened that needs adjustment or disclosure;
- review the latest management accounts, bank statements and correspondence with lawyers;
- follow up any matter that was "still open" when the first report was signed.
A short gap may need little work. A long one, or a change prompted by a lender's concerns, may need a fresh look at going concern.
Dating the new report
ACCA explains that a revised auditor's report on amended financial statements must not be dated earlier than the date of the amended financial statements. In other words, the board approves the amended statements first; the auditor dates the new report on or after that approval, once the extended procedures are complete.
The written representations matter here too. They should be dated as near as possible to the new report date, so the evidence and the report line up.
Versions, fingerprints and the file-assembly clock in Achekam
Achekam is built around the idea that a report belongs to one version of the statements. Staff can download the statements as an A4 PDF made on Achekam's server, and issuing the statements stores the final PDF with a fingerprint and locks that version.
On the report side, the partner can send the client a read-and-comment preview link to the audit report, send the approved report for e-signature, and record it as issued. Recording the issue binds the statements' fingerprint to the report and starts the file-assembly clock. After that, the engagement partner assembles and locks the audit file; later changes can be added only as addenda, and unlocking needs a second partner or the quality reviewer.
The practical lesson for this situation: do not record the report as issued until the statements you are binding to it are the final, amended set. If the client is still changing pages, the version the report is tied to should wait. Our article on late changes after the client has approved looks at handling those edits before anything is signed.
Explaining the change to the client
Clients are often surprised that a small amendment means a new report and more work. A short explanation usually helps:
- The report is about one document. If the document changes, the report must be renewed.
- The date carries a promise. The report date tells readers how far forward the auditor looked for subsequent events, so the work has to reach the new date.
- Fees and time. The extra procedures take time and, depending on your engagement terms, may be billed.
- Control of drafts. Agree that, from now on, changes come through one person, so the firm is not chasing several versions.
If the amendment is discovered only after the statements have been issued, the position is different and more serious; see our guide to an error found after issue. For the wider subsequent events procedures, see the auditor and subsequent events.
ACCA's technical article on subsequent events sets out the auditor's duties before and after the report is signed and after issue, and is worth keeping to hand at completion.
When a client tells you the statements have changed after signing, treat it as a short re-opening of the audit rather than a pagination exercise: understand the change, extend the work, and sign again on the right date.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
