The auditor-report wording and its purpose
Paragraph A49 of Revised SSA 700 requires an enhanced auditor’s report for a Singapore-incorporated company to describe directors’ oversight of the financial-reporting process. Group audits use group in place of company. ACRA, after consultation with ISCA’s Auditing and Assurance Standards Committee and the Institute of Corporate Law panel, considered the description consistent with existing Companies Act responsibilities.
Honesty, diligence and internal accounting controls
Section 157(1) requires honesty and reasonable diligence. The source’s section 199(2A) and (6) explanation concerns officers of public companies and their subsidiaries: internal controls should reasonably assure asset protection from unauthorised use or disposal, proper transaction authorisation and recording sufficient for true and fair statements and asset accountability. That specific scope should not be silently expanded to every entity.
Financial-statement responsibilities
Sections 201(1), (2) and (5), as described, require directors to lay the company’s statements and relevant parent-company consolidated statements and balance sheet before the AGM, comply with Accounting Standards and give a true and fair view. The interpretation explains the existing legal basis; it does not transfer directors’ responsibility to the auditor.
Reliance on employees, experts and other directors
Section 157C permits reliance on information or advice from an employee reasonably believed reliable and competent; a professional adviser or expert for matters reasonably believed within competence; or another director or a committee on which the director did not serve, within its designated authority. Reliance requires good faith, proper inquiry where circumstances call for it, and no knowledge that reliance is unwarranted. It is conditional, not a blanket defence.
Auditing standards and the interpretation’s duration
Registered public accountants must observe adopted auditing standards and professional pronouncements, with rule 10 linked to the PMP. Registrar’s Interpretation 5 of 2016 was issued on 25 November 2016 and says it applies until Revised SSA 700 is reviewed. That express duration qualification is retained rather than asserting an indefinite current effect.
Official source
This article independently explains the substantive contents of the official PDF, including the relevant conditions, procedures and annexes. The linked document remains the authoritative source for its original wording, and later changes should be checked separately.
Read the official PDF ↗