KAMs may be created within the Tier 1 & 2 Audit (2016 updates) template (as this is the only reporting category where KAMs are likely to be relevant). The process to create is as follows:
- Issues which have potential to be KAMs are identified as Key Issues during the audit process - in this example we have identified a significant risk of overstatement of Capitalised Exploration Expenditure for a mining company (example from CAANZ publication KAM - The Matters That Matter by Liz Stamford and Zowie Murray):
- A key issue may be raised from any point in the file from the dropdown box at the right end of all work items (testing tables excluded - must be posted from parent page in these cases)
- Key issues are all transferred to the audit summary page Z1 - appearing as follows:
- In this case the matter is both significant risk and a key issue so it appears on the page twice, firstly for the auditor to summarise what the outcomes were of the proposed tests and secondly as a prompt to consider whether a KAM should be added - if the key issue had been added elsewhere this analysis would only appear once
- Under section 3 on Z1 is the option to add KAMs to the audit report:
- The steps also prompt the auditor to look at other matters which have been communicated to those charged with governance in case any of these constitute KAMs
- Next we create the specific text to be included in the audit report - this may be added into the comments box (as below) or completed on a separate document and attached - formatting will be done when the text is added into the report (once created further down in the Z section)
- There is a further point suggesting text to enter where no KAMs have been identified
- Finally on this page there is a checklist to make sure that the KAM(s) created meet the requirements of the auditing standards:
Having selected on page Z1 that KAMs are to be inserted into the eventual audit report an appropriate area will be automatically included in the audit report (standard, qualified and adverse - after the Basis for Opinion paragraph) that looks like this:
- The KAM text that has been prepared on Z1 may then be pasted into the yellow area:
- If further formatting is required select customise/edit at the bottom right to allow further options:
- Click the edit icon at the corner of the Key Audit Matters section:
This will allow full editing and formatting as follows:
- remove double square brackets
- add blank lines (shift+enter)
- insert bullet points (using - dashes after a blank line)
- bolding text by surrounding it with *asterisks*
- italicising text (surrounding it with _underscores_)
- for example taking the text above, editing and applying formatting:
- Save this and click back to preview:
- This will result in the following in the audit report:
