We summarize key requirements to obtain pre-concurrence of non-assurance services.
Auditor independence is key to ensuring public trust in audited financial statements and contributes to audit quality. In recent years, the provision of non-assurance services (NAS) by audit firms to their audit clients has emerged as a regular discussion topic. In view of this, in April 2021, the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) released changes to the non-assurance services provisions and fee-related provisions of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (IESBA Code) to require pre-concurrence from those charged with governance (TCWG) for NAS that the audit firm and the audit network firms provide to a Public Interest Entity (PIE) under audit and certain affiliates of the PIE.
The Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) issued the Ethics Pronouncement EP 100 Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics (EP 100) in September 2022 to adopt the IESBA’s final pronouncements and a revised Singapore provision.
In this publication, we summarize the IESBA Code and EP 100 changes in relation to NAS and set out the possible implementation solutions to facilitate the pre-concurrence process for consideration.