At its meeting in September 2005, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) approved a revised International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 230, Audit Documentation.

To establish the level and completeness of documentation, the standard requires that the auditor prepare audit documentation sufficient to allow an experienced auditor, who has had no previous connection with the audit, to understand the audit work performed, the audit evidence obtained, the significant matters arising during the audit, and the conclusions reached.

The standard also requires the auditor to prepare documentation promptly, and to close the files within a reasonable time. It also severely limits the amendments that can be made to a closed file to certain exceptional circumstances. There are new documentation requirements for those very rare occasions when an auditor finds it necessary to depart from the requirement of a standard to achieve the objective of the audit.

The standard is effective for audits of financial periods beginning on or after 15 June 2006. The standard may be downloaded at no charge from the IFAC online bookstore at http://www.ifac.org/store. Browse to “Auditing, Assurance and Related Services”, scroll down to find, and double click “International Standard on Auditing 230 (revised), Audit Documentation”.