This chapter summarises the assurance engagement process, including some important considerations and practical tips to address issues which may arise.
The objectives of this chapter are to:
- illustrate the importance of the preparing stage and the risk assessment processes, which are fundamental to a risk-based assurance approach
- demonstrate that the assurance engagement plan must be used at the beginning of the planning phase to determine how sufficient and appropriate assurance evidence will be captured to support the assurance conclusions
- highlight the interaction and interdependency of the key stages of the assurance process
- provide guidance on the requirements and meaning of key assurance processes and terminology
- provide guidance on how audit team leaders can overcome common issues encountered during the assurance process
- explain how the greenhouse and energy assurance is performed, by providing guidance and examples of the important parts of the performing stage, and
- explain the key parts of the reporting process.
The chapter follows the stages of the assurance process as depicted in Figures 2 to 5 in chapter 3, and provides guidance for each stage.