Bridging the Gap – 2021-2022 Annual Plan Issue Date and Other Upcoming Activities

The Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB) will issue its 2021-2022 Annual Plan on July 1, 2021 to align with the timing of its Draft Strategic Plan for 2022-2025, currently out for comment. This next Annual Plan will still be effective April 1, 2021. 

In the meantime, we are continuing the important work aligned with our mission and identifying new activities to undertake next year.

What’s coming up – April 1-June 30, 2021

A key activity next quarter will be to consider the feedback we receive on our 2022-2025 Draft Strategic Plan. 

Your input is key in paving the way forward. We encourage you to participate in consultations, weighing in via our new online community platform, ConnectFRASCanada.ca, and registering for an upcoming outreach session today.

We will continue our international and Canadian standard-setting projects, including developing implementation guidance for recently approved standards. 

Get up to date on all our current projects:

• Canadian Standards on Quality Control
• Canadian Auditing Standards
• Other Canadian Standards

Other key activities

In addition to our active standard-setting projects, we are taking part in other activities to be responsive to stakeholder needs. These include the following: 

• Monitor the implications of COVID-19 on the performance of assurance and related services engagements and develop guidance.
• Monitor and participate in international developments related to: 
• the IFRS® Foundation’s “Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting”; and
• the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s (IAASB) review of the Monitoring Group Paper, “Strengthening the International Audit and Ethics Standard-Setting System,” and its impact on international standard-setting processes.  
• Use the findings from outreach activities on the IAASB Discussion Paper, “Fraud and Going Concern in an Audit of Financial Statements,” to develop and issue a report on fraud, going concern, and the expectation gap with CPA Canada and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
• Use the Extended External Reporting Advisory Group to review the current environment and develop an action plan to address current trends in reporting information beyond the financial statements.
• Continue to participate in discussions with stakeholders and relevant CPA Canada working groups on emerging issues, with a focus on emerging technologies that are transforming the performance of assurance and related services engagements. 
• Explore opportunities to collaborate with other national auditing standard setters on international standard setting and develop implementation guidance for recently approved standards.