The Impact of Covid Epidemic on Financial Statements Auditing

The global pandemic caused by the coronavirus in 2019 had significant consequences on financial reporting and auditing of those statements, which lead to numerous challenges that both audit clients and auditors had to respond to in a timely manner. Uncertainty and risk arising from the current environment have resulted in changes in reporting and audit procedures, although these areas are strictly governed by the legal and regulatory framework. This paper will analyse the existing guidelines on COVID-19 considerations related to financial statements audit, issued by global and national regulators and professional institutes. Namely, all ISA remain in effect and additionally COVID-19 related guidelines should be used as a supplementary material. Results indicate that auditors should pay close attention to following matters: audit quality, circumstances under which audit is complied, new techniques and technologies, changes in audit procedures and approaches, obtaining audit evidence, professional judgment and professional scepticism, as well as assessment of audit materiality.