Auditing standards

Standards that auditors (certified public accountants or auditing firms) must follow when conducting audits. In 1938, the McKesson-Robbins Company scandal occurred in the United States, where the major accounting firm that audited the company failed to detect the massive accounting fraud committed by the company's executives over many years. Unlike criminal investigations, audits are subject to time and financial constraints in obtaining evidence, and audit procedures cannot be expanded indefinitely. Therefore, standards were required regarding the extent to which audit procedures should be performed in order to clarify the limits of auditor liability. In 1947, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants published "Generally Accepted Auditing Standards," which were not limited to audit procedures but also covered the entire scope of financial statement audits.

In Japan, before the implementation of formal financial statement audits based on the Securities and Exchange Law (currently the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law), the "Audit Standards" were announced in 1956 (Showa 31) by the Business Accounting Council of the Ministry of Finance (transferred to the Financial Services Agency in 2001). The contents of the standards consist of general standards clarifying the conditions for auditors' qualifications and the norms to be observed in their work, audit practice standards regulating the selection and application of audit procedures, and audit report standards regulating the requirements for the description of audit reports. The audit standards have been revised several times, but the most significant revision was in 1991 (Heisei 3), in which the description of specific audit procedures (preliminary investigation procedures, transaction record audit procedures, financial statement item audit procedures, etc.) that had been described in the audit practice guidelines was discontinued. This was because the role of providing specific guidelines to supplement the audit standards in response to the sophistication and internationalization of audits was entrusted to the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

In addition to these audit standards, the "Auditor Audit Standards" (Japan Institute of Corporate Auditors) that auditors must follow and the "Internal Audit Standards" (Japan Institute of Internal Auditors) that a company's internal auditors must follow have also been published.

[Tetsuyoshi Hasegawa and Yoshito Nakamura]

"Auditing Standards Theory by Shinichi Nagayoshi (2007, Chuo Keizaisha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

監査人（公認会計士または監査法人）が監査を行うにあたって守るべき基準。1938年アメリカで医薬品卸売会社のマッケソン・ロビンス会社事件が起きたが、そこで、長年にわたる同社幹部の多額の粉飾を、監査を行っていた同国の代表的会計事務所が発見できなかったことが問題とされた。監査は、犯罪捜査と異なり、証拠入手にあたり時間的・経済的制約を受け、無制限に監査手続を拡大することはできない。そこで、監査人の責任の限界を明らかにするうえで、どの程度の監査手続を実施すべきかに関する基準が要請された。アメリカ公認会計士協会は、1947年に、監査手続にとどまらず、財務諸表監査全般にわたる規範を「一般に認められた監査基準」として発表した。

　日本では、証券取引法（現在の金融商品取引法）に基づく正規の財務諸表監査の実施を前に、1956年（昭和31）に大蔵省企業会計審議会（2001年以降金融庁に移管）から「監査基準」が発表された。その内容は、監査人の適格性の条件および業務上守るべき規範を明らかにした一般基準、監査手続の選択適用を規制する監査実施基準、および監査報告書の記載要件を規律する監査報告書基準からなる。これまで、監査基準は何度か改訂されてきたが、とくに大きな改訂は、1991年（平成3）の監査基準の改訂で、従来記載されていた監査実施準則における具体的な監査手続（予備調査の手続、取引記録の監査手続、財務諸表項目の監査手続など）についての記載が取りやめとなった。これは、監査の高度化、国際化などに対応して監査基準を補足する具体的な指針を示す役割は日本公認会計士協会にゆだねられることとなったためである。

　なお、この監査基準のほかに、監査役が守るべき「監査役監査基準」（社団法人日本監査役協会）や企業の内部監査人が守るべき「内部監査基準」（社団法人日本内部監査協会）も公表されている。

［長谷川哲嘉・中村義人］

『長吉眞一著『監査基準論』（2007・中央経済社）』

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