Attestation Standards

              Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements
March 1986
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Attestation Standards
SUMMARY
This Statement provides that an accountant who is engaged to issue or does issue a written communication that expresses a conclusion about the reliability of a written assertion that is the responsibility of another party should either examine, review, or apply agreed-upon procedures to the assertion in accordance with this Statement.
Specifically, the Statement —
a. Defines an attest engagement.
b. Provides standards for all attest engagements, which are a natural extension of (but do not supersede) the ten generally accepted auditing standards.
c. Makes explicit five preconditions for attest services to be per-formed:
• The practitioner has adequate training and proficiency in the attest function.
• The practitioner has adequate knowledge of the subject matter.
• There are reasonable measurement and disclosure criteria con-cerning the subject matter.
Copyright © 1986 by the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Inc. 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036-8775 1234567890 AudS 89876
Issued by the Auditing Standards Board
and the Accounting and Review Services Committee