Advanced Auditing, Assurance and Professional Ethics · Related Services

Related Services: Scope and Overview of SRS 4400 and 4410

Updated 5 October 2026 · Fact-checked

Related services are engagements where a practitioner helps with or reports on financial information without giving assurance. SRS 4400 covers agreed-upon procedures, where you report factual findings. SRS 4410 (Revised) covers compilation, where you help management prepare financial information. To solve a question, identify the engagement, then state its scope, objective and report wording.

Understand Related Services: Scope and Overview of SRS 4400 and 4410

An assurance engagement is one where a practitioner gives a conclusion that increases the confidence of intended users about a subject matter. An audit gives reasonable assurance. A review gives limited assurance. In both, the practitioner expresses an opinion or a conclusion.

Related services are different. The practitioner does work, but gives no opinion and no conclusion that provides assurance. ICAI covers two such engagements in its Standards on Related Services (SRS): SRS 4400 on agreed-upon procedures (AUP) and SRS 4410 (Revised) on compilation engagements.

In an AUP engagement, you carry out procedures that you and the engaging party have agreed, and you report the factual findings. You do not judge whether the findings are good or bad. The users read the findings and draw their own conclusions. Example: a lender asks you to agree the stock quantities in a statement with the stock records at the year end, and you report what you found.

In a compilation engagement, you use your accounting and financial reporting expertise to help management prepare and present financial information. You collect, classify and summarise the data. You do not test the information for accuracy. Your report says that no audit or review was done and that no assurance is given on the information.

The key test is the output. Audit and review end in an opinion or conclusion. AUP ends in findings. Compilation ends in prepared information with a no-assurance report. Related services still need professional care. You must follow the Code of Ethics and the firm's quality management requirements. The standards state their own effective dates, so confirm the dates from ICAI's text and do not rely on memory.

Key rules to remember

Audit vs review vs related services: Audit = reasonable assurance; Review = limited assurance; AUP and compilation = no assurance; This is the first line of any comparison answer.
SRS 4400 (Revised) scope: AUP = agreed procedures + factual findings report, no opinion or conclusion; Users form their own conclusions from the findings.
SRS 4400 (Revised) procedures: Procedures are agreed with the engaging party and are described in the terms of engagement; Procedures should be described in specific terms. Vague terms such as 'satisfy' or 'check generally' should not be used unless they are defined. Procedures should be clear and specific.
SRS 4410 (Revised) scope: Compilation = assist management in preparing and presenting financial information using accounting expertise; No obligation to verify or test the information, and no assurance is given.
Compilation report: Report states that it is not an audit or review and expresses no opinion or conclusion; It also identifies the financial reporting framework used for compiling.
Independence: Neither standard makes independence a condition of the engagement. SRS 4400 (Revised): the AUP report must include a statement either that the practitioner complies with the independence requirements or that the practitioner is not required to be independent. SRS 4410 (Revised): the compilation report must state if the practitioner is not independent, and may state that the practitioner is independent.; For AUP, a statement on independence is always needed in the report. For compilation, disclosure is mandatory only when the practitioner is not independent. Law or the Code of Ethics may still require independence.
Basic structure of an assurance engagement: Practitioner + responsible party + intended users + subject matter + criteria; Use it to show why AUP and compilation are not assurance.

How to solve Related Services: Scope and Overview of SRS 4400 and 4410 questions

Use this method for any question on related services, whether it is a case scenario MCQ or a written answer.

1Read the facts and ask what the client wants as the output: an opinion, a conclusion, factual findings, or prepared information.
2Classify the engagement. Opinion means audit. Conclusion on review means review. Factual findings from agreed procedures means SRS 4400. Help in preparing information means SRS 4410 (Revised).
3State the level of assurance: reasonable, limited, or none.
4Write the scope of the relevant standard in one or two lines and name the standard.
5Apply the facts: who agreed the procedures, whether the practitioner tested anything, and who the users are.
6Write what the report must say or avoid, such as no opinion, findings only, or not an audit or review.
7Add the ethics and quality point: Code of Ethics, quality management, and disclosure of independence.
8Close with a one-line conclusion that answers the exact question asked.

Quickest way: Output test for classifying an engagement

When to use it: Use it for case-scenario MCQs where you have about a minute per question.

Find the verb in the facts: 'opine' means audit, 'conclude' means review, 'report findings' means AUP, 'prepare or assist' means compilation.
If the report gives no opinion or conclusion, it is a related service.
Procedures agreed with the client mean SRS 4400. Preparing financial statements from records means SRS 4410 (Revised).
Eliminate any option that says assurance is given in AUP or compilation.

Common mistakes in Related Services: Scope and Overview of SRS 4400 and 4410

Treating AUP as a limited assurance engagement because procedures are performed.
Students link any testing work with assurance.
Fix: Ask whether a conclusion is expressed. In AUP you report only factual findings, so no assurance is given.
Writing that the practitioner gives an opinion in a compilation report.
Students mix up compilation with audit or review reports.
Fix: State that the report only says the information was compiled and that no assurance is expressed.
Saying users of an AUP report get comfort from the practitioner's conclusion.
Students assume that all reports from a CA contain a judgment.
Fix: Write that users assess the findings themselves and draw their own conclusions.
Saying related services have no ethical or quality requirements.
Students read 'no assurance' as 'no standards'.
Fix: Say that the Code of Ethics and quality management still apply. Only independence is not a condition of the standard. The AUP report must state the independence position, and the compilation report must say so if the practitioner is not independent.
Quoting effective dates from memory.
The standards are numbered similarly, so dates get mixed up.
Fix: Learn the dates from the ICAI text and the current study material, and mention them only when asked.
Using vague wording for AUP procedures, such as 'verify the accounts'.
Students copy audit language.
Fix: Write procedures that are specific and objective, such as 'agree the debtor balance to the ledger'.

Worked examples

Example 1

A bank asks CA Mehta to perform specified procedures on a borrower's stock statement. The procedures are to agree the closing quantity to the stock register, and to agree the unit rates to the latest purchase invoices. The bank will decide on the loan limit itself. The bank also asks whether CA Mehta would give an opinion that the stock statement is fairly stated. Classify the engagement and advise on the report.

Show the solution

Output: the bank wants procedures to be performed and the findings reported, and the bank will make its own decision.
Classification: this is an agreed-upon procedures engagement under SRS 4400.
Assurance level: none. The practitioner reports factual findings and does not give an opinion or conclusion.
The procedures are agreed in writing with the engaging party and are specific, such as agreeing quantity to register and rates to invoices.
The request for an opinion on fair presentation is an audit-type request. It cannot be met under an AUP engagement, and a separate audit engagement would be needed.
The report lists the procedures and the factual findings, for example the differences found. It does not say that the statement is fairly stated. Ethics and quality management requirements still apply.

Answer: This is an SRS 4400 AUP engagement. CA Mehta reports only factual findings and gives no opinion or assurance. An opinion on fair presentation would need an audit engagement.

Example 2

A small partnership firm gives its trial balance and records to CA Rao. It asks him to prepare annual financial statements for use with a trader association. The firm says no audit or review is wanted. CA Rao has also done the firm's bookkeeping during the year. Identify the engagement, state what the report should say, and comment on independence.

Show the solution

Output: the practitioner is using accounting expertise to prepare and present financial information from the client's records.
Classification: compilation engagement under SRS 4410 (Revised).
Scope: CA Rao collects, classifies and summarises the data and helps management present it. He is not required to test the information for accuracy.
Assurance level: none. Management remains responsible for the information and the records.
Report: it identifies the financial information and the framework used. It says that the engagement was a compilation. It states that it is not an audit or review and that no opinion or conclusion is expressed.
Independence: it is not a condition of the standard, so the standard itself does not bar the engagement. However, CA Rao must evaluate the self-review threat arising from his bookkeeping work under the Code of Ethics and decide whether he is independent. He should decline if the threat cannot be addressed.
Disclosure: if he concludes that he is not independent, the report must state that he is not independent. If he is independent, the report may say so, but it is not required to. Law or the Code of Ethics may also impose further requirements.

Answer: The engagement is a compilation under SRS 4410 (Revised). The report gives no assurance and says that it is neither an audit nor a review. Independence is not required by the standard, but CA Rao must evaluate the self-review threat from his bookkeeping work under the Code of Ethics. If he is not independent, the report must state that. If he is independent, the report may state it, but disclosure is not required.

Exam tips

Draw a three-line comparison of audit, review and related services whenever the question says 'differentiate' or 'distinguish'. Use the headings level of assurance, output and report.
Case-scenario MCQs often disguise the engagement. Look for the verbs 'agreed procedures', 'factual findings' and 'assist in preparing', and pick the standard from those.
Do not write opinion or conclusion language in any answer on AUP or compilation. This one error loses marks.
Read the current ICAI material for effective dates, and quote them only when the question asks for them.
Link related services to ethics and quality management in the last line of the answer. Examiners reward that link.

Practice questions from Related Services

Related Services: Scope and Overview of SRS 4400 and 4410: frequently asked questions

What are related services in CA Final Audit?

Related services are engagements in which a practitioner performs work on financial information but gives no assurance. The two covered by ICAI standards are agreed-upon procedures (SRS 4400 (Revised)) and compilation (SRS 4410 (Revised)). Neither ends in an opinion or conclusion.

How are related services different from an assurance engagement?

An assurance engagement ends in an opinion or conclusion that increases users' confidence. In related services, the practitioner reports factual findings or prepares information, and gives no assurance. Users of an AUP report form their own conclusions.

Is the practitioner required to be independent in SRS 4400 (Revised) and SRS 4410 (Revised)?

Neither standard makes independence a condition of the engagement. The AUP report under SRS 4400 (Revised) must include a statement either that the practitioner complies with the independence requirements or that the practitioner is not required to be independent. The compilation report under SRS 4410 (Revised) must state if the practitioner is not independent, and may state that the practitioner is independent. Law or the Code of Ethics may impose its own requirements.

What is the effective date of SRS 4410 (Revised)?

Each standard states its own effective date in the ICAI text. Check the current ICAI study material and the standard itself for the date, and do not memorise a date from an unverified source.