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CA Intermediate · Auditing and Ethics · Audit Documentation

Auditor Rahul Iyer ceases to be the auditor of Vindhya Cements Ltd after completing the audit. A successor auditor requests access to Rahul's working papers. Under the ICAI Code of Ethics and SA 230, who owns the audit working papers, and how should Rahul respond?

Working papers are the property of the auditor, so Rahul owns them. He may, at his discretion, release portions or extracts to others, subject to confidentiality obligations, but he is not bound to hand over originals to the company or the successor auditor.

  1. AThe company owns them, so Rahul must hand over the originals on request
  2. BThe successor owns them, since he now audits the company
  3. CRahul owns them as the auditor's property and may, at his discretion, release portions or extracts, subject to confidentialityCorrect
  4. DThe working papers belong to ICAI and must be deposited there

Explanation

Audit working papers are the property of the auditor. The auditor may at his discretion make portions or extracts available to the client, provided this does not undermine the independence or validity of the audit and confidentiality is observed. The company, successor or ICAI do not own them.

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