SA 200 — Overall Objectives of the Independent Auditor

Issued by ICAI AASB · General

The umbrella standard — the auditor's objectives, ethical requirements, and the conduct of an audit per the SAs.

Objective

To obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report with the auditor's opinion.

Key requirements

Compliance with relevant ethical requirements, including independence (ICAI Code of Ethics)
Professional skepticism throughout the engagement
Application of professional judgement
Sufficient appropriate audit evidence to reduce audit risk to an acceptably low level
Conduct in accordance with the SAs

Typical procedures

Document the firm's independence assessment at acceptance
Apply skepticism flags — where management's explanations are inconsistent with evidence
Form a basis for opinion via evidence accumulation per SAs 300-700

Common pitfalls

Over-reliance on management representations as the sole source of evidence
Treating "no exception found" as adequate when sample sizes are too small
Skipping documentation of professional-judgement calls

Related standards

SA 220 SA 230 SA 230

SA 200 in practice

SA 200 sits in the General phase of the audit. The Standards on Auditing are issued by the ICAI Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB) and deemed to be prescribed by the Central Government under Section 143(10) of the Companies Act 2013. Compliance with SAs is mandatory for every audit conducted by a Chartered Accountant in India.

For authoritative text, refer to the ICAI AASB Compendium of Standards on Auditing at icai.org.

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SA 210 — Agreeing the Terms of Audit Engagements