The New Audit Report: An Analysis of Exposure Draft Comments.

Recently the Auditing Standards Board (ASB) adopted Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 58, "Reports on Audited Financial Statements," requiring new standard audit report wording. As part of their standard-set- ting due process, the ASB released an Exposure Draft (ED) in 1987 setting forth its preliminary proposal to modify the existing standard audit report wording in use since 1948. This paper examines the responses to the 1987 ED that precipitated the final SAS. The analysis indicates that the ED was generally favorably received and that the specific wording concerns of the respondents were substantially resolved in the final SAS.