In response to recent changes to international and domestic quality management standards issued by the IAASB (International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board) and AUASB (Auditing and Assurance Standards Board), the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board (APESB) called for submissions on exposure draft (ED) Proposed Amendments to APES 320 Quality Management for Firms that provide Non-Assurance Services.  

CA ANZ supports the proposals to re-issue APES 320 as a standard applicable only to non-assurance engagements. A non-assurance standard removes duplication and provides opportunity for greater scalability of requirements. Further, we are supportive of the approach taken by the APESB for the standard to provide high level alignment to ASQM 1 which includes an additional element, Information and Communication and expands Human Resources to Resources. 

CA ANZ agrees with the APESBs view that the requirements contained in the revised APES 320 addresses risk to engagement quality in non-assurance engagements without the need for root-cause analysis as prescribed in ASQM 1. We recommended that the APESB review its drafting to ensure that terminology used was consistent with the outputs of non-assurance engagements.