International Standards on Auditing - ISAs

International Auditing Standards (ISAs) have to be applied in audits of financial statements. ISAs contain basic principles and procedures for the auditor. These must be interpreted in the context of the application when the audit is conducted.

To understand and apply the basic principles and essential procedures together with related guidance, it is necessary to consider the whole text of the ISAs including explanatory material.

The dynamics of globalization requires that financial information be clear, reliable and understandable by all users, which entails the need to implement accounting standards and procedures and financial information assurance that offer security to all players in the global market. Consequently, Colombia has begun a process of convergence towards international standards of accounting and financial information and international standards for information assurance through the issuance of Law 1314 of 2009. This step towards convergence poses a challenge to the Public Accountants who perform or plan to play a role as External Auditors or Fiscal Reviewers.

All this process of convergence must be framed in the standards developed by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), which have been considered as the best international practices and that will be mandatory in Colombia.