IAS/IFRS impact on the auditor’s role

Financial Statements are the most important means of information for a business reality. The readers of financial statements are people who enter into a relationship with the company, as well as the company management. The performance shown in the financial statements is the basis on which the company’s economic value can be determined. The undervaluation of equity and the overvaluation of assets lead to an incorrect economic value of the company. These assessments reduce investors’ trust in financial statements. This paper will try to analyse the impact of IAS/IFRS on the auditor’s role and on the audit opinion concerning financial statements. This question will present the changes that IAS/IFRS have caused on financial statements and, consequently, the way such changes can be interpreted. This raises issues linked to which audit procedures should be carried out in order to express a proper audit opinion. Finally, in view also of the recent financial cracks, we will assess how the auditor’s role should change in order to assure financial markets of the correctness of IAS/IFRS financial statements.