Auditors report

							  Auditors’ report

Marianne Grove Ditlevsen
Aarhus School of Business
       Tartu 2000
   ”At their annual general meeting, all companies
   have to appoint auditors who are responsible for
   reporting to the shareholders on whether the
   accounts have been prepared in accordance with the
   Companies Act and the appropriate accounting
   standards, and whether the accounts give a ”true and
   fair view” of the state of affairs of the company (and
   of the group, if relevant) and of the profit.”
                                   (Laidler & Donaghy 1998: 35)

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                   Format and content
                     of audit reports
 An identification of the report’s addressee(s)
 An identification of the financial statements audited
 Separate sections dealing with:
        Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
        The basis of the auditors’ opinion
        The auditors’ opinion on the financial statements
 The signatures of the auditors
 The date of the audit report
                      (Pendlebury & Groves 1999: 96)
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                 Assignment

 Where do you find the basic elements in the
  auditors’ reports?
 How are they expressed linguistically?

 Please contrast your findings for each report!



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  ”Die Buchführung und der Jahresabschluß entsprechen / Der
  Konzernabschluß entspricht nach meiner / unserer pflicht-
  gemäßen Prüfung den gesetzlichen Vorschriften. Der Jahres-
  abschluß / Konzernabschluß vermittelt unter Beachtung der
  Grundsätze ordnungsmäßiger Buchführung ein den tatsäch-
  lichen Verhältnissen entsprechendes Bild der Vermögens-,
  Finanz- und Ertragslage der Kapitalgesellschaft / des Kon-
  zerns. Der Lagebericht / Konzernlagebericht steht im Ein-
  klang mit dem Jahresabschluß / Konzernabschluß.”
                                            (From: HGB 322(1))

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             Small group discussion

 Which translation strategy would be
  appropriate?

 Please take into consideration the pros and
  cons of the discussed strategies!



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   ”At first glance the auditors’ report, in view of its
   importance, the amount of work involved and the
   size of the fees incurred, is extremely brief.
   However, this is because the report itself follow a set
   formula which does not describe in detail the work
   involved in reaching the opinion expressed.”
                              (Laidler & Donaghy 1998: 35-36)



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                   Opinion

 Unqualified opinion
 Qualified opinion – disagreement
 Qualified opinion – adverse opinion
 Qualified opinion – except for limitation of
  scope
 Disclaimer of opinion
              (Pendlebury & Groves 1999: 97)

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