Auditors' Responsibilities for Events Arising After Balance Date

This paper critically evaluates relevant Australian and international professional documents applicable to the auditor's duties to audit and report on listed companies'annual accounts in the open-ended period subsequent to balance date. This examination suggests certain defects within these documents of potentially serious legal consequence. Particular attention is focused on matters relating to the tenure of the statutory audit appointment, the derivative contractual arrangement and the notion of auditor reliance upon management. The extent to which compliance with professional documents, adopted throughout the profession, is a necessary and sufficient defence in lawsuits grounded in negligence claims is analysed. This analysis is sustained in terms of the legal standard of care that may be judicially applied in the determination of auditor liability in the open-ended post balance date period.