Measures taken to contain the coronavirus affect us all. This publication focuses on how this impacts businesses and the people that audit them. It aims to support European auditors in adapting their work to new circumstances in ongoing audits with 2019 year-ends and beyond. To this end we have analysed corona crisis related auditing guidance, as issued by global and national regulators and professional institutes. We highlight the following main matters for auditors to consider:

• obtaining audit evidence
• auditor’s assessment of going concern
• auditor’s reporting

As the situation evolves, we will keep collecting new guidance on our webpage Coronavirus resources for European accountants. Most of the matters in this publication apply also to audits with closing dates after 2019. We will shortly issue an additional overview with main matters for consideration specifically for audits with 2020 closing dates.

Photo credit: Johns Hopkins University & Medicine