Requirement (b) focused on the audit report. The scenario described that the Burford Co’s audit committee would include a brief note on going concern in the company’s financial statements, but that a detailed note would not be provided. The requirement asked candidates to discuss the implications of this for the auditor’s report and to recommend further actions to be taken. This was for 6 marks.

This was generally answered in a satisfactory way, with most answers correctly discussing the use of the Emphasis of Matter paragraph where the note provided by the client is deemed sufficiently detailed, and that the audit opinion would be modified if it were not sufficiently detailed. Many answers explained these issues well, and provided the appropriate actions to be taken by the auditor. Requirement (b), was often the best answered requirement of this question.