How are the International Standards for Auditing set?
It is very important here to look at the history. The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has been established for quite some time and until 2003 was really a representative ONLY of the accounting and auditing profession. Within IFAC a considerable amount of work has been done on behalf of the profession and in the setting the various standards. I think I should point out at this stage that before the IFAC was established, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) was established and has been independent ever since. And the IASB which is based in London is completely independent of IFAC. It is very important to remember that because in some places people tend to think that the accountants and auditors are the same. Everything is within the IFAC except the accounting standards. Now as I say there are many activities within IFAC and two of these relevant to our todays discussion are the International Standards on Auditing and International Standards on Ethics. We are
