Auditor’s Report on Special Purpose Financial Statements

Special Purpose Financial Statements (SPFS) are prepared to meet the information needs of specified users. In February 2024, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) issued the revised Standards on Auditing (SAs): SA 800 dealing with SPFS; SA 805 dealing with Audits of Single Financial Statements and Specific Elements, Accounts or Items of a Financial statement and SA 810 dealing with auditor's report on summary financial statements. This article provides an overview of the requirements of SA 800 (revised) and explains the key aspects of special purpose financial statements.

An entity generally prepares general purpose financial statements as per the general purpose framework. A general purpose framework is designed to meet the common financial information needs of a wider range of users, e.g. financials prepared as per applicable Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for tax filing purposes; financial statements prepared under the Companies Act, 2013. The general purpose framework, i.e. Indian Accounting Standards and Accounting Standards, are used for the preparation and presentation of the financial statements and such financial statements are called statutory financial statements (i.e. prepared pursuant to a regulation or statute).

However, under certain circumstances, an entity would be required to submit financial statements as per a special purpose