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Various auditor's certificates

Certificates can be used in a variety of contexts to increase the credibility of the information provided by the company. In order to adapt the certificates to different situations, there are a number of predefined forms of certificates that comply with international standards that the auditor must follow. Unlike a standard audit report, the certificate is intended for a specific purpose and a limited group of users.

The level of assurance required by the auditor determines the extent of the audit. Depending on the level of assurance and scope of the audit, certificates can be divided into three different categories:

Audit: This means that the auditor can express an opinion with a high degree of certainty on financial or other matters, such as a specific item in the accounts, grant applications or various terms and conditions set out in an agreement. The certificate is based on a comprehensive audit based on the auditor's assessment of the risk of material misstatement and what is to be certified. Both the focus and scope of the audit are adapted to what is to be audited. The auditor certifies that it is in a certain way with a high degree of certainty.

Review: The auditor expresses moderate assurance rather than high assurance. This means that the scope of the review is limited and is based more on analyses and interviews than on detailed examination of supporting documentation. A review can be conducted of both financial and other matters in the same way as an audit. What the auditor is actually saying is that no material misstatements have been detected, but if the auditor had conducted a more extensive review, possible misstatements could have been detected. 

Audit according to special agreement: Here, the parties agree with the auditor on what is to be audited. This is usually done by the parties posing a number of specific questions or statements, and then the auditor examines the actual situation and reports this to the parties. The parties then draw their own conclusions based on the auditor's observations. One advantage of this type of audit is that it allows the parties to determine very precisely what is to be audited.