ISAE 3000
The International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 covers assurance engagements other than audits or reviews of historical financial information. The standard is used to guide assurance practitioners in setting an effective methodology to assess a company’s internal processes and performance information.
ISAE 3000 includes requirements for all stages of an assurance engagement, such as planning, assessment of material and risk factors, liability of the practicing professional, and format and content of the report to be delivered at the end of the engagement. It also requires that the assurance engagement contains quality control procedures and be carried out by the practicing professional in accordance with the independence and other ethical requirements of the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (the IESBA Code).
ISAE 3000 defines two levels of assurance, limited or reasonable. The reasonable level is the most stringent and requires obtaining sufficient evidence to reduce assurance engagement risks to an acceptably low level. These levels of assurance are similar to the AA1000AS levels (moderate assurance and high assurance).
See www.ifac.org for more details.
How ISAE 3000 is used in our services
Although ISEA 3000 is not a regulatory requirement and does not require the assurance provider to be registered or certified, we have fully incorporated ISAE 3000 guidelines (and ISAE 3410 for disclosures on GHG management and performance) in our assurance methodology to ensure our engagements are carried out under high standards for audit quality and ethics.