Under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act), APRA is responsible for the prudential supervision and monitoring of prudential matters relating to all Registrable Superannuation Entities (RSEs) in order to protect the interests of members and beneficiaries or prospective members of the RSE concerned.

APRA formulates, promulgates and enforces prudential policy and practice through Superannuation Prudential Standards (SPSs). In addition, APRA may also issue nonenforceable Superannuation Prudential Practice Guides (SPGs) and other guidelines, to assist RSEs in complying with the requirements in its Prudential Standards and, more generally, to outline prudent practices in relation to certain elements of the RSEs operations.^[1]

The RSE auditor is required to report pursuant to the prudential reporting requirements specified by APRA in SPS 310 paragraph 19 as outlined below:

1. reasonable assurance addressing:
   1. annual financial statements of each RSE prepared in accordance with relevant Australian Accounting Standards issued by the Australian Accounting Standards Board; and
   2. the annual information, relating to each RSE, required under the reporting standards made by APRA under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (FSCOD Act) that are identified in Attachment B to SPS 310 as requiring reasonable assurance; and
   3. compliance with provisions of the SIS Act, Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (SIS Regulations), the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act), Corporations Regulations 2001 (Corporations Regulations), FSCOD Act, and additional conditions imposed under section 29EA of the SIS Act, that are specified in an approved form; and
2. limited assurance addressing:
   1. the annual information, relating to each RSE, required under the reporting standards made by APRA under the FSCOD Act that are identified in Attachment B to SPS 310 as requiring limited assurance; and
   2. the RSE licensee’s systems, procedures and internal controls that are designed to ensure that the RSE licensee has complied with all applicable prudential requirements, has provided reliable data to APRA as required under the reporting standards prepared under the FSCOD Act, and has operated effectively throughout the year of income; and
   3. the RSE licensee’s compliance with its risk management framework,^[2] and
   4. the RSE licensee’s compliance with its operational risk financial requirement (ORFR) strategy.^[3]

This Guidance Statement provides guidance for each element of the assurance engagements under SPS 310, except for the report on the audit of the financial statements of the RSE licensee as specified in paragraph 19(a)(i) of SPS 310, for which mandatory requirements and explanatory guidance are provided in the Australian Auditing Standards. The RSE auditor is required to comply with all requirements in each of the Auditing Standards relevant to the financial statement audit in determining the audit procedures to be performed when conducting an audit in accordance with the Australian Auditing Standards.

In addition to the legislative and regulatory requirements imposed on RSE auditors, relevant Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) Standards are applicable to engagements under the prudential standards. This Guidance Statement has been developed to clarify how the RSE auditor meets their regulatory obligations whilst also applying the requirements of:

1. ASA 805 Special Considerations Audits of Single Financial Statements and Specific, Elements, Accounts or Items of a Financial Statement, when conducting assurance engagements on subject matters of a single financial statement and specific elements, accounts or items of a financial statement, which includes assurance engagements under SPS 310 paragraph 19(a)(ii).
2. ASAE 3100 Compliance Engagements, when conducting assurance engagements regarding compliance with legislative or regulatory requirements as outlined under SPS 310 paragraph 19(a)(iii), 19(b)(ii), (iii) and (iv).
3. ASRE 2405 Review of Historical Financial Information Other than a Financial Report, when conducting assurance engagements on specific elements, components, accounts or items of a historical financial report, which includes assurance engagements as outlined under SPS 310 paragraph 19(b)(i).
4. ASAE 3000 Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information, when conducting assurance engagements on subject matters other than historical financial information, which includes assurance engagements as outlined under SPS 310 paragraphs 19(a)(iii), 19(b) (ii), (iii) and (iv).

The RSE auditor in meeting their role and responsibilities under these engagements is required by APRA to comply with relevant standards and guidance issued by the AUASB to the extent that they are not inconsistent with the requirements of SPS 310 and other prudential requirements^[4]. In the exceptional circumstances that an inconsistency arises between APRA prudential requirements and those of the AUASB the RSE auditor^[5] will need to communicate such matters to those charged with governance (TCWG).