For the purposes of this Guidance Statement, the following items have the meanings attributed below:

Assurance engagement means an engagement in which the RSE auditor aims to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence in order to express a conclusion designed to enhance the degree of confidence of the intended users other than the responsible party about the subject matter information (that is, the outcome of the measurement or evaluation of an underlying subject matter against criteria).

Internal control encompasses the following components:

1. the control environment;
2. the RSE licensee’s risk assessment process;
3. information systems, including the related business processes, relevant to financial and prudential reporting, and communication;
4. control activities; and
5. monitoring of controls.

The way in which internal control is designed and implemented varies depending on the RSE licensee’s size and complexity.

RSE auditor means an independent auditor(s) appointed by the RSE licensee to meet the prudential reporting requirements under SPS 310.

Under SPS 310, it is possible for the RSE licensee to have more than one RSE auditor at any time, and for an RSE auditor appointed who satisfies the criteria under SPS 310 to be different from the RSE auditor responsible for undertaking the financial statement audit under SPS 310.

APRA Annual Return(s), means a form used for the collection and reporting of information in relation to the RSE licensee, as required to be provided to APRA by the RSE licensee in accordance with APRA Reporting Standards made under the FSCOD Act.

Limited assurance engagement means an assurance engagement in which the RSE auditor reduces engagement risk to a level that is acceptable in the circumstances of the engagement but where that risk is greater than for a reasonable assurance engagement as the basis for expressing a conclusion in a form that conveys whether, based on the procedures performed and evidence obtained, a matter(s) has come to the RSE auditor’s attention to cause the RSE auditor to believe the subject matter information is materially misstated. The nature, timing, and extent of procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement is limited compared with that necessary in a reasonable assurance engagement but is planned to obtain a level of assurance that is, in the RSE auditor’s professional judgement, meaningful. To be meaningful, the level of assurance obtained by the RSE auditor is likely to enhance the intended users’ confidence about the subject matter information to a degree that is clearly more than inconsequential.

Prudential requirements include requirements under the:

1. SIS Act;
2. SIS Regulations
3. prudential standards (and Prudential Practice Guides(SPG));
4. reporting standards;
5. FSCOD Act;
6. license conditions, authorisations, superannuation data and payment standards; and
7. directions and any other requirements imposed by APRA under legislation.

Reasonable assurance engagement means an assurance engagement in which the RSE auditor reduces engagement risk to an acceptably low level in the circumstances of the engagement as the basis for the RSE auditor’s conclusion. The RSE auditor’s conclusion is expressed in a form that conveys the RSE auditor’s opinion on the outcome of the measurement or evaluation of the underlying subject matter against criteria.

RSE under section 10(1) of the SIS Act means:

1. a regulated superannuation fund; or
2. an approved deposit fund; or
3. a pooled superannuation trust;

but does not include a self-managed superannuation fund.

Reliability under the Australian Accounting Standards Board’s Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements means information has the quality of reliability “… when it is free from material error and bias and can be depended upon by users to represent faithfully that which it either purports to represent or could reasonably expected to represent”.