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This is more likely a general issue being faced by audit firms and accountants. It is not audit specific or particularly related to Audit and Assurance exam. So, i'm thinking of moving the thread to General ACCA Forums. If you don't mind, shall i move it?

Ideally I would like Kim Smith's take on this and I'm not sure she is a regular visitor to the general forum - please leave it here and hopefully (s)he'll see it

In that case you should have posted in Ask the Tutor Forum. Kim and all other tutors answer queries posted there. This forum is where students interact. If you want this thread can be moved there.

Yes please Thanks

Hello biggles - my role here on this forum is to answer technical questions pertinent to passing the exams rather than engage in wider discussion so I can give only give my briefest of thoughts. I don't think it will fundamentally change auditing. If you take UK as an example, because of the "small" (and "micro") company regimes many many companies need only file abridged accounts and are exempt from audit. For the many companies that require an audit, it's not "the end of the world" if they are late filing accounts - the penalty for filing between 3 and 6 months late is only £750 for a private company (£3,000 for a public company). So if some aspect of an audit is delayed (for any reason), I imagine most companies would prefer late filing and having an unmodified audit opinion. I don't think filing deadlines would be changed - because it would be expected to have to revert later - but, as a temporary measure, penalties for late filing might be waived, in specific circumstances. The government will still need to collect taxes, etc so I don't see why there would be a "blanket" waiver (unless that was for ease of government administration) because not all companies would be affected in the same way.

Thank you Kim, that makes a lot of sense