Review and Reporting

Dear Kim,

Please consider the extracts below as the basis for my query:

EXTRACT 1 (extracted from the examiner’s report M/J25; Q – Everest & Co; requirement ‘d’)

“When attempting questions on auditor’s reports, it is important to ensure that the correct
terminology is used. No credit is awarded for recommending an unqualified opinion as it should
be an unmodified opinion. Additionally, candidates should note that an emphasis of matter
paragraph is not relevant for going concern uncertainties.”

The main part of this extract is this:

“No credit is awarded for recommending an UNQUALIFIED opinion as it should
be an UNMODIFIED opinion.”

EXTRACT 2 (extracted from the Mar26 MOCK exam; Section A; Q10; Option d)

“An unqualified audit opinion will be given if the management correctly and adequately discloses the material uncertainty relating to going concern in the financial statements and a MURGC section will be added in the audit report.”

The main part of this extract is this:

“An UNQUALIFIED audit opinion will be given”

MY QUERY:

If you look carefully at these two extracts, you’ll notice that even though ACCA wrote, in the aforementioned examiner’s report, that we should not use “unqualified” opinion, they used it in the Mar26 mock to mean the same thing as unmodified opinion.

I know that: ‘If the auditor’s report is modified, the opinion can either be unmodified or modified.
If it is modified, the opinion can either be qualified, adverse or a disclaimer’
I already understand this concept via your notes and lectures (and their MJ25 examiner’s report), but they are confusing us. They are doing what they advised us not to do.

Now, what if I wrote “unqualified” in a section B question and I get penalised?
Who is to blame?

Please, please provide an explanation why the disparity so I can understand better.