Statements on Auditing Standards (United States)


In the United States, Statements on Auditing Standards provide guidance to external auditors on generally accepted auditing standards in regards to auditing a non-public company and issuing a report. They are promulgated by the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which holds all copyright on the Standards. They are commonly abbreviated as "SAS" followed by their respective number and title.
With the permission of the AICPA, the full text of Standards 1–101 has been posted on the website of the Digital Accounting Collection at the J.D. Williams Library of the University of Mississippi. Links to these full-text records appear in the List of Statements of Auditing Standards below.

List of Statements of Auditing Standards

Clarified Statements on Auditing Standards

SAS No. 122, Clarification and Recodification, contains the Preface to Codification of Statements on Auditing Standards, Principles Underlying an Audit Conducted in Accordance With Generally Accepted Auditing Standards, and 39 clarified SASs. This statement recodifies and supersedes all outstanding SASs through No. 121 except
  • SAS No. 51, Reporting on Financial Statements Prepared for Use in Other Countries;
  • SAS No. 59, The Auditor's Consideration of an Entity's Ability to Continue as a Going Concern, as amended;
  • SAS No. 65, The Auditor's Consideration of the Internal Audit Function in an Audit of Financial Statements;
  • SAS No. 87, Restricting the Use of an Auditor's Report; and
  • the following clarified SASs that were issued to address practice issues timely and are already effective:
  • * SAS No. 117, Compliance Audits ;
  • * SAS No. 118, Other Information in Documents Containing Audited Financial Statements ;
  • * SAS No. 119, Supplementary Information in Relation to the Financial Statements as a Whole ; and
  • * SAS No. 120, Required Supplementary Information.
SAS No. 122 also withdraws SAS No. 26, Association With Financial Statements, as amended.
The is the source of the most up-to-date information.
No.Official titleIssued onCurrent status
122Clarification and recodificationOctober 2011In effect
123Omnibus statement on auditing standardsOctober 2011In effect
124Financial statements prepared in accordance with a financial reporting framework generally accepted in another countryOctober 2011In effect
125Alert that restricts the use of the auditor's written communicationDecember 2011In effect
126Auditor's consideration of an entity's ability to continue as a going concern July 2012In effect
127Omnibus statement on auditing standards - 2913January 2013In effect
128Using the work of internal auditorsFebruary 2014In effect
129Amendment to statement on auditing standards no. 122 section 920, Letters for underwriters and certain other requesting parties, as amendedJuly 2014In effect
130Audit of internal control over financial reporting that is integrated with an audit of financial statementsOctober 2015In effect
131Amendment to Statement on auditing standards no. 122, Section 700, Forming an opinion and reporting on financial statementsJanuary 2016In effect
132The Auditor's Consideration of an Entity's Ability to Continue as a Going ConcernFebruary 2017In effect
133Auditor Involvement With Exempt Offering DocumentsJuly 2017In effect
134Auditor Reporting and Amendments, Including Amendments Addressing Disclosures in the Audit of Financial StatementsMay 2019In effect
135Omnibus Statement on Auditing Standards—2019May 2019In effect
136Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISAJuly 2019In effect
137The Auditor's Responsibilities Relating to Other Information Included in Annual ReportsJuly 2019In effect
138Amendments to the Description of the Concept of MaterailityDecember 2019In effect
139Amendments to AU-C Sections 800, 805, and 810 to Incorporate Auditor Reporting Changes From SAS No. 134March 2020In effect
140Amendments to AU-C Sections 725, 730, 930, 935, and 940 to Incorporate Auditor Reporting Changes From SAS Nos. 134 and 137April 2020In effect
141Amendment to the Effective Dates of SAS Nos. 134–140May 2020In effect
142Audit EvidenceJuly 2020In effect
143Auditing Accounting Estimates and Related DisclosuresJuly 2020In effect
144Amendments to AU-C Sections 501, 540, and 620 Related to the Use of Specialists and the Use of Pricing Information Obtained From External Information SourcesJune 2021In effect
145Understanding the Entity and Its Environment and Assessing the Risks of Material MisstatementOctober 2021Effective for audits ending on or after December 15, 2023
146Quality Management for an Engagement Conducted in Accordance With Generally Accepted Auditing StandardsJune 2022Effective for engagements conducted in accordance with GAAS for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2025

Codification of Statements on Auditing Standards

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants began codifying the Statements on Auditing standards semiannually in 1976. The Codification of Statements on Auditing Standards is generally issued in January, and the U.S. Auditing Standards is issued as part of the AICPA Professional Standards in June of each year. The current are available at the AICPA's Web site. Below is a list of older codifications from the Professional Standards.
DateOfficial titleIssued on
1976AICPA Professional Standards: Auditing as of July 1, 1976 July 1, 1976
1977AICPA Professional Standards: Auditing as of July 1, 1977 July 1, 1977
1978AICPA Professional Standards: Auditing as of July 1, 1978 July 1, 1978
1979 AICPA Professional Standards: Auditing as of July 1, 1979 July 1, 1979
1980 AICPA Professional Standards: Auditing as of June 1, 1980 June 1, 1980
1981 AICPA Professional Standards: Auditing as of June 1, 1981 June 1, 1981
1982 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1982 June 1, 1982
1983 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1983 June 1, 1983
1984 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1984 June 1, 1984
1985 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1985 June 1, 1985
1986 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1986 June 1, 1986
1987 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1987 June 1, 1987
1988 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1988 June 1, 1988
1989 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1989 June 1, 1989
1990 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1990 June 1, 1990
1991 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1991 June 1, 1991
1992 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1992 June 1, 1992
1993 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1993 June 1, 1993
1994 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1994 June 1, 1994
1995 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1995 June 1, 1995
1996 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1996 June 1, 1996
1997 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1997 June 1, 1997
1998 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1998 June 1, 1998
1999 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 1999 June 1, 1999
2000 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 2000 June 1, 2000
2001 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 2001 June 1, 2001
2002 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 2002 June 1, 2002
2003 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 2003 June 1, 2003
2004 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 2004 June 1, 2004
2005 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 2005 June 1, 2005
2006 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 2006 June 1, 2006
2007 AICPA Professional Standards: U.S. Auditing Standards as of June 1, 2007 June 1, 2007

Primary sources

Secondary sources

  • Mark S. Beasley, Joseph V. Carcello, GAAS Guide 2007, CCH,
  • Don M. Pallais, Cheryl Hartfield, Mary Lou Wurdack ; PPC's Guide to GAAS 2007, Practitioners Publishing Company,
  • Michael J. Ramos, Wiley Practitioner's Guide to GAAS 2007: Covering all SASs, SSAEs, SSARSs, and Interpretations, Wiley Publishing,