The Auditing Standards Board (ASB) is one of the standing committees of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). ASB is authorized to speak for the AICPA on auditing matters and has issued many pronouncements relating to auditing standards.

Required:

a. What are the three categories of auditing standards?

b. Explain the purpose of the statements on auditing standards issued by ASB.

c. Are the statements on auditing standards issued by ASB authoritative? If they are, from where does the authority evolve? If they are not authoritative, explain why they are not.