1.Auditors provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are fairly stated in accordance with the established and applicable criteria, either GAAP or IFRS. However, the responsibility of the auditors is to detect material misstatements, including misappropriation of assets and fraudulent financial reporting. Required:

a) Discuss the responsibilities of the independent auditor in the audit of financial statements?

b) Discuss why the auditor can be persuaded only with a reasonable level of assurance, rather than absolute that the financial statements are correct?

Note: You may link the discussion to the audit theories, expectation gab, and refer to related research papers we have discussed in the class.