The Reporting section of Principles Underlying an Audit Conducted in Accordance with Canadian Auditing Standard's requires the auditor's report to contain either an expression of opinion regarding the financial statements taken as a whole or an assertion to the effect that an opinion cannot be expressed. The objective of this requirement is to prevent: An auditor from reporting on one basic financial statement and not the others. An auditor from expressing different opinions on each of the basic financial statements. Management from reducing its final responsibility for the basic financial statements. Misinterpretations regarding the degree of responsibility the auditor is assuming