You are a newly hired associate auditor for Praxo & Hanks, CPAs, a professional services firm that provides financial audits, integrated audits, and tax work for a variety of private and public company clients in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. Your first week with the firm was spent in a training program for audit staff, which was led by two of the firms audit managers. The first day of the training program focused on understanding the responsibilities of auditors and the nature and objectives of the services provided to audit clients. Answer the following based on what you should have learned in the first day of training.

Required:

(a) Distinguish between the assertions made by management in presenting financial statements and reporting on ICFR, and the statements made within an auditors report.

(b) How do managements assertions relate to audit evidence?