Book excerpt: The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is the global body for professional accountants. With over 100 years of providing world-class accounting and finance qualifications, the ACCA has significantly raised its international profile in recent years and now supports a BSc (Hons) in Applied Accounting and an MBA.BPP Learning Media is an ACCA Official Publisher. The F8 Audit and Assurance paper aims to develop your knowledge and understanding of the process of carrying out an assurance engagement, using the external audit as an example. As well as emphasising the practical aspects of carrying out assurance engagements, this paper also seeks to establish your understanding of the professional regulatory framework in place.It focuses on the following key themes: * Audit framework and regulation, including ethical and professional considerations * Internal audit and how this differs from the external audit * The external audit process, from planning through to audit fieldwork and final review * Reporting - the audit report and other reports.The examiner-reviewed F8 Study Text includes everything you need for this paper, including detailed guidance on the exam and the pilot paper questions. The question bank includes questions in the style of the F8 paper, and each chapter contains useful exam focus points. The Study Text provides an excellent introduction to the main professional and regulatory aspects of audit and assurance engagements, focussing on ethics and regulation, before going through the external audit process as an example of a key assurance engagement.BPP Learning Media is the publisher of choice for many ACCA students and tuition providers worldwide. Join them and plug into a world of expertise in ACCA exams.