An AFSL’s statutory financial audit must be performed by an independent registered company auditor — not your own accountant, and not us. Independence rules deliberately separate the people who prepare and reconcile your accounts from the person who signs the audit. What a practice like ours does is get you audit-ready and coordinate the process; the audit opinion itself comes from an independent auditor.
What it depends on
Where judgement stays human: The statutory audit opinion is an independent registered auditor’s call by law — our judgement is in preparing and coordinating so that audit runs cleanly.
The whole point of the licensee audit is independent assurance to ASIC, so the standards bar the auditor from also being the preparer. That’s why the sensible division of labour is: your accountant prepares, reconciles and readies the financial statements and the FS70/FS71 lodgement; a separate registered auditor examines and signs.
Trying to blur that line doesn’t save money — it creates an independence problem that can invalidate the work. The efficiency comes from the preparation being clean enough that the independent audit is quick.
The statutory audit opinion is an independent registered auditor’s call by law — our judgement is in preparing and coordinating so that audit runs cleanly.
No question is silly, and there's no judgement about where things are at. Tell us what is different about your situation and a CPA will reply personally — usually within one business day.
Reviewed by Graham Chee FCPA (TPB registered tax agent, RAN 15375009) on 1 September 2026.
Financial Services · general information current as at 1 September 2026. This is general information only, not personal financial, tax or legal advice.