SA 299 requires joint auditors to divide the audit work among themselves, document that division in writing and communicate it to the client, but it specifically makes certain matters a joint responsibility regardless of how work is divided — including the overall audit plan, matters not individually assigned to any one joint auditor, and compliance with the parts of the auditor's report that aren't specific to a divided area — so a joint auditor cannot treat a matter as entirely outside their responsibility just because another joint auditor's team happened to perform that section's testing.
What's individual vs what stays joint
| Matter | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Work specifically allocated to a joint auditor (e.g. a division, branch or area of the financial statements) | Individual — that auditor is responsible for the work performed and conclusions reached in that allocated area |
| The overall audit plan and the division of work itself | Joint — all joint auditors are responsible for having agreed and documented a reasonable division |
| Matters not divided among the joint auditors at all | Joint — by default, anything not expressly allocated is everyone's responsibility |
| Decisions taken by all joint auditors concerning the nature, timing or extent of procedures to be performed by any of them | Joint, where the decision was made jointly |
| Ensuring the financial statements comply with disclosure requirements, to the extent compliance is not allocated to a specific auditor | Joint, unless specifically divided |
What has to be documented upfront
- 01Agree and document the division of work in writing before the audit startsNot inferred informally from who historically covered which division — SA 299 requires it recorded.
- 02Communicate the division to the entity's managementSo there's a clear understanding of who is responsible for what, which also matters if a query later needs routing to the right joint auditor.
- 03Each joint auditor is entitled to rely on the work of the other joint auditors without further verificationUnless there's reason to believe that work isn't reliable — a joint auditor is not expected to independently re-perform another's allocated work, but also cannot ignore clear indications that it is deficient.
When joint auditors disagree
Regulatory requirement
Where joint auditors are unable to agree on a matter, SA 299 requires each auditor to express their own opinion separately through a separate report, or through a modification to the common report describing the disagreement — joint auditors cannot simply issue a single unmodified report that glosses over an unresolved disagreement between them.
This is practical guidance written for audit teams, not an authoritative statement of any standard or statute. Standards, forms and timelines change. Check the current text issued by the ICAI and the relevant authority before relying on anything here in an audit file.
Related resources
- Audit workflow & automationSA 600: group audits, and the group auditor's responsibility for component auditors' workUsing another firm's work on a subsidiary doesn't transfer responsibility for the group opinion. SA 600 is explicit about what stays with the group auditor regardless.
- Audit workflow & automationSA 220: quality control responsibilities on an individual audit engagementSQC 1 builds the firm's quality system. SA 220 is what the engagement partner has to personally do with it on this specific file, this specific year.
- Audit documentationEngagement letters: what SA 210 requiresWhat an engagement letter must establish, when it needs renewing, and the gaps most often found on file inspection — undated letters and stale scope.
- Audit workflow & automationSA 700: forming an opinion, and what "true and fair" actually requires concluding onFinishing every planned procedure isn't the same as forming an opinion. SA 700 is the step that happens after the checklist, not instead of it.
Free tools, no signup
Each one reads a file entirely in your browser — or, for two of them, just answers a few questions — and nothing is ever uploaded.
- Purchase register checkDuplicate payments, round-sum amounts, weekend-dated invoices, incomplete records.
- GSTR-2B reconcilerMatches your purchase register against GSTR-2B — missing invoices either side, amount mismatches.
- Bank reconciliation checkerMatches your cash book against a bank statement — what's outstanding on each side.
- Fixed asset register checkDuplicate asset codes, missing location or useful life, negative net book value.
- Payroll red-flag scannerBank accounts shared across employees, and records missing an ID, PAN or salary.
- CARO applicability checkerAnswer a few questions about the company and see which CARO 2020 clauses likely apply.
- MSME payment delay checkerMSME-flagged invoices paid — or still unpaid — beyond the 45-day Section 22 limit.
- Related-party transaction screenerTransactions above a threshold you set with no approval reference, grouped by counterparty.
- Depreciation useful life checkerCompares a useful life in use against the Schedule II, Part C indicative figure.
- Materiality calculatorOverall and performance materiality against PBT, revenue, assets or equity, with reasoning shown.
- Sample size calculatorStatistical sample size for a test of controls or a substantive test of detail.