Bond issuance from auditors' perspective

This diploma thesis deals with bond issuance from auditors’ perspective. The main goal of the thesis is to provide a general overview of the bond issuance process to auditors without prior experience with this type of engagement. The thesis explains main features of prospectuses and it briefly introduces the main regulators. In order to gain a better understanding of auditors’ role in the transaction process, the thesis includes several sections which describe the main parties involved in bond issuance as well as a description of the whole process of the issuance. The last part deals with the actual work usually required from auditors. It starts with a description of planning procedures; namely acceptance of the engagement, arrangement letter, engagement teams’ discussion, and an introduction of the main standards used for bond issuance in EU which are SAS 72 and ICMA. Additionally, there is a section describing procedures associated with the prospectus review. These are circle-up, subsequent changes, and other possible procedures to increase comfort. Lastly, there is also an introduction to documents which are usually reported outside of the audit firm such as the comfort letter, agreed upon procedures report, and representation letter.