Does Modified report always have Modified opinion?

No. Modified reports does not necessarily means modified opinion also. Lets explain it further.

Modified opinion means either of the following:

  1. Qualified opinion
  2. Adverse opinion
  3. Disclaimer

Therefore, whenever we refer to modified opinion we mean either of these three. And if the modification is necessary in the opinion then report also requires necessary modifications which vary under each type of opinion.

ISA 700 describes the contents of the unmodified report. So, if any changes are made in this format then we get a modified report.

To express modified opinion, report always needs to be modified. However, it does not mean that modification is done always because of modified opinion.

Audit report that has emphasis of matter paragraph and/or other matter paragraph will be a modified report. But this modification certainly does not affect the opinion. Therefore, it is possible to have an unmodified opinion in a modified report.

Although very much connected, Opinion and Report are two different things.

Here is the summary of different types of reports with different types of opinions.

  • Unmodified report
    • Unmodified opinion
  • Modified report
    • Unmodified opinion + Emphasis of matter paragraph and/or Other matter paragraph
    • Modified opinion
      • Qualified opinion
      • Adverse opinion
      • Disclaimer