Glossary›Assurance, audit evidence and working papers›APES 305 (outsourced services disclosure)
Glossary term
Cluster A · A38
Tier 3
APES 305 (outsourced services disclosure)
Definition
APES 305 Terms of Engagement sets the requirements for how an Australian accounting firm documents and communicates the terms of a professional service to a client. Since 1 July 2021 it requires disclosure of outsourced services, including the identity of the outsourced service provider, the geographic location of the work, and its nature and extent.
On this page
In practice
For a captured entity, APES 305 is a diligence tool rather than an obligation. If a provider is a member firm of one of the professional accounting bodies, its engagement document must tell you what work is being outsourced and where. For climate reporting that is a live question, because emissions data processing is frequently offshored and the underlying data can include commercially sensitive site, production and supplier information.
What the assurer does with it
Nothing directly. The relevance is to your own supplier assessment and to any data residency or confidentiality obligation the entity carries.
Sources
1
2
APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards)
APESB
Review status
Review required
Last reviewed
15 September 2026
Editorial pass, unsigned
Reviewer required
Registered company auditor with APES 110 expertise
Next scheduled review
1 July 2027
Part of
Cluster A, Assurance, audit evidence and working papers
47 terms on what an assurance provider tests, what they accept as evidence, and what a preparer has to be able to produce.
Related terms
The ethics code APES 305 sits alongside
Whose engagement terms this standard governs
Related questions
What do we have to do ourselves and what can be done for us?
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Anything that is a management judgement or a statutory act stays with you, and anything that is technical execution can be done for you. You keep access to source documents, approval of the boundary and the significant judgements, the governance record, and the signatures on the declaration and representation letter. Methodology, calculations, working papers, drafting the disclosures and managing assurance queries can all be done for you.
We already have carbon accounting software. Do we still need help?
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Possibly, and the honest way to find out takes about twenty minutes. Pick one emission source and ask the software to produce the source document, the activity data, the factor and its edition, the calculation, and the reviewer’s name. Software rarely produces the boundary decision, the basis of preparation, the narrative disclosures or the governance evidence, which are most of AASB S2 by volume.
Other terms in this cluster
APES 305 (outsourced services disclosure)