The audit report must include an introduction identifying the financial statements and the financial reporting framework applied; a description of the scope identifying the auditing standards used; and an audit opinion (unqualified, qualified or adverse) stating whether the annual financial statements give a true and fair view under the relevant framework and, where appropriate, whether they comply with statutory requirements. If the statutory auditor is unable to express an opinion, the report must contain a disclaimer. The report must also refer to any emphasis of matter and include the opinion and statement required by the second subparagraph of Article 34(1) of Directive 2013/34/EU.

The audit report must be signed and dated by the statutory auditor, and where an audit firm carries out the audit it must bear the signature of at least the statutory auditor(s) carrying out the statutory audit on behalf of the firm. Member States may exceptionally permit withholding public disclosure of such signatures where disclosure could lead to an imminent and significant threat to personal security, but the names must be known to the competent authorities. Audit reports on consolidated financial statements must comply with these requirements, consider consolidated financial statements and the consolidated management report when reporting on consistency, and may be combined with reports on the parent undertaking where the parent’s annual financial statements are attached.