".02 GAAS are developed and issued in the form of Statements on Auditing Standards (SASs) and are codified into AU-C sections. GAAS are written in the context of an audit of financial statements by an auditor. They are to be adapted as necessary in the circumstances when applied to other engagements conducted in accordance with GAAS, such as audits of other historical financial information, compliance audits, and audits of internal control over financial reporting that are integratedwith audits of financial statements.GAAS do not address the responsibilities of the auditor that may exist in legislation, regulation, or otherwise, in connection with, for example, the offering of securities to the public. Such responsibilities may differ from those established in GAAS. Accordingly, although the auditor may find aspects of GAAS helpful in such circumstances, it is the responsibility of the auditor to ensure compliance with all relevant legal, regulatory, or professional obligations.
.03 An auditor is associated with financial information when the auditor has applied procedures sufficient to permit the auditor to report in accordance with GAAS. Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services address the accountant's considerations when the accountant prepares and presents financial statements to the entity or to third parties."
Generally Accepted Auditing Standards are promulgated by the AICPA through Statements on Auditing Standards (SASs) and codified into AU-C sections. To access these standards, you would go to their website at https://www.aicpa.org/research/standards/auditattest/clarifiedsas.html
When going to that website, you find a list of all of the standards currently in place. Those standards are organized according to their applicable SAS number as well as the particular AU-C section, and each AU-C section can be downloaded in PDF form.
In 2012, the AICPA performed a complete overhaul of the organization of the standards, so the list of SASs begins at 122. The changes made in the SAS number 122 are codified into AU-C sections with each section covering a different area of the audit. For example AU-C section 200 covers the overall objectives of the auditor, AU-C section 210 covers the terms of the audit engagement, AU-C section 220 covers quality control of the audit, so on and so forth. With each issuance of new standards through a SAS, the AU-C sections may be modified or new AU-C sections may be created.
So when we say that we are performing an audit under GAAS, we are saying that we have followed all of these standards in order to reach our opinion on the financial statements. It is important to note that these GAAS were written with the audit of financial statements in mind, not necessarily in line with the performance of other types of audits (e.g., compliance audits, audits of internal control, etc.); so these standards should be modified or tailored to fit those engagements if necessary. In addition, GAAS are not intended to address the responsibilities of the auditor that may exist in regulation or legislation (e.g., the offering of securities to the public). So, the auditor should make sure to follow other rules and regulations that are required by other law/standards setters for engagements outside the scope of GAAS.
Finally, if an auditor wants to say that he performed an audit of financial statements in line with GAAS and to be associated by those financial statements, he must have followed all of the rules required by GAAS that are applicable to that audit. For standards related to preparing and reviewing financial statements (i.e., lesser levels of assurance than an audit), the auditor should use the Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services, which can be found here: https://www.aicpa.org/research/standards/compilationreview.html
https://www.aicpa.org/content/dam/aicpa/research/standards/auditattest/downloadabledocuments/au-c-00200.pdf
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