Prüfungsbericht (Audit Report / Long-Form Report)

What is the Prüfungsbericht?

HGB §321.1 requires the Wirtschaftsprüfer to report in writing on the nature and scope of the audit and its results. The Prüfungsbericht is not the opinion itself (that is the Bestätigungsvermerk, governed by ISA [DE] 700). It is a separate, substantially longer document that explains what the auditor found and how the audit was conducted. The supervisory board and any audit committee receive it directly. If the supervisory board commissioned the audit (the usual case for medium and large corporations), HGB §321.5 requires the auditor to present the report to the supervisory board and, where one exists, to the audit committee simultaneously.

IDW PS 450 n.F. translates the HGB §321 requirements into a detailed reporting framework. The standard prescribes sections on the engagement's subject matter, the accounting policies the entity applied, the auditor's risk assessment, and the procedures performed. §321.1 sentence 3 contains the "existence-threatening facts" clause: the auditor must report any circumstances discovered during the audit that could substantially impair the entity's continued existence or development. This obligation exists regardless of whether those circumstances triggered a going concern modification in the Bestätigungsvermerk.

For group audits, IDW PS 450 n.F. extends the reporting requirements to the Konzernprüfungsbericht (group audit report), including the auditor's assessment of the consolidation process and the work of component auditors under ISA [DE] 600 (Revised).

Worked example: Schäfer Elektrotechnik AG

Client: German electronics manufacturer, FY2025, revenue EUR 310M, IFRS reporter (consolidated), HGB reporter (Einzelabschluss). The statutory audit is performed by a mid-sized WPK-registered firm. The Aufsichtsrat commissioned the audit.

Step 1 — Structure the Prüfungsbericht per IDW PS 450 n.F.

The engagement partner opens the report with a section on the engagement's subject matter and scope. The Prüfungsbericht covers both the Jahresabschluss (HGB Einzelabschluss) and the Lagebericht (management report). Schäfer's balance sheet total is EUR 195M, revenue is EUR 310M, and the workforce stands at 1,420 employees, placing it firmly in the "large" category under HGB §267.3.

Step 2 — Report on accounting policies and key findings

The auditor describes Schäfer's revenue recognition policy (percentage-of-completion on long-term contracts with defence customers, EUR 87M of the EUR 310M total) and the pension provisions of EUR 24M calculated using projected unit credit under HGB §253.1 sentence 2 with a 10-year average discount rate of 1.74%. A separate section covers the capitalised development costs of EUR 6.2M under HGB §248.2. Each area includes the audit procedures performed and the findings. The auditor flags that two contracts (combined value EUR 19M) relied on cost estimates from subcontractors that Schäfer had not independently verified.

Step 3 — Address existence-threatening facts under §321.1 sentence 3

Schäfer has a EUR 40M syndicated loan maturing in September 2026. The debt-to-equity ratio stands at 2.1x, and the interest coverage ratio at 4.8x. The auditor evaluates management's refinancing plan (a term sheet from two banks covering EUR 45M) and concludes that no existence-threatening facts require disclosure under §321.1 sentence 3. The Prüfungsbericht states this conclusion explicitly.

Step 4 — Present the report to the Aufsichtsrat

HGB §321.5 requires the auditor to present the Prüfungsbericht to the supervisory board. The engagement partner schedules a presentation to the Aufsichtsrat's audit committee, walking through the key findings and the going concern assessment. The signed Prüfungsbericht is delivered before the supervisory board meets to approve the financial statements.

Conclusion: the Prüfungsbericht is defensible because it traces each finding to a specific HGB §321 requirement and documents the §321.1 sentence 3 assessment even though the conclusion is favourable.

Why it matters in practice

• Practitioners at smaller firms sometimes treat the Prüfungsbericht as a formality, copying template language from the prior year without updating the findings section for current-year risks. WPK peer reviewers flag this pattern because HGB §321.1 sentence 2 requires the auditor to report findings that are relevant to the supervisory board's monitoring function.
• The §321.1 sentence 3 "existence-threatening facts" clause catches auditors who document going concern only in the Bestätigungsvermerk. The obligation to report in the Prüfungsbericht exists independently: even when the Bestätigungsvermerk contains no going concern modification, the Prüfungsbericht must state whether existence-threatening facts were identified. Omitting this assessment creates a gap that exposes the auditor to liability under HGB §323.1.

Prüfungsbericht vs. Bestätigungsvermerk

The distinction matters when a supervisory board member reads only the Bestätigungsvermerk and assumes the audit is fully documented there. The Prüfungsbericht contains the detailed findings and the risk assessment rationale that the short-form opinion does not cover.

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