The Plain English Campaign’s Crystal Mark campaign was an initiative to simplify and improve the readability of documents aimed at consumers such as communications from government, local authorities, finance institutions and utility companies. The Crystal Mark has become widely recognised as a guarantee that a document has been written and designed as clearly as possible.

There are similar efforts underway in the audit world through Clarity – a project to clarify the shades of grey that exist in auditing standards and turning them into clear statements that say an auditor must do something or may do something. All of us would agree that standards were becoming too difficult to fathom. The clarity project will deliver improved audit quality if we all apply them in the right spirit.

There is a price of course – clarified standards are of course clearer, some are shorter but overall, have 1.6 times the number of mandatory requirements than existing standards.

The questions now are when will the clarified standards be ready and when can they be introduced.

The standard setters need to finish the new standards by the end of the year to give the firms and consortia have sufficient time to implement them well. It's not only about helping to ensure that there will be real improvements in audit quality but also about keeping audit cost increases.

As a famous author once said: “If I had more time, I would write you a shorter letter.” If there isn’t enough time to implement the new standards, there is a risk of rushed and lengthy additions to existing work programmes and the 'box ticking' count. Making sure there is sufficient time would help practitioners cope better with the changes. More practical guidance on compliance could be developed and documentation prepared for SME auditors.

The original aim for introduction was for 2010 year ends and that’s certainly a date that the IAASB have gone for and the APB has implied. But the EU appears to be dragging its feet and this date could slip. As much as we need clarified standards, we need clarity from all on the timing and an end to the uncertainty that currently exists.

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