Final answer:
An auditor may choose to dual date an audit report to extend audit procedures for significant events occurring after the original audit date but before financial statement issuance, specifying this extended responsibility without assuming responsibility for all events after the audit report date.
Step-by-step explanation:
An auditor's decision to dual date an audit report is primarily associated with the need to extend appropriate audit procedures for events occurring after the original date of the auditor's report but before the issuance of the financial statements. Dual dating involves specifying the original date the audit was completed for all financial statement information and adding a second date, reflecting the extended audit procedures, for any subsequent events that were reviewed. This practice does not imply that the auditor is assuming additional responsibility for all events after the date of the auditor's report, but only for the particular event in question.
Dual dating ensures that users of the financial statements are aware of the timing and extent of the auditor's review. It is not a matter of assuming responsibility for all events up to the audit report date nor is it a haphazard decision likened to 'rolling the dice'. An auditor may decide to dual date a report due to significant events such as a business acquisition, settlement of a lawsuit, or issuance of a significant number of shares of stock, events that could potentially affect the financial statements significantly and are relevant to users' understanding of the financial data.