The aim of the paper was to theoretically problematize the identification, communication and communication of key audit matters, and to analyze the communication of key audit questions of independent auditors for credit institutions in the Republic of Croatia, highlighted during the audit of financial statements of credit institutions for 2018. A credit institution is a public company that has an operating licence issued by the Croatian National Bank in accordance with the Law on Credit Institutions. The main business of a credit institution is to receive deposits or other repayable funds from the public, and to approve loans from these funds. The Croatian National Bank prepares financial statements in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards, which include International Accounting Standards (IAS), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and prescribes that credit institutions in the Republic of Croatia apply the aforementioned rules and regulations when preparing reports. An audit of financial statements is a form of certification service in which the auditor issues a written report expressing an opinion on whether the financial statements comply with regulations. The audit report increases the confidence of users in the financial statements. The most important change in relation to the current model of audit reporting relates to the application of the new standard MRevS 701, i.e. the introduction of key audit matters. The auditor has the responsibility in the audit report to communicate key audit matters, thus providing additional information to the intended users of the financial statements to assist them in understanding those matters that are of the utmost importance in the audit of the current period's financial statements. Based on this, the auditor presents his opinion, which can be a positive audit opinion or a modified audit opinion, which includes qualified opinion, negative opinion and restrained opinion. If the auditor has obtained reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement and comply with International Financial Reporting Standards, the auditor will issue a positive audit opinion. Otherwise, the auditor will issue a modified audit opinion. 87 An analysis of key audit matters over the audited financial statements of 20 credit institutions for 2018 was made. The results of the analysis showed that the auditor's opinion on the financial statements of credit institutions in the Republic of Croatia was generally positive (in 16 of the 20 samples examined). In one case, the auditor expressed a positive opinion with a point to highlight the matter, and a qualified opinion in two cases. Data were not available in one case. Furthermore, it can be seen that Impairment and loan provisions have been identified as a key audit matter for each credit institution analyzed. Credit risk is the main risk to which banks in the Republic of Croatia are exposed and thus a key audit matter for each bank. Some credit institutions have additional key audit matters, namely: • Valuation of investments in real estate and foreclosed assets, • Unlimited business time, • Impairment of investments in subsidiaries in separate financial statements.