1. Chapter 6 Audit Evidence
9.401 Auditing
Chapter 6
Audit Evidence

2. What is Audit Evidence? =Any information used by the auditor
to draw conclusions regarding
whether the information being audited is stated in accordance with the established criterion
Must be sufficient and appropriate at lowest possible cost

3. Audit evidence decisions
Nature
What type of procedure to use and what evidence to gather
Timing
When evidence is gathered and covering what time period
Extent
How many items to test and which items to select

4. Sufficient and Appropriate Evidence
Sufficiency:
Refers to quantity
“Extent” evidence decision
Depends on expectations of errors, quality of controls, size of popn, materiality, level of assurance, etc.
Appropriateness
Refers to quality
“Nature” and “Timing” evidence decisions
Depends on level of assurance needed
If evidence is not appropriate, sufficiency won’t help.

5. To be appropriate… Relevance = addresses the objective or assertion
Eg. Existence vs. completeness
Auditor’s direct knowledge vs. otherwise
Examination, observation, inspection or computation by auditor > someone else
Independence of provider
Provider external to org > external to acctg dept > acctg dept
Documents external to org > external docs held by org > internal docs

6. To be appropriate… Effectiveness of Internal controls
Evidence from system of good I.C. > evidence from system of poor I.C.
Qualifications of individuals providing the information
Degree of objectivity of evidence (vs. subjectivity)

7. Timing
Auditor must express conclusion on information at balance sheet date.
However, may gather information as at non-balance sheet date and “roll forward” the conclusion by:
Substantive tests
Relying on internal controls
Other procedures
To do this, consider
quality of internal controls,
materiality of item and
level of risk associated with item

8. Types of Evidence Physical Examination
= inspection or count of tangible assets
Good evidence of existence, but not at all of ownership and not really of valuation
Confirmation
= receipt of response from 3rd party verifying accuracy of info requested by auditor
Costly, but reliable evidence of existence
Usually required for A/R except in certain circumstances
Used for many other accounts as well
Must be kept under control of auditor

9. Types of Evidence Documentation = inspection of documents and records
Quality depends on quality of document (external vs. internal, internal control)
If electronic, auditors must assess controls over changes to documents
Observation
= watching certain activities
Generally needs corroboration for assurance that conditions persist

10. Types of Evidence Inquiries of Client
= written or oral representations of client in response to auditor’s request for information
Generally not conclusive, should be corroborated when possible
Underlines importance of mgmt good faith, care must be taken in choosing clients
Reperformance
= auditor rechecking computations or other operations done by client
Particularly often used when testing controls

11. 7. Analytical Procedures
= using financial and non financial data in meaningful comparisons and relationships to determine whether account balance is reasonable
Can be quite effective at low cost
Reliability depends on quality of data, nature of analysis, skill of auditor, level of detail

12. Purposes of Analytical Tests
As audit evidence which enables the reduction of audit testing of details.
Indication of errors in the statements requiring follow-up.
Indication of financial difficulty.
Understanding the client’s business and industry.
An aid to management.

13. When Analytical procedures are used:
MUST be used in:
planning
final review
MAY be used as a substantive test

14. Analytical Procedures
Comparison of Current year balances to:
balances for one or more comparable periods.
company’s budgets and forecasts.
other current-year balances for conformity with predictable patterns based on the company’s experience.
similar information for the industry in which the company operates.
relevant non-financial information.

15. Analysis of Un-audited Financial Statements
Horizontal analysis examines changes of FS numbers and ratios across two or more years
Vertical analysis examines FS amounts expressed each year as proportions of a base.
Auditors look for relationships in accounts as indicators of problems and to plan further audit work

16. Problems discovered by analytical procedures
Account balances that seem high could indicate problems with:
existence
valuation
ownership
Account balances that seem low could indicate problems with:
completeness

17. Conclusions from analytical procedures
Don’t indicate definitively that there is an error. Unexpected fluctuations may be from error or non-error causes.
Client explanations should be corroborated if they relate to a material item.