The Importance of Audit Planning

This article takes a look at a vitally important aspect of an auditor’s work which is that of the planning of the audit.  Students studying ACCA F8 and P7 will benefit from the contents of this article.

An efficient and effective audit can only be performed if the audit has been thoroughly and properly planned.  The importance of audit planning cannot be over emphasised and ISA 300 (redrafted) ‘Planning an Audit of Financial Statements’ contains the provisions which the auditor is required to comply with in planning an audit.

In summary, ISA 300 says that the planning stage of the…

Help From Steve in Audit Papers

Student studying auditing will be faced with challenging papers.  They are a challenge because if students do not work in audit, or if they have never come across the principles involved in audit, the papers can be particularly overwhelming.

This article considers some of the ‘tips’ students studying audit papers should take on board to help them prepare for their exam.

Principles of audit

The first thing students need to understand when studying for audit papers is WHY the audit is undertaken in the first place.  Is it true auditors are there to check up on the finance staff?

The…

Sssh – Don’t Tell the Auditors We’re Related

This month’s article considers the issue surrounding related parties in the context of audit.  Related party transactions can be quite complicated and the auditors are, to some extent, reliant on their audit client to be both co-operative and open to them when it comes to related party transactions.

This article is relevant for those students who are planning to study auditing papers in the next diet of exams. Related party transactions can be (and in real life are) technically complex but after reading this article you will be in a much better position to answer questions which deal with related…

The Auditor and Fraud

Fraud has become a major issue within the accountancy profession over recent years and the accounting and audit profession has suffered a significant amount of embarrassment because of the failings whereby audit firms have either overlooked or ‘turned a blind eye’ to fraud.

This article considers the technical aspects of ISA 240 ‘The Auditor’s Responsibility to Consider Fraud in an Audit of Financial Statements’.  The article is written from the perspective of a smaller audit client and aims to outline what smaller audit firms need to consider when looking at fraud issues and what they have to do if they…

The Rising Cost of Audit

The introduction of International Auditing Standards in 2005 has had a major impact on the profession and the way in which firms – typically those at the smaller end of the scale – deal with auditing issues.

There is a dividing line between commercial reality/cost v benefit and adherence to ‘the book’ as well as a sense of uncertainty as to what various International Auditing Standards actually (a) require the auditor to do and (b) the documentation required to be placed on the audit file to support the audit evidence.

This article by Steven Collings looks at how audit firms…