Becker Glossary Flashcards
One of three categories of financial statement assertions, relating primarily to assets, liabilities, and equity interests.
Account Balances
An approximation of a financial statement element, item, or account used because data either is not readily available or is dependent upon the outcome of future events.
Accounting Estimate
A request for independent verification of payables.
Accounts Payable Confirmation
A request for independent verification of receivables. Not that confirming accounts receivable is a required, generally accepted auditing procedure.
Accounts Receivable Confirmation
A financial statement assertion in the “transactions and events” category indicating that amounts and other data relating to recorded transactions and events have been recorded properly.
Accuracy
A financial statement assertion in the “presentation and disclosure” category indicating that financial and other information are disclosed fairly and at appropriate amounts.
Accuracy and Valuation
A ratio that measures how effectively an enterprise is using its assets.
Activity Ratio
An auditor’s report stating that the financial statements “do not present fairly…”
Adverse Opinion
A listing of accounts receivable categorized by age (i.e., current, 30 to 60 days, 60 to 90 days, etc.).
Aging Schedule
An engagement in which a practitioner is engaged to issue a report of findings based on specific agreed-upon procedures.
Agreed-Upon Procedures
Guidelines for the behavior of members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in the conduct of their professional affairs.
AICPA Code of Professional Conduct
In sampling, a “cushion” for protection against undetected deviations that is added to the sample deviation rate to arrive at the upper deviation rate.
Allowance for Sampling Risk
An IT (information technology) department employee who determines system requirements and designs a processing system to meet those requirements.
Analyst
Evaluations of financial information made by a study of plausible relationships among both financial and non-financial data.
Analytical Procedures
The financial reporting framework that is acceptable in view of the nature of the entity and the objective of the financial statements, or that is required by law or regulation.
Applicable Financial Reporting Framework
Information processing controls that apply to the processing of individual “applications” (e.g., controls surrounding receivables, controls surrounding payroll, etc.).
Application Controls
The quality of being both reliable (valid, factual, objective, and supportable) and relevant (related to the financial statement assertion under consideration).
Appropriate (Appropriateness of Audit Evidence)
A document filed with the state to create a corporation.
Articles of Incorporation
A declaration about whether a subject matter is based on or in conformity with selected criteria.
Assertion
A relationship that arises when an accountant consents to the use of his or her name in connection with financial statements, or when an accountant has prepared the financial statements.
Association with Financial Statements
A situation in which the group engagement partner decides to assume responsibility for the work performed by a component auditor, and therefore does not refer to the component auditor in the auditor’s report.
Assumption of Responsibility
An engagement in which a practitioner is engaged to issue or does issue an examination, a review, or an agreed-upon procedures report on subject matter, or on an assertion about the subject matter, that is the responsibility of another party.
Attest Engagements
A statistical sampling method used to estimate the rate of occurrence of a specific characteristic or attribute in a population.
Attribute Sampling
Four characteristics used in analyzing risk: type, significance, likelihood, and pervasiveness.
Attributes of Risk
A methodical review and objective examination of an enterprise’s financial statements.
Audit
A proposed correction to the financial statements resulting from the auditor’s procedures.
Audit Adjustment
A committee of the board of directors, generally made up of three to five members of the board who are “outside directors”; responsible for the selection and appointment of the independent external auditor, and for reviewing the nature and scope of the engagement.
Audit Committee
The principal record of procedures performed, evidence obtained, and conclusions reached.
Audit Documentation (Working Papers)
The underlying accounting data and corroborating information that must be obtained to support auditor conclusions.
Audit Evidence
Goals of audit testing, developed in light of financial statement assertions.
Audit Objectives
A listing of audit procedures necessary to accomplish the objectives of the audit; required for every audit.
Audit Plan
The risk that an auditor may unknowingly fail to modify appropriately the opinion on financial statements that are materially misstated.
Audit Risk
The risk that the auditor may unknowingly fail to appropriately modify the opinion on compliance in a compliance audit. It is comprised of the risk of material noncompliance and detection risk of noncompliance.
Audit Risk of Noncompliance
The testing of less than 100% of the items within an account balance or class of transactions in order to evaluate some characteristic of the balance or class.
Audit Sampling
An overall plan for the audit, typically used to develop the more detailed audit plan.
Audit Strategy
Evidence indicative of the sequential flow of accounting operations.
Audit Trail
A technique in which the auditor tests the input data, processes the data independently, and then compares his or her independently determined results to the program results.
Auditing Around the Computer
Tasks performed to accomplish the objectives of the audit.
Auditing Procedures
A document, presented by the auditor to a client or others, containing information in addition to the audited financial statements.
Auditor-Submitted Documents
An independent bank verification of year-end balances; also may provide information regarding loans, contingent liabilities, discounted notes, pledged collateral, and guarantees or security agreements.
Bank Confirmations
A schedule that compares the cash balance reported by the bank to the cash balance reported by the client, and explains any differences.
Bank Reconciliation
A schedule that itemizes transfers of cash among banks, including the record date per the client and the transaction date per the bank.
Bank Transfer Schedule
The threat that an auditor will, as a result of political, ideological, social, or other convictions, take a position that is not objective.
Bias Threat
A shipping document issued by a carrier evidencing receipt of goods and terms of transport.
Bill of Lading
A confirmation in which the recipient is requested to fill in the balance.
Blank Confirmation
In sampling, the selection of groups of adjacent items.
Block (Cluster) Sampling
An open exchange of ideas; required during planning as a means of evaluating the potential for material misstatement due to fraud.
Brainstorming
Unaudited summarized interim information for subsequent periods.
Capsule Financial Information
A financial statement assertion in the “transactions and events” category indicating that transactions and events have been recorded in the proper accounts.
Classification
A financial statement assertion in the “transactions and events” category indicating that financial information is appropriately presented and described and disclosures are clearly expressed.
Classification and Understandability
A document created by the client containing both audited financial statements and additional information (e.g., annual reports to shareholders, reports by charitable organizations to the general public, etc.)
Client-Prepared Document
An audit approach in which both tests of the operating effectiveness of controls and substantive procedures are used. If controls are operating effectively, less assurance will be required from substantive procedures.
Combined Approach
A letter from the CPA to the named underwriter and/or certain other requesting parties (e.g., client, broker-dealer, financial intermediary, or buyer/seller) just before the registration of the client’s securities. It covers the period from the date of the last auditors’ report to the “effective date” of the registration.
Comfort Letter
Restated financial statements in which each balance sheet components is expressed as a percentage of total assets, and each income statement component is expressed as a percentage of total revenue.
Common Size Financial Statements
An engagement in which an accountant presents in the form of financial statements information that is the representation of management.
Compilation
A financial statement assertion appearing in all three assertion categories and indicating that all transactions, events, assets, liabilities, and equity interests that should have been recorded have been recorded, and that all disclosures that should have been included in the financial statements have been included.
Completeness
An engagement under GAAS and GAGAS in which the auditor reports on whether the entity complied, in all material respects, with the compliance requirements applicable to its programs. Additional Single Audit Act requirements may apply.
Compliance Audit
An entity or business activity that prepares financial information that is included in the group financial statements.
Component
An auditor who performs work on the financial information of a component that will be used as audit evidence for the group audit. A component auditor may be part of the group engagement partner’s firm, a network firm, or another firm.
Component Auditor
Interrelated elements of internal control used to achieve an entity’s objectives; internal control components consist of: control environment, risk assessment, information and communication systems, monitoring, and (existing) control activities.
Components of Internal Control
Electronic methods used to test an automated transaction processing system; emphasis is placed on the input and processing stages of transaction processing.
Computer Assisted Audit Techniques (CAAT)
An IT (information technology) department employee who converts data into machine-readable form during the input stage (e.g., keypunch operator).
Computer Operator
An IT (information technology) department employee who develops and writes computer programs.
Computer Programmer
Approval of the issuance of the engagement report granted by the engagement quality reviewer under PCAOB standards. A firm cannot give an issuer permission to us the engagement report until concurring approval of issuance has been granted.
Concurring Approval of Issuance
Financial statements that are presented in considerable less detail than complete financial statements and do not include all required disclosures under GAAP.
Condensed Financial Statements
In sampling, a measure of how certain the auditor wants to be that his or her results are accurate. Not that the confidence level plus the risk of being ineffective=100%.
Confidence Level (Reliability)
A direct written response to the auditor from a third party, either in paper form or by electronic or other medium.
Confirmation
Goods belonging to one party that are held for sale by another party; the seller does not pay the owner until the goods have been sold.
Consigned Goods
A measure of the comparability of financial statements from one year to the next.
Consistency
An event that may, but is not certain to, occur. A loss contingency that is probable and that can be reasonably estimated should be reflected in that accounts.
Contingency
A fee established for performing services where no fee is charged unless a specific finding or result is obtained, or the fee amount is dependent upon the finding or result obtained.
Contingent Fee
An accountant with whom the client has an ongoing relationship, as opposed to an accountant hired only to report on the application of accounting principles.
Continuing Accountant
The policies and procedures that help ensure that management directives are carried out and that necessary steps are taken to address risks.
Control Activities
A weakness that exists when the design or operation of a control does not allow management or employees, in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent or detect misstatements on a timely basis.
Control Deficiency
The tone of an organization, including management attitude, participation of those charged with governance, organizational structure, and human resource policies.
Control Environment
A group of employees who are responsible for internal control within the IT (information technology) department itself.
Control Group
The risk that a material misstatement that could occur in an assertion will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by the entity’s internal control.
Control Risk
The risk that noncompliance with a compliance requirement that could be material will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by an entity’s internal control.
Control Risk of Noncompliance
A form of parallel simulation where the auditor observes an actual processing run and compares the actual results to the expected results based on the auditor’s own program.
Controlled Processing
A form of parallel simulation where the auditor uses an archived copy of the program in question (generally the auditor’s control copy) to reprocess transactions. The results are then compared to the results from the normal processing run.
Controlled Reprocessing
Support that gives validity to recorded accounting data.
Corroborating Evidence
A ratio that measures security for long-term creditors and/or investors.
Coverage Ratio
A determination by the credit department regarding whether or not a specific customer may receive goods on open account.
Credit Approval
An internal document used to indicate a credit to a particular account, typically accounts receivable.
Credit Memo
To verify the mathematical accuracy of a statement or schedule by adding rows of numbers across, from left to right.
Crossfoot
A collection of audit documentation applicable to the year under audit.
Current File
A financial statement assertion in the “transactions and events” category indicating that transactions and events have been recorded in the correct accounting period.
Cutoff
A bank statement sent directly to the auditor, usually shortly after period end.
Cutoff Bank Statement
An examination of transactions occurring several days before and several days after year-end, to ensure that they were recorded in the proper accounting period.
Cutoff Testing
Theft of an entity’s assets when the effect of the theft causes the financial statements not to be presented in conformity with GAAP.
Defalcation (Misappropriation of Assets)
The risk that an auditor will not detect a material misstatement that exists in a relevant assertion.
Detection Risk
The risk that the auditor will not detect material noncompliance that exists.
Detection Risk of Noncompliance
In sampling, the error rate found in a sample, used to estimate the overall error rate in the population.
Deviation Rate
A sampling plan that uses the average difference between the audited (correct) values of items and their book values to project the actual population value.
Difference Estimation
Following an audit trail either forward (from source documents to financial records) or backward (from financial records to source documents).
Directional Testing
An auditor’s report stating that the auditor does not express an opinion on the financial statements.
Disclaimer of Opinion
A special type of attribute sampling appropriate when the auditor believes the population deviation rate is zero or near zero.
Discovery Sampling
The end of the period during which the auditor assembles the final audit documentation file. After this date, existing documentation must not be deleted, and additions to the workpapers must be documented as such. Auditing standards define this date as 60 days following the report release date; PCAOB standards define it as 45 days following the report release date.
Documentation Completion Date
An audit procedure in which the auditor uses the same transaction as both a test of controls and a substantive test.
Deal Purpose Test
A legal concept indicated that an underwriter who performs a reasonable investigation will not be held liable for material omissions or misstatements in a registration statement.
Due Diligence Defense
A section of application program code that collects transaction data for the auditor.
Embedded Audit Module
A paragraph included in the auditor’s report when required by GAAS or at the auditor’s discretion when referring to a matter that is appropriately presented or disclosed in the financial statements and is of such importance that it is fundamental to the users’ understanding of the financial statements.
Emphasis-of-Matter Paragraph
A document identifying all significant audit findings and issues; required by PCAOB standards for audits of issuers.
Engagement Completion Document
A written communication documenting the understanding between an accountant and his or her client.
Engagement Letter
The partner responsible for the overall quality of the engagement.
Engagement Partner
A review required by PCAOB standards that is performed by a partner who is not otherwise associated with an issuer audit engagement. The engagement quality reviewer evaluates the significant judgments made by the engagement team and the overall conclusion reached on the engagement.
Engagement Quality Review
Controls related to the control environment, management override of controls, the company’s risk assessment process, centralized processing, monitoring the results of operations, monitoring other controls, period-end financial reporting, and policies that address significant business controls and rick management practices.
Entity-Level Controls
An unintentional misstatement or omission of an amount or disclosure in the financial statements.
Error
An engagement that provides positive assurance (an opinion) based on procedures such as search, verification, inquiry, and analysis.
Examination
A financial statement assertion in the “account balances” category indicating that assets, liabilities, and equity interests exist.
Existence
In sampling, the auditor’s best estimate of the rate of deviation from a prescribed control procedure.
Expected Deviation Rate
The degree to which an audit test is performed; a greater extent of testing is achieved by increasing sample size, performing testing at a more detailed level, or performing more extensive tests.
Extent of Testing
Information obtained from independent sources outside the enterprise.
External Evidence
Misstatements about which there is no doubt.
Factual Misstatement
Accurate representation in the financial statements, within a range of acceptable limits, of a company’s financial position, results of its operations, etc.
Fair Presentation
A financial reporting framework that requires compliance with the requirements of the framework, acknowledges explicitly or implicitly that it may be necessary for management to provide disclosures beyond those specifically required by the framework in order to achieve fair presentation of the financial statements, and acknowledges explicitly that it may be necessary for management, in extremely rare circumstances, to depart from a requirement of the framework to achieve fair presentation of the financial statements.
Fair Presentation Framework
The threat that aspects of a relationship with management or personnel of an audited entity, such as a close or long relationship, or that of an immediate or close family member, will lead an auditor to take a position that is not objective.
Familiarity Threat
The amount at which an asset could be bought or sold (or the amount at which a liability could be incurred or settled) in a current transaction between willing parties.
Fair Value
A financial statement that reflects the expected financial results of a future period based on expected conditions and expected courses of action.
Financial Forecast
A financial statement that reflects the financial results of a future period based on hypothetical (“what if”) assumptions.
Financial Projection
Claims made implicitly or explicitly by management about the recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure of information in the financial statements. Financial statement assertions fall into three categories: transactions and events, account balances, and presentation and disclosure.
Financial Statement Assertions
A symbolic diagram representing the sequential flow of authority, processes, and documents.
Flowchart
To verify the mathematical accuracy of a statement or schedule by adding columns of numbers from top to bottom.
Foot
An intentional action that results in misstatement of the financial statements.
Fraud
Three conditions that generally are present when fraud occurs: incentives/pressures (a reason to commit fraud); opportunity (a lack of effective controls), and rationalization/attitude (an attempt to justify fraudulent behavior).
Fraud Risk Factors
Intentional misstatements or omissions of amounts or disclosures in the financial statements, that are designed to deceive financial statement users.
Fraudulent Financial Reporting
Information processing controls that apply broadly throughout the company (e.g., access controls, controls related to software/hardware acquisition and maintenance, and controls over data center/network operations).
General Controls
A report that is not restricted to specified parties.
General Use Report
Software that is used to interrogate files, extract and analyze data, and allow performance of tests directly on the client’s system.
Generalized Audit Software Package (GASP)
The set of accounting rules established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
Qualitative standards that provide a measure of audit quality and of the objectives to be achieved in an audit.
Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS)
Standards for audits of government organizations, and audits of government assistance received by nongovernmental and government organizations.
Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS)
A financial reporting framework designed to meet the needs of a wide range of users, such as U.S. GAAP or IFRS.
General Purpose Framework
The belief that an entity will continue to operate into the foreseeable future.
Going Concern Assumption
An engagement that provides an opinion on financial statements as well as testing and reporting on compliance with the laws and regulations that authorize the spending of public funds.
Government Audit
The partner or other person in the firm who is responsible for the group audit engagement and for the auditor’s report on the group financial statements.
Group Engagement Partner
The team, including the group engagement partner, other partners, and staff, that establishes the overall audit strategy, communicates with component auditors, performs work on the consolidation process, and evaluates the conclusions drawn from the audit evidence as the basis for forming an opinion on the group financial statements.
Group Engagement Team
Financial statements that include the financial information of more than one component.
Group Financial Statements
A transaction not involving the facts or circumstances of a specific entity.
Hypothetical Transaction
Code of ethics established by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), a standard-setting board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
IFAC Code of Ethics
A control that has been implemented exists and is being used.
Implemented
An account from which employees are paid and which is periodically replenished for the exact amount disbursed.
Imprest Payroll Account
Clearly immaterial, as determined by a “reasonable person” standard.
Inconsequential
The quality of being without bias and free from any obligation to or interest in the client, its management, or its owners.
Independence
A component of internal control that deals with the identification, capture, and exchange of information in a timely and useful manner (information) and with an understanding of individual roles and responsibilities (communication).
Information and Communication Systems
Automated means of originating, processing, storing, and communicating information.
Information Technology (IT)
The provision that the auditor is unable to obtain absolute assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement because of the nature of financial reporting, the nature of audit procedures, the timeliness of financial reporting, and the balance between cost and benefit.
Inherent Limitations of an Audit
The provision of only reasonable (as opposed to absolute) assurance regarding the achievement of internal control objectives. Inherent limitations arise due to human error, deliberate circumvention of controls by collusion, management override, and the difficulty of achieving appropriate segregation of duties in smaller entities.
Inherent Limitations of Internal Control
A paragraph included in a report on an entity’s internal control, indicating that undetected misstatements may occur, and that projections of the evaluation to future periods are subject to the risk that conditions may change.
Inherent Limitations Paragraph
The susceptibility of a relevant assertion to a material misstatement, assuming there are no related controls.
Inherent Risk
The susceptibility of a compliance requirement to noncompliance that could be material, assuming that there are no related controls.
Inherent Risk of Noncompliance
An engagement in which the financial statements of the prior period were not audited or were audited by a predecessor auditor.
Initial Audit
A concurrent audit of both the financial statements and internal control over financial reporting. PCAOB standards require an integrated audit for all issuers. Integrated audits can also be performed for nonissuers under the SSAEs.
Integrated Audit
A computer assisted audit technique in which client personnel unknowingly process a set of test data, the proper results of which are already known.
Integrated Test Facility (ITF)
The performance of auditing procedures before year-end.
Interim Audit Work
Financial information covering a period less than a full year or a 12-month period ending on a date other than the entity’s fiscal year-end.
Interim Financial Information
A company employee who performs auditing functions for use by management and the board of directors.
Internal Auditor
A process, effected by those charged with governance, management, and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance about the achievement of the entity’s objectives.
Internal Control
A list of questions, typically answered by a yes or no response, addressing relevant control procedures.
Internal Control Questionnaire
Information generated within the enterprise.
Internal Evidence
Auditing standards issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), a standard-setting board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
International Standards on Auditing
Tags that are attached to inventory items to aid in the counting of inventory.
Inventory Tags
A ratio that provides information of interest to investors.
Investor Ratio
Entities subject to the rules of the PCAOB (primarily public companies).
Issuers
Differences that arise from the judgments of management concerning accounting estimates that the auditor considers unreasonable, or the selection and application of accounting policies that the auditor considers inappropriate.
Judgmental Misstatements
A scheme whereby a check drawn on one bank is deposited in another bank, but the disbursement is not recorded on a timely basis, resulting in an overstatement of cash.
Kiting
A scheme whereby a current receipt of cash (or a check) is stolen. To prevent detection, a subsequent receipt is applied to the previously unrecorded customer account.
Lapping
A direct letter sent to the client’s attorney detailing any pending or threatened litigation matters and requesting the attorney to provide his or her evaluation directly to the independent auditor.
Letter of Audit Inquiry
An IT (information technology) department employee who keeps track of program and file use, maintains storage of all data and backups, and controls access to programs.
Librarian
A report that is intended only for specified parties.
Limited Use Report
A ratio that measures a firm’s short-term ability to pay maturing obligations.
Liquidity Ratio
A system in which customers send their payments directly to the bank, preventing access by company employees.
Lock Box
Generally speaking, programs that expend $300,000 or more in federal financial assistance (specific guidelines are based on formulas prescribed in OMB Circular A-133).
Major Programs
The circumvention of established controls by executives of a company.
Management Override of Controls
The threat that results from an auditor’s taking on the role of management or otherwise performing management functions on behalf of the entity undergoing an audit.
Management Participation Threat
An engagement that provides an opinion on financial statements as well as testing and reporting on compliance with the laws and regulations that authorize the spending of public funds.
Government Audit
The partner or other person in the firm who is responsible for the group audit engagement and for the auditor’s report on the group financial statements.
Group Engagement Partner
The team, including the group engagement partner, other partners, and staff, that establishes the overall audit strategy, communicates with component auditors, performs work on the consolidation process, and evaluates the conclusions drawn from the audit evidence as the basis for forming an opinion on the group financial statements.
Group Engagement Team
Financial statements that include the financial information of more than one component.
Group Financial Statements
A transaction not involving the facts or circumstances of a specific entity.
Hypothetical Transaction
Code of ethics established by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), a standard-setting board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
IFAC Code of Ethics
A control that has been implemented exists and is being used.
Implemented
An account from which employees are paid and which is periodically replenished for the exact amount disbursed.
Imprest Payroll Account
Clearly immaterial, as determined by a “reasonable person” standard.
Inconsequential
The quality of being without bias and free from any obligation to or interest in the client, its management, or its owners.
Independence
A component of internal control that deals with the identification, capture, and exchange of information in a timely and useful manner (information) and with an understanding of individual roles and responsibilities (communication).
Information and Communication Systems
Automated means of originating, processing, storing, and communicating information.
Information Technology (IT)
The provision that the auditor is unable to obtain absolute assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement because of the nature of financial reporting, the nature of audit procedures, the timeliness of financial reporting, and the balance between cost and benefit.
Inherent Limitations of an Audit
The provision of only reasonable (as opposed to absolute) assurance regarding the achievement of internal control objectives. Inherent limitations arise due to human error, deliberate circumvention of controls by collusion, management override, and the difficulty of achieving appropriate segregation of duties in smaller entities.
Inherent Limitations of Internal Control
A paragraph included in a report on an entity’s internal control, indicating that undetected misstatements may occur, and that projections of the evaluation to future periods are subject to the risk that conditions may change.
Inherent Limitations Paragraph
The susceptibility of a relevant assertion to a material misstatement, assuming there are no related controls.
Inherent Risk
The susceptibility of a compliance requirement to noncompliance that could be material, assuming that there are no related controls.
Inherent Risk of Noncompliance
An engagement in which the financial statements of the prior period were not audited or were audited by a predecessor auditor.
Initial Audit
A concurrent audit of both the financial statements and internal control over financial reporting. PCAOB standards require an integrated audit for all issuers. Integrated audits can also be performed for nonissuers under the SSAEs.
Integrated Audit
A computer assisted audit technique in which client personnel unknowingly process a set of test data, the proper results of which are already known.
Integrated Test Facility (ITF)
The performance of auditing procedures before year-end.
Interim Audit Work
Financial information covering a period less than a full year or a 12-month period ending on a date other than the entity’s fiscal year-end.
Interim Financial Information
A company employee who performs auditing functions for use by management and the board of directors.
Internal Auditor
A process, effected by those charged with governance, management, and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance about the achievement of the entity’s objectives.
Internal Control
A list of questions, typically answered by a yes or no response, addressing relevant control procedures.
Internal Control Questionnaire
Information generated within the enterprise.
Internal Evidence
Auditing standards issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), a standard-setting board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
International Standards on Auditing
Tags that are attached to inventory items to aid in the counting of inventory.
Inventory Tags
A ratio that provides information of interest to investors.
Investor Ratio
Entities subject to the rules of the PCAOB (primarily public companies).
Issuers
Differences that arise from the judgments of management concerning accounting estimates that the auditor considers unreasonable, or the selection and application of accounting policies that the auditor considers inappropriate.
Judgmental Misstatements
A scheme whereby a check drawn on one bank is deposited in another bank, but the disbursement is not recorded on a timely basis, resulting in an overstatement of cash.
Kiting
A scheme whereby a current receipt of cash (or a check) is stolen. To prevent detection, a subsequent receipt is applied to the previously unrecorded customer account.
Lapping
A direct letter sent to the client’s attorney detailing any pending or threatened litigation matters and requesting the attorney to provide his or her evaluation directly to the independent auditor.
Letter of Audit Inquiry
An IT (information technology) department employee who keeps track of program and file use, maintains storage of all data and backups, and controls access to programs.
Librarian
A report that is intended only for specified parties.
Limited Use Report
A ratio that measures a firm’s short-term ability to pay maturing obligations.
Liquidity Ratio
A system in which customers send their payments directly to the bank, preventing access by company employees.
Lock Box
Generally speaking, programs that expend $300,000 or more in federal financial assistance (specific guidelines are based on formulas prescribed in OMB Circular A-133).
Major Programs
The circumvention of established controls by executives of a company.
Management Override of Controls
The threat that results from an auditor’s taking on the role of management or otherwise performing management functions on behalf of the entity undergoing an audit.
Management Participation Threat
A letter the auditor is required to obtain from management at the conclusion of fieldwork, confirming representations explicitly or implicitly given to the auditor, indicating and documenting the continuing the possibility of misunderstanding regarding the representations.
Management Representation Letter
The section of a public company’s annual report that comprises management’s comments regarding performance during the most recent period, background information on the company, etc. The requirements for MD&A are established by the SEC.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A)
Volumes of business, revenues, available sources of supply, or markets or geographic areas for which events could occur that would significantly disrupt normal finances within the next year.
Material Concentrations
A deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the entity’s financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis.
Material Weakness
The amount of error or omission that would affect the judgment of a reasonable person.
Materiality
A sampling plan that uses the average value of the items in the sample to estimate the true population value.
Mean-Per-Unit (MPU) Estimation
Theft of an entity’s assets, when the effect of that theft causes the financial statements not to be presented in conformity with GAAP.
Misappropriation of Assets (Defalcation)
An auditor’s opinion issued when the auditor concludes that the financial statements are materially misstated or the auditor is unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to conclude that the financial statements are free from material misstatement. The three types of modified opinions are the qualified opinion, the adverse opinion, and the disclaimer of opinion.
Modified Opinion
At least reasonably possible to occur.
More than Remote Likelihood
The process of assessing the quality of internal control performance over time.
Monitoring
A written version of a flowchart describing the auditor’s understanding of the system of internal control.
Narrative
The quality of an audit test as measured in terms of the relevance and reliability of the evidence it provides. The nature of an audit procedure includes both its purpose and its type.
Nature (of an Audit Test)
A regulatory body created pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The PCAOB establishes auditing and related professional practice standards to be used in the preparation and issuance of audit reports for “issuers.”
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)
A confirmation in which a response is requested only if the amount stated is incorrect.
Negative Confirmations
A subsequent event that relates to conditions existing after the balance sheet date that generally requires footnote disclosure, but rarely requires and adjustment to the financial statements.
Nonrecognized Subsequent Event
All aspects of audit risk that are not due to sampling (e.g., selecting inappropriate audit procedures, failing to recognize a misstatement in documents examined, etc.)
Non-sampling Risk
A method of sampling in which auditors use their judgment (rather than mathematical formulae) to estimate risk, determine sample size, and evaluate sample results.
Nonstatistical Sampling
An entity’s goals, often categorized as reliability of financial reporting, effectiveness and efficiency of operations, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Objectives of an Entity
A method of obtaining audit evidence that provides the auditor with direct personal knowledge (e.g., viewing tangible assets, reviewing a process or operating procedure, etc.).
Observation
Financial data presented in accordance with a comprehensive basis of accounting other than GAAP.
OCBOA (Other Comprehensive Basis of Accounting) Financial Statements
A financial statement assertion in the “transactions and events” category indicating that transactions and events that have been recording have occurred and pertain to the entity.
Occurrence
A financial statement assertion in the “presentation and disclosure” category indicating that disclosed events and transactions have occurred and pertain to the entity.
Occurrence and Rights and Obligations
A government publication that provides guidelines for implementation of the Single Audit Act.
OMB Circular A-133
A measure of the extent to which controls achieve their stated goals; evaluated by using tests of controls to address how, by whom, and with what level of consistency control policies and procedures have been applied.
Operating Effectiveness of Controls
An auditor who examines a portion of the financial statements, but is not deemed to be the principal auditor.
Other Auditor
A paragraph included in the auditor’s report when required by GAAS or at the auditor’s discretion that refers to matters other than those presented or disclosed in the financial statements that are relevant to the users’ understanding of the audit, the auditor’s responsibilities, or the auditor’s report.
Other-Matters Paragraph
Members of the board of directors who are neither employees nor part of management and who do not have a material financial interest in the company.
Outside Directors
A technique by which the auditor reprocesses some or all of the client’s live data (using the auditor’s own software) and then compares the results with the client’s files.
Parallel Simulation (Reperformance Test)
A presentation of prospective financial information that excludes one of the following essential elements: sales, gross profit (or cost of sales), unusual or infrequent items, income tax expense, discontinued operations, extraordinary items, income from continuing operations, net income, earnings per share, or significant changes in financial position.
Partial Presentation
An accounting journal containing a record for each employee, with each record including data such as name, identification number, gross pay (regular and overtime), income taxes withheld, other deductions, and net pay.
Payroll Register
A range of engagements with specific governing standards from the Yellow Book that may embrace one of three objectives: effectiveness, economy, and efficiency; internal control; or compliance.
Performance Audits
The amount or amounts set by the auditor at less than materiality for the financial statements as a whole to reduce to an appropriately low level that probability the the aggregate of uncorrected and undetected misstatements exceeds materiality for the financial statements as a whole.
Performance Materiality
A collection of audit documentation that has a continuing interest from year to year.
Permanent File
Effects on the financial statements, that in the auditor’s professional judgment, are not confined to specific elements, accounts, or items of the financial statements, or if so confined, represent a substantial portion of the financial statements, or are disclosures fundamental to the users’ understanding of the financial statements.
Pervasive
Controls used to safeguard assets (e.g., security devices, limited access to restricted areas, periodic counting and comparison, etc.).
Physical Controls
Expressions of opinion as to certain identified line items in the financial statements when those items constitute a major portion of the financial statements.
Piecemeal Opinions
The development of an overall strategy for the audit.
Planning
In sampling, an approximation of the true balance of an account, determined by applying the projected misstatement to the recorded balance.
Point Estimate
In sampling, the entire group under consideration; a sample is used to estimate population characteristics.
Population
An affirmative statement or opinion given by the auditor, generally based on a high level of work performed.
Positive Assurance
A confirmation in which the recipient is requested to respond regardless of whether the information included (if any) is accurate.
Positive Confirmation
Information can be reasonably obtained from management’s accounts and records, and providing the information in the auditor’s report does not require the auditor to assume the position of a preparer of financial information.
Practicable
In sampling, an allowance for sampling risk that is added to a point estimate to provide a range within which the true population value is expected to fall.
Precision Interval
Requirements that must be met before an audit can be accepted, including determining that the financial reporting framework used by the client is acceptable and obtaining an agreement from management that it acknowledges and understands certain responsibilities.
Preconditions for an Audit
An auditor who has reported (or who was engaged to report) on the most recent financial statements.
Predecessor Auditor
One of the three categories of financial statement assertions, relating primarily to disclosure in the financial statements.
Presentation and Disclosure
Financial statements used to demonstrate the effect of a proposed transaction or event by showing how it might have affected the historical financial statements, if it had occurred during the period covered by those statements.
Pro Forma Financial Statements
A sampling technique in which the sampling unit is defined as an individual dollar in a population. Once a dollar is selected, the entire account (containing that dollar) is audited.
Probability-Proportional-to-Size (PPS) Sampling
The maintenance of an objective attitude throughout the audit, including a questioning mind and a critical assessment of evidence. The auditor neither presumes management dishonesty nor presumes unquestioned management honesty.
Professional Skepticism
A ratio that measures the success or failure of an enterprise over a given period.
Profitability Ratio
A governmental audit used in situations when no overall opinion is rendered on the financial statements. A program-specific audit must follow specialized rules designed for the particular type of program involved.
Program-Specific Audit
In sampling, an estimate of the total error in a population, determined by finding the error in a sample and adding an adjustment for sampling risk.
Projected Misstatement
Financial statements that attempt to reflect a company’s expected financial position and expected results of operations.
Prospective Financial Statements
A regulatory body created pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The PCAOB establishes auditing and related professional practice standards to be used in the preparation and issuance of audit reports for “issuers.”
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)
A document or form generated by a customer (typically within the customer’s purchasing department), identifying goods or services to be purchased.
Purchase Order
A document or form generated by a user group, requesting goods or services; serves as a request for the purchasing department to prepare a purchase order.
Purchase Requisition
An auditor’s report stating that “except for” the effects of the matter(s) to which the qualification relates, the financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects.
Qualified Opinion
A system designed to ensure that services are competently delivered and adequately supervised. A firm’s quality control system is composed of five elements: acceptance and continuance of clients and engagements; independence, integrity, and objectivity; monitoring; personnel management; and engagement performance.
Quality Control System
Expenditures deemed to be non-allowable, undocumented, or unreasonable for reimbursement under a grant.
Questioned Costs
A sample selected in such a way that every item in the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample.
Random Sample
A financial indicator that distills relevant information about a business entity by quantifying the relationships among selected items in the financial statements.
Ratio
The comparison of financial ratios developed from recorded amounts to expected ratios developed by the auditor, as a means of distilling relevant information about a business entity.
Ratio Analysis
A sampling plan that uses the ratio of the audited (correct) values of items to their book values, to project the true population value.
Ratio Estimation
The high, but not absolute, level of assurance that is intended to be obtained by an auditor.
Reasonable Assurance
A document or form used to indicate that purchased goods have been received and inspected.
Receiving Report
A subsequent event that relates to a condition existing on or before the balance sheet date and generally requires adjustment to the financial statements.
Recognized Subsequent Event
The process of comparing financial amounts from two independent sources for agreement.
Reconciliation
An informational document filed with the SEC to register securities for public offering.
Registration Statement
A report that is issued subsequent to the date of the original report, but which bears the same date as the original report, indicating that no additional work has been performed since that date.
Reissued Report
A reporting entity’s affiliates, principal owners, and management; also, any members of their immediate families.
Related Parties
An assertion that has a meaningful bearing on whether an account is fairly stated.
Relevant Assertion
A report on the design and implementation of a service organization’s controls. It does not provide assurance on the operating effectiveness of controls.
Report on Management’s Description of the Service Organization’s System and the Suitability of the Design of Controls (Type 1 Report)
A report on the design, implementation, and operating effectiveness of a service organization’s controls.
Report on Management’s Description of the Service Organization’s System and the Suitability of the Design and Operating Effectiveness of Controls (Type 2 Report)
The date on which the auditor grants the client permission to use the report.
Report Release Date
An accountant in public practice who prepares a written report (or provides oral advice) on the application of accounting principles or on the type of opinion that may be rendered.
Reporting Accountant
A sample whose characteristics are comparable to the characteristics of the population from which the sample was drawn.
Representative Sample
A person who is accountable for a specific subject matter, or if no such person exists, a person who has a reasonable basis for making a written assertion about the subject matter.
Responsible Party
A report that is intended only for specified parties.
Restricted Use Report
An endorsement limiting future actions on an item (e.g., “for deposit only” marked on the back of a check).
Restrictively Endorsed
The period for which audit documentation must be kept. Auditing standards define this period as five years from the report release date; PCAOB standards define it as seven years from the release date.
Retention Period
An engagement in which an accountant performs inquiry and analytical procedures as a basis for providing limited assurance that there are no material modifications that should be made to the financial statements in order for them to be in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
Review
A financial statement assertion in the “account balances” category indicating that the entity holds or controls the rights to assets, and liabilities are the obligations of the entity.
Rights and Obligations
An entity’s identification and analysis of risks to the achievement of its objectives.
Risk Assessment (performed by the entity)
The process by which an auditor obtains an understanding of an entity and its environment, including its internal control, in order to evaluate the likelihood of material misstatement.
Risk Assessment (performed by the auditor)
In sampling, the risk that the assessed level of control risk based on the sample is greater than the true risk based on the actual operating effectiveness of the control (i.e., sample results indicate a greater deviation rate than actually exists in the population.) Note that this risk relates to tests of controls, and to audit efficiency.
Risk of Assessing Control Risk Too High
In sampling, the risk that the assessed level of control risk based on the sample is less than the true risk based on the sample is less than the true risk based on the actual operating effectiveness of the control (i.e., sample results indicate a lower deviation rate than actually exists in the population.) Note that this risk relates to tests of controls, and to audit effectiveness.
Risk of Assessing Control Risk Too Low
In sampling, the risk that the sample supports the conclusion that the recorded account balance is not materially misstated when in fact it is materially misstated (i.e., sample results fail to identify an existing material misstatement). Note that this risk relates to substantive testing, and to audit effectiveness.
Risk of Incorrect Acceptance
In sampling, the risk that the sample supports the conclusion that the recorded account balance is materially misstated (i.e., sample results mistakenly indicate a material misstatement). Note that this risk relates to substantive testing and to audit efficiency.
Risk of Incorrect Rejection
The susceptibility of the financial statements to error. The risk of material misstatement is composed of inherent risk and control risk.
Risk of Material Misstatement
The risk that material noncompliance exits, composed of the inherent risk of noncompliance and control risk of noncompliance.
Risk of Material Noncompliance
Controls designed to eliminate or reduce to an acceptable level threats to independence.
Safeguards
A bill sent to a customer indicating goods and services sold, prices applied, payment terms, etc.
Sales Invoice
A form or document prepared upon receipt of a customer purchase order, indicating goods or services to be provided to that customer.
Sales Order
In PPS sampling, a range of dollars from which each sampling unit will be selected (e.g., in a population of $500,000 with a sampling interval of $5,000, there would be 100 sampling intervals; the sample would consist of 100 items, with one item being selected from each of the 100 intervals).
Sampling Interval
In sampling, the risk that the sample is not representative of the population, and that the auditor’s conclusion therefore will be different from the conclusion that would have been reached had the tests been applied to all items in the population.
Sampling Risk
In sampling, an item selected form the population for testing.
Sampling Unit
Legislation that amended federal securities laws after a series of corporate financial scandals exposed serious weaknesses in the self-regulating system that had been intended to provide reliable company financial statements.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
A restriction on an engagement that occurs when the accountant is unable to fully complete necessary procedures.
Scope Limitation
Audit procedures that aid the auditor in identifying obligations that should have been recorded at the balance sheet date, but were not.
Search for Unrecorded Liabilities
A governmental commission given the authority to set guidelines for publicly traded companies.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Information about certain portions of an enterprise, presented in the annual financial statements of public companies (e.g., information about products and services; about geographic areas; or about major customers).
Segment Information
The separation of the authorization, record keeping, and custodial functions, to ensure that individuals do not perform incompatible duties.
Segregation of Duties
Additional financial information presented by management that is not a required part of the basic financial statements.
Selected Financial Data
The threat than an auditor or audit organization that has provided nonaudit services will not appropriately evaluate the results of previous judgments made or services performed as part of the nonaudit services when forming a judgment significant to an audit.
Self-Review Threat
The auditor of a service organization.
Service Auditor
An outside organization hired to process some portion of another company’s accounting transactions (e.g., a payroll processing company such as ADP).
Service Organization
Findings that should be included in the audit documentation because they are related to the selection and application of accounting principles or to possible material misstatements in the financial statements; or because they cause significant difficulty in, or indicate the need for significant revision of, necessary audit procedures; or because they may result in modification to the auditor’s standard report.
Significant Audit Findings
A component that is of individual financial significance to the group or that is likely to include significant risks of material misstatement of the group financial statements.
Significant Component
A deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control that is less severe than a material weakness, yet important enough to merit attention by those charged with governance.
Significant Deficiency
Exists when the engagement team fails to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence, the engagement team reaches an inappropriate overall conclusion, the engagement report is not appropriate for the circumstances, or the firm is not independent of the client. The existence of a significant engagement deficiency prevents the engagement quality reviewer from providing concurring approval of issuance.
Significant Engagement Deficiency
Estimates at the balance sheet date that could change materially within the next year.
Significant Estimates
A risk that, in the auditor’s judgment, requires special audit consideration.
Signifianct Risk
An audit of entities expending federal assistance, and has two main components: and audit of the entity’s financial statements and separate schedule of expenditures of federal awards, and a compliance audit of major federal awards.
Single Audit
A federal act requiring entities that expend federal assistance equal to or in excess of $500,000 annually to have a program-specific or entity-wide audit that complies with the act.
Single Audit Act
A financial reporting framework other than GAAP that is one of the following bases of accounting: cash basis, tax basis, regulatory basis, contractual basis, or any other basis of accounting that uses a definite set of logical, reasonable criteria that is applied to all material items appearing in the financial statements.
Special Purpose
A person or firm with special skills in a field other than accounting or auditing (e.g., actuaries, appraisers, attorneys, engineers, etc.).
Specialist
A mathematical measure of population variability.
Standard Deviation
Standards issued by the Auditing Standards Board (ASB) of the AICPA.
Statements on Auditing Standards (SAS)
Standards established by the AICPA to regulate the provision of services to privately held companies not seeking audited statements.
Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS)
Standards issued by senior technical bodies of the AICPA regarding attest engagements, including engagements with respect to agreed-upon procedures; financial forecasts and projections; pro forma financial statements; internal control over financial reporting; compliance; and management’s discussion and analysis.
Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE)
A method of sampling in which auditors use mathematical formulae (rather than simply using judgment) to quantify risk, determine sample size, and evaluate sample results.
Statistical Sampling
A collection of the documents used to evidence ownership of shares in a corporation; certificates are removed from the book as they are purchased.
Stock Certificate Book
A person hired to maintain records with respect to stocks and bonds issued by a company.
Stock Registrar
A person hired to maintain records with respect to the transfer (i.e., purchase, sale, etc.) of corporate securities.
Stock Transfer Agent
In sampling, a method designed to avoid oversampling for attributes by allowing the auditor to stop an audit test before completing all steps, if the results have become clear.
Stop-or-Go Sampling (Sequential Sampling)
In sampling, the separation of the total population into several relatively homogeneous groups, with each group then treated as a separate population.
Stratification
The threat that an audit organization’s placement within a government entity, in combination with the structure of the government entity being audited, will impact the audit organization’s ability to perform work and report results objectively.
Structural Threat
Presentation of financial statements prepared by the accountant to a client or third party.
Submission (of Financial Statements)
Events or transactions that occur after the balance sheet date, but before the financial statements are issued.
Subsequent Events
Procedures the auditor is required to perform for the period after the balance sheet date up to the auditor’s report.
Subsequent Events Review
The period between the date of the financial statements and the date of the auditor’s report.
Subsequent Period
An audit approach in which only substantive procedures will be performed, either because controls are nonexistent or because it would be inefficient to test controls.
Substantive Approach
Tests of details of transactions and balances and analytical review procedures designed to substantiate the account balances shown in the financial statements.
Substantive Procedures
An amount and type of audit evidence that is considered adequate to support an opinion on the financial statements or on a component thereof.
Sufficient (Sufficiency of Audit Evidence)
Information outside the basic financial statements that is nevertheless required because it is considered an essential part of the financial reporting for that specific entity.
Supplementary Information
In sampling, a method of sample selection whereby every nth item in the population is chosen as part of the sample.
Systematic Selection
An engagement that provides assurance on the reliability of a defined electronic system.
SysTrust Engagement
An auditor’s tally of a specific inventory item, which is later compared to the physical inventory report as a means of testing that report.
Test Count
A computer assisted audit technique in which the auditor uses the client’s application program to process, off-line, a set of test data for which the proper results are already known.
Test Data (Test Deck)
Audit tests used to obtain evidence about the operating effectiveness of a control by determining how, by whom, and with what level of consistency controls have been applied. Test of controls include inquiry, inspection, observation, and reperformance, and they are performed when the auditor’s risk assessment is based on the assumption that controls are operating effectively.
Tests of Controls
Substantive audit procedures that are applied to transaction classes, account balances, and disclosure items in order to substantiate the amounts and disclosures reflected in the financial statements.
Test of Details
Those who bear responsibility to oversee the obligations and strategic direction of an entity.
Those Charged with Governance
A symbol indicating that a specific audit procedure has been performed.
Tickmark
In sampling, the maximum rate of deviation from a prescribed procedure that the auditor will tolerate without modifying planned reliance on internal control.
Tolerable Deviation Rate
In sampling, the maximum monetary misstatement in an account balance or class of transactions that may exist without causing the financial statements to be materially misstated. Tolerable misstatement is the application of performance materiality to a particular sampling procedure.
Tolerable Misstatement
Approach used when selecting controls to test in an integrated audit in which the auditor evaluates overall risks at the financial statement level, considers controls at the entity level, and then focuses on accounts, disclosures, and assertions for which there is a reasonable possibility of material misstatement.
Top-Down Approach
Directional testing that starts with source documents and traces forward to provide assurance that an event is being given proper recognition in the financial statements (i.e., testing completeness). Note that the term “tracing” is sometimes used generically to mean comparing one item to another, without indication of direction.
Tracing
A technique used by the auditor to electronically mark (or “tag”) specific transactions and follow them through the client’s system.
Transaction Tagging
One of three categories of financial statement assertions, relating primarily to the recording of items affecting the financial statements.
Transactions and Events
Stock issued by a company that is subsequently reacquired from shareholders, so that it is no longer considered “outstanding.”
Treasury Stock
Assurance and advisory services used to address the risks and opportunities related to information technology.
Trust Services
A matter for which conclusive evidential matter concerning its outcome is not currently available and will not be available until sometime in the future.
Uncertainty
The books and records of a company.
Underlying Accounting Data
Knowledge of the design of relevant controls and whether they have been implemented. The auditor’s understanding of internal control is used to assess the risk of material misstatement and to design further audit procedures.
Understanding of Internal Control
A company that buys an issue of shares from a corporation and arranges for their resale to the public.
Underwriter
The threat that external influences or pressures will impact an auditor’s ability to make independent and objective judgments.
Undue Influence Threat
An auditor’s report stating that the financial statements are presented fairly in all material respects in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.
Unmodified Opinion
A report on previously issued financial statements that takes into consideration information that the accountant has become aware of during the current engagement, and includes any necessary revisions to the original report.
Updated Report
In sampling, the sum of the sample deviation rate and the allowance for sampling risk.
Upper (Maximum) Deviation Rate
The auditor of a company that makes use of an outside service organization.
User Auditor
A financial statement assertion in the “account balances” category indicating that assets, liabilities, and equity interests are included in the financial statements at appropriate amounts and any resulting valuation or allocation adjustments are appropriately recorded.
Valuation and Allocation
A statistical sampling method used to estimate the numerical measurement of a population, such as a dollar value (e.g., accounts receivable balance).
Variables Sampling
A bill for goods or services purchased.
Vendor Invoice
A group of matched documents related to a particular purchase (i.e., a requisition, purchase order, receiving report, and vendor invoice).
Voucher Packets
Directional testing in which the auditor examines support for what has been recorded, going from the financial statements back to supporting documentation (i.e., testing existence). Note that the term “vouching” is sometimes used generically to mean comparing one item to another, without indication of direction.
Vouching
The process of tracing transactions relevant to financial reporting through the accounting system from inception through recording in the general ledge and presentation in the financial statements.
Walkthroughs
An engagement in which a client’s website is assessed for predefined criteria that are designed to measure transaction integrity, information protection, and disclosure of business practices.
WebTrust Engagement
The principal record of procedures performed, evidence obtained, and conclusions reached.
Working Papers (Audit Documentation)
A publication of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), entitled “Government Auditing Standards,” which represents the source of GAGAS.
Yellow Book
