SESSION 3

AUDIT PLANNING

Learning Objectives:
 identify and explain the need for planning an audit
 identify and describe the contents of the overall audit strategy and the audit
plan
 explain the difference between interim and final audit
 discuss the effect of fraud and misstatements on the audit strategy and
extent of audit work
 explain and describe the relationship between the overall audit strategy and
the audit plan
 explain how auditors obtain an initial understanding of the entity and
knowledge of its business environment

ISA 300 PLANNING AUDIT OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Stages in the audit (Summary):

1. The planning phase:

 Know your client

 Internal control systems review
 Planning the audit
 Evaluation of audit risk
 Develop the audit programme

2. The operational phase:

 Audit testing
 Analytical review techniques
 Analytical review of financial statement

3. The reporting phase

 Preparation and signing of the audit report

 The management letter or letter of weakness

ISA 315 UNDERSTANDING THE ENTITY AND ITS ENVIRONMENT AND

ASSESSING THE RISK OF MATERIAL MISSTATEMENTI

This is a new ISA designed to ensure the auditors have or obtain knowledge of the
business of the entity sufficient to enable them to identify and understand the
events, transactions or practice that may have a significant effect on the financial
statements or the audit.
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This knowledge of the business helps to assess the levels of control and inherent
risk and to determine audit procedures. The auditor should consider the following
matters:

Provide guidance on the engagement team’s discussion of the susceptibility of

the entity to material misstatements of the financial statements.

The planning phase

Know your client:

General economic factor:

 State of economy

 Interest rate

 Inflation rates

 Government policy

Industry factors:

 The market and competition from other similar firms.

 Seasonal factors effecting the sales revenue

 Environmental issues affect the client’s business.

 The regulatory framework, which affect on the client.

The entity:

 The ownership and management of the business

 Type of product

 Type of market

 Key supplier and customers

 Details of significant contracts

 The financial performance of the business

 The reporting framework and external influences.

 Location of all the client’s operations

 Manufacturing activities and labour relations

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Other factors

 Any accounting and internal control systems problems

 Any changes in law and reporting requirement.

 Previous year’s working paper file

 Internet searches

 Discussion with management

 Discussion audit team

Operational phase:

Audit testing:

Compliance testing: -

Tests that seeks to provide audit evidence of the internal control procedures are
being applied as prescribed. If the controls are found to be satisfactory, the auditor
will seek to place reliance on them in order to reduce the volume of detailed
“substantive tests”.

Substantive test: -

Tests of transactions, balances and other procedures such analytical review that
seeks to provide audit evidence as to the completeness, accuracy and validity of the
information contained in the accounting records or financial statements of the entity.

The Balance sheet audit: -

The objectives are to verify the following:

 The existence, ownership, valuation and presentation of balance sheet items.

 To prove that the transaction has occurred.

The approach concerns itself with:

 The validity of the transaction recorded.

 The completeness of the recorded transactions and balances.

The Systems-based audit: -

The objectives are to derive audit assurance:

 The completeness, accuracy and validity of the accounting records.

 The existence of the recorded asset and liabilities by:

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 o Acquiring an in depth understanding of the client’s business, nature
of its transaction, appropriateness of its accounting policies.

o Placing extensive reliance on confirmations from third parties and

observation procedures in relation to assets and liabilities.

o Placing extensive reliance on the evaluation and testing of internal

control systems and in so doing to reduce the amount of detailed
substantive testing of transactions and balances.

The Procedural Approach:

 This approach does not take into account risk attaching to specific areas.

 Contains a high level of testing of all systems.

 Is therefore not cost-effective, the approach is more adopted by internal

auditors.

The Risk-based Approach:

 To overcome the deficiencies of the systems-based approach that suffers

from the accumulation of audit evidence without reference to the adequacy of
the audit evidence and hence claims of over-auditing.

 The risk approach adopts a more scientific approach through the use of
decision model providing a basis for specifying the objectives of individual
audit procedures and hence ensuring the evidence gathered covers all the
relevant aspect of the audit.

 Its objectives are therefore to ensure that a consistent level if assurance is

obtained for each transaction class or account balance relative to their
materiality and that where areas are identified as having a low risk of
material error, audit resources are not wasted on those areas.

ISA 320 AUDIT MATERIALITY

Definition:

Information is material if its omission or misstatement could influence the economic

decisions of users taken on the basis of the financial statements.

Materiality is an important concept in the audit process and affect.

 Audit risk evaluation

 The nature, timing and extent of audit procedures (e.g. sample sizes).

 The determination of whether the financial statement are distorted by

misstatements discovered.

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The auditor’s assessment of materiality

These will be influenced by the following: -

 The overall impact on the financial statements

 Individual account balances and transactions

ISA 520 Analytical Review Procedures

The ISA requires that auditors should apply analytical procedures at the planning
stage and overall review stages of the audit.

Definition of Analytical Review:

 The relationship between elements of financial information expected to

conform to predictable pattern based on the organisation’s experience and
between financial and non-financial information.

 Investigate unusual variation in financial and non-financial data of the

company.

 Obtaining and substantiating explanation for such variation.

 Evaluating the results of analytical review with other audit evidence obtained
e.g. by systems or substantive test,

 Comparison with previous years

 Trends and ratios.

Factors determining extent of use of analytical review:

 Type of enterprise

 Knowledge of client and similar audits

 Availability of relevant information

 Reliability, relevance, comparability and independence of information.

 Cost effectiveness

 The procedures are particularly useful in diversified enterprise; it should be

applied to financial information on individual business segments.

Timing:

 At planning stage where the auditor hope to identify possible areas of

potential risk.

 Obtaining evidence or obtaining assurance of the completeness, accuracy and

validity of the transactions and balance by analytical review.

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  At the final review stage of audit, the analytical review technique can provide
support for the conclusion arrived at as result of other work.

Procedures:

 Identify factors likely to have a material effect on items in the financial

statements.

 Ascertain the probable relationship between these factors and such items.

 Predict the likely range of values of individual items.

 Compare the prediction with actual recorded amounts.

 Management explanations should be obtained for significant fluctuations and

corroborated by independent evidence.

 If management perform Analytical review procedures the auditor should

consider whether the approach, the data used and the results obtained are
relevant for audit purposes.

 Analytical review is audit evidence; it is a form of substantive testing carried

out on the transactions.

 Where explanations received for material unexpected variations cannot be

substantiated, sufficient audit evidence must be obtained by other means.

Stages in auditing:

Interim audit:

 Audit may be conducted at early stages.

 To obtain information about the operational system on a theoretical basis for

example:

 Organisational chart
 Procedures manual
 Systems notes

 Gather information about the system and perform walk through test.

 Ascertain strengths and weaknesses of major operational areas for example:

 Complete internal Control Questionnaires

 Perform tests of control

Final audit:

 Final audit of the company at year-end is to produce statutory financial

statement.

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  Audit concentrates on verifying the items and management assertions in the
balance sheet and profit and loss contained in the financial statement.

 Complete substantive procedures, perform subsequent events review and

obtain management representation and form an opinion.

 Report opinion

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