Auditing Bits in Bytes™ – A Practical Break-Down of “Real World” Best Practices Applied in Highly Successful Audits is a series of eight individual sessions that guide professionals through the complete audit process from “A to Z” – starting with Pre-Engagement Planning Activities, and going all the way through Wrap-up and Quality Control.Attempting to perform an effective and efficient audit can be intimidating and confusing, for new and experienced auditors alike. This series will provide valuable tips and techniques from an experienced auditor that are needed to successfully design and perform financial statement audits in “real-life” circumstances. Extensive illustrative examples will be used to reinforce a practical understanding of the most critical principles and standards that support a high-quality, insightful, and profitable engagement.
This 2-hour session focuses on the initial information that is gathered and important conclusions that are reached at the on-set of engagement planning and the performance of certain risk assessment procedures. This phase of the engagement sets the stage for how much effort will be invested in evaluating the design and implementation of internal controls (which is covered in Session 3 of this series). Key professional judgments made at this stage provide the foundation and rationale for risk assessment conclusions that are ultimately used to design the nature, timing and extent of further audit procedures (which is covered in Session 4 of this series). One of the most important learning points that participants will take away from this session will be the recognition that these preliminary activities are not just “check off the box” tasks, but are critical to early judgment calls about risk of material misstatement, which directly influences the audit effectiveness and efficiency.