Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You look at only some of the travel-related documents and present
the report to senior management by Friday.
This is the real-life decision that auditor Rob Clark would make. He explains
that auditing only some of the documents isn't wrong, as long as you
make allowances for it in your report.
"Before I sign off anything, there is sufficient evidence so anyone can
pick up the report, review it and come up with the same solution," says Clark.
Sufficient evidence is the key to completing a successful audit. It doesn't
necessarily mean reviewing every piece of documentation in a department.
He adds that in order for the evidence to be acceptable, it must be sufficient,
competent, reliable and useful. The most important information
can be selected and analyzed and will give the same results as reviewing every
single document in the department.
"The question," says Clark, "is how much testing [or analyzing] is really
needed?"
Clark adds that because only some of the documents were reviewed, this
information needs to be included in the written report. This allows the reader
to realize that not all of the documents were analyzed, but that the decision
reached is still accurate.