IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joaced/v30y2012i2p220-232.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trade-offs in audit testing

Author

Listed:
  • Spires, Eric E.

Abstract

This case is designed to help you to understand one of the fundamental concepts underlying audits of financial statements: the impact of testing controls on the substantive audit testing to be conducted. When determining the nature, timing and extent of substantive testing, the auditor must consider the costs involved in testing controls and compare that cost to the savings in substantive testing that can occur by relying on the tested controls. In other words, the auditor trades off control testing and substantive testing to determine the best mix of procedures. Similarly, for substantive evidence, the auditor must determine the best mix of substantive analytical procedures and tests of details. In this case, you will assess the trade-offs between the various types of auditing procedures (tests of controls, substantive analytical procedures and tests of details) to determine the optimal audit strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Spires, Eric E., 2012. "Trade-offs in audit testing," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 220-232.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joaced:v:30:y:2012:i:2:p:220-232
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jaccedu.2012.08.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0748575112000462
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jaccedu.2012.08.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peecher, Mark E. & Schwartz, Rachel & Solomon, Ira, 2007. "It's all about audit quality: Perspectives on strategic-systems auditing," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(4-5), pages 463-485.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chiang, Christina & Wells, Paul K. & Xu, Gina, 2021. "How does experiential learning encourage active learning in auditing education?," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luippold, Benjamin L. & Kida, Thomas & Piercey, M. David & Smith, James F., 2015. "Managing audits to manage earnings: The impact of diversions on an auditor’s detection of earnings management," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 39-54.
    2. Timothy A. Seidel & Chad A. Simon & Nathaniel M. Stephens, 2020. "Management bias across multiple accounting estimates," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 1-53, March.
    3. Kang, Yoon Ju & Trotman, Andrew J. & Trotman, Ken T., 2015. "The effect of an Audit Judgment Rule on audit committee members’ professional skepticism: The case of accounting estimates," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 59-76.
    4. Daniel VILSANOIU & Mihaela SERBAN, 2010. "Changing Methodologies in Financial Audit and Their Impact on Information Systems Audit," Informatica Economica, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(1), pages 59-65.
    5. Holm, Claus & Zaman, Mahbub, 2012. "Regulating audit quality: Restoring trust and legitimacy," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 51-61.
    6. Wally Smieliauskas, 2008. "A Framework for Identifying (and Avoiding) Fraudulent Financial Reporting," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(3), pages 189-226, August.
    7. Warren Maroun, 2020. "A Conceptual Model for Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility Assurance Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 187-209, January.
    8. Dale Tweedie & Christian Nielsen & Nonna Martinov‐Bennie, 2018. "The Business Model in Integrated Reporting: Evaluating Concept and Application," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(3), pages 405-420, September.
    9. Wright, William F., 2016. "Client business models, process business risks and the risk of material misstatement of revenue," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 43-55.
    10. Andi Agus & Nurna Aziza, 2020. "The Effects of Ethical Factors in Financial Statement Examination: Ethical Framework of the Input Process Output (IPO) Model in Auditing System Basis," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 11(2), pages 136-145, April.
    11. Wally Smieliauskas, 2007. "What's Wrong with the Current Audit Risk Model?/QU'EST‐CE QUI NE VA PAS DANS LE MODÈLE ACTUEL DE RISQUE DE VÉRIFICATION?," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(4), pages 343-367, November.
    12. Marisa Agostini & Giovanni Favero, 2012. "Accounting fraud, business failure and creative auditing: A micro-analysis of the strange case of Sunbeam Corp," Working Papers 12, Venice School of Management - Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, revised Mar 2013.
    13. Holm, Claus & Langsted, Lars Bo & Seehausen, Jesper, 2007. "An Examination of Actual Fraud Cases With a Focus on the Auditor’s Responsibility," Accounting Research Center Working Papers A-2007-05, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Business Studies.
    14. Alice Garcia & Olivier Herrbach, 2010. "Organisational commitment, role tension and affective states in audit firms," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 25(3), pages 226-239, March.
    15. Church, Bryan K. & Peytcheva, Marietta & Yu, Wei & Singtokul, Ong-Ard, 2015. "Perspective taking in auditor–manager interactions: An experimental investigation of auditor behavior," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 40-51.
    16. Bruynseels, Liesbeth & Willekens, Marleen, 2012. "The effect of strategic and operating turnaround initiatives on audit reporting for distressed companies," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 223-241.
    17. Chen, Qiu & Kelly, Khim & Salterio, Steven E., 2012. "Do changes in audit actions and attitudes consistent with increased auditor scepticism deter aggressive earnings management? An experimental investigation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 95-115.
    18. Ian Fraser & Chris Pong, 2009. "The future of the external audit function," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 24(2), pages 104-113, January.
    19. Lasse Niemi & W. Robert Knechel & Hannu Ojala & Jill Collis, 2018. "Responsiveness of Auditors to the Audit Risk Standards: Unique Evidence from Big 4 Audit Firms," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 33-54, January.
    20. Andra GAJEVSZKY, 2014. "The Impact Of Auditor`S Opinion On Earnings Management: Evidence From Romania," Network Intelligence Studies, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 3, pages 61-73, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joaced:v:30:y:2012:i:2:p:220-232. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-accounting-education .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.