PROCEDURES FOR OBTAINING AND EVALUATING AUDIT EVIDENCE

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the process of obtaining audit evidence and methods of their evaluation in the context of the application of International Auditing Standards. The article defines the concept of audit evidence. The main requirements for audit evidence are characterized (acceptability as a measure of the quality of audit evidence; sufficiency as a measure of the amount of audit evidence). The content of the international audit standards, which determine the procedure for collecting audit evidence (IAS 500, IAS 501, IAS 505, IAS 520, IAS 315, IAS 330), is highlighted. The classification of audit evidence is presented (depending on the sources of receipt, on proximity to the real fact, on the method of obtaining audit evidence, on the form of submission, on the purpose of evidence collection, on the degree of accuracy, on the degree of reliability and persuasiveness). The essence of audit procedures used to obtain audit evidence (verification, request, confirmation, recalculation, analytical procedures) is highlighted. Procedures for collecting audit evidence are analyzed on the example of checking the correctness of depreciation (amortization) of fixed assets and its display in accounting. The situations that characterize the correspondence of accounting data with financial reporting data are defined. The characteristics of assessing the quality of audit evidence (sufficiency, reliability, relevance, usefulness) are revealed. The stages of obtaining audit evidence are proposed, which include determining the purpose of obtaining audit evidence, determining the sources of information for obtaining evidence, assessing the risks of material distortion of information, choosing audit procedures, collecting evidence, analyzing the collected evidence, collecting the necessary additional evidence, evaluating the obtained evidence, forming an opinion the auditor based on the received evidence. It was established that the value of each stage of obtaining audit evidence is determined by the sequence of the auditor's actions, the degree of importance of the results obtained at a certain stage of the audit from the point of view of the validity of the general results, the amount of time and labor costs.