Question

Discuss the relationship of the reliability and relevance of audit information to the sufficient quantity of audit information.

Answer 1

Sufficiency is the measure of the quantity of audit evidence. The quantity of audit evidence needed is affected by the following:

• Risk of material misstatement (in the audit of financial statements) or the risk associated with the control (in the audit of internal control over financial reporting). As the risk increases, the amount of evidence that the auditor should obtain also increases. For example, ordinarily more evidence is needed to respond to significant risks.

• Quality of the audit evidence obtained. As the quality of the evidence increases, the need for additional corroborating evidence decreases. Obtaining more of the same type of audit evidence, however, cannot compensate for the poor quality of that evidence.

Appropriateness is the measure of the quality of audit evidence, i.e., its relevance and reliability. To be appropriate, audit evidence must be both relevant and reliable in providing support for the conclusions on which the auditor's opinion is based.

Relevance. The relevance of audit evidence refers to its relationship to the assertion or to the objective of the control being tested. The relevance of audit evidence depends on:

1. The design of the audit procedure used to test the assertion or control, in particular whether it is designed to (1) test the assertion or control directly and (2) test for understatement or overstatement; and
2. The timing of the audit procedure used to test the assertion or control.

  Reliability. The reliability of evidence depends on the nature and source of the evidence and the circumstances under which it is obtained. For example, in general:

• Evidence obtained from a knowledgeable source that is independent of the company is more reliable than evidence obtained only from internal company sources.
• The reliability of information generated internally by the company is increased when the company's controls over that information are effective.
• Evidence obtained directly by the auditor is more reliable than evidence obtained indirectly.
• Evidence provided by original documents is more reliable than evidence provided by photocopies or facsimiles, or documents that have been filmed, digitized, or otherwise converted into electronic form, the reliability of which depends on the controls over the conversion and maintenance of those documents.