ITPEC IP April 2020 Question 65
The activities of a systems audit are divided into the processes of drafting of an audit plan, acquisition and evaluation of audit evidence, implementation of audit procedures, creation of an audit report, and followup. Which of the following processes gives guidance to auditee on the implementation of appropriate actions for improvement?
Explanation
Follow-up — after the report, the auditor checks how the auditee acts on the improvement recommendations and guides it toward appropriate improvements.
A systems audit runs in order: the audit plan fixes objectives and scope; audit procedures (preliminary and main audit) are carried out to obtain and evaluate audit evidence; the audit report states the opinion and the recommendations for improvement; follow-up then confirms the status of the improvements and, where needed, advises the auditee so the actions are appropriate. The auditor does not carry out the improvements itself: the auditee does, with the auditor's guidance and confirmation.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) Acquisition and evaluation of audit evidence — gathers and assesses the facts that support the audit opinion; no improvement action exists yet to guide
- •(b) Implementation of audit procedures — the examinations (inspection, interviews, walkthroughs) that produce the evidence; they find problems rather than guide their correction
- •(c) Creation of an audit report — states the findings and recommends improvements, but checking and guiding how they are carried out comes afterward
Key rule: The report recommends, follow-up confirms and guides; an audit is complete only when the recommended improvements have been checked.
System Audit · AI-written, may contain errors
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