Can an Audit and Auditors be Correct most of the Time?

Habitually, auditors along with audits are wrong. Frequently, most audits and auditors go wrong owing to poor engagement planning. There are various everyday mistakes that define most audits. First, most audits are scheduled too close to the end of trading years or immediately thereafter, when their outcomes are required without delay. That means that auditors hardly have enough time to plan their auditing tasks. Notably, in most cases, audit planning is postponed when auditors are still zeroing in on earlier audits.

Second, most audits along with auditors go wrong since the related audit scopes are too grand according to Chambers (2012). When an auditing scope is rather ambitious, as if over and over again the case, the attendant risks go up, auditing processes take longer durations than expected, and auditors frequently miss considerable issues captured in the scope. Clearly, it is challenging enough to adhere to set audit schedules and steer clear of scope creep as audit processes go when the corresponding audit scopes are well-characterized from the onset. Third, frequently, auditors along with audits go wrong since audit clients are not engaged sufficiently. When the clients are not involved sufficiently and in a timely way, they time and again fail to provide all the essential information.

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Fourth, they often go wrong since audit teams are not augmented with the relevant functional expertise. Often, self-assured and experienced auditors overrate their competences and think they do not require functional expert support. That reduces their efficiency in looking at all the vital information (Chambers, 2012). Lastly, frequently, auditors along with audits go wrong since they do not share the view that, ultimately, audit processes should add value. They only view the processes as aimed at establishing what is wrong rather than assisting managements attain given organizational goals.

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