Public Sector Auditing: Practical Techniques for an Integrated Approach

The public sector accounts for about 40% of the gross domestic product of the United Kingdom. The book has been written in response to the major changes that are taking place in the public sector and puts forward a unified approach to practical auditing based on the idea that audits of all types require the auditor to give an opinion to his client. The external auditor traditionally gives an opinion on a set of financial statements and an internal auditor gives an opinion to managers on the strength of a financial system. Value-for-money audit, an interesting element of public sector audit, although drawing upon past events, aims to improve the future. However this book makes little differentiation between internal and external audits since within the public sector internal and external audit roles are often similar.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 The audit environment and current issues: the environment; what is the public sector?; who are the auditors?; who is the client?; current auditing issues. Part 2 The nature of audit: the audit function; the audit assignment; the essential audit process; types of assignment; assistance to management; internal and external auditors. Part 3 Strategic and business planning: strategic planning; strategic planning for an individual client; lack of resources; business planning; components of a business plan. Part 4 Planning the assignment: the need for planning; the audit objectives; materiality and risk; preparations for planning; the detailed plan; time needed to plan. Part 5 Controlling and recording the assignment: credence; controlling and recording in general; controlling and recording in action. Part 6 Gathering audit evidence - the systems based approach: audit evidence; internal controls; the systems based approach. Part 7 Exploiting financial relationships: directional testing; practical application of directional testing; other financial relationships; physical relationships. Part 8 Audit selection and sampling: selection and sampling methods; statistical sampling conditions; the population characteristic; monetary unit sampling. Part 9 Fraud and corruption: what are fraud and corruption?; the size of the problem; the auditor's role; guarding against fraud and corruption; conducting investigations. Part 10 Value-for-money audit: what is "value-for-money"?; background; the auditor's role; by-product VFM work; arrangements review; carrying out an arrangements review; detailed VFM performance review; carrying out a performance review project; sources of comparative figures; follow-up work after VFM assignments; other roles of the auditor. Part 11 An overview of computer audit: the role of computer auditors; systems development audit; applications audit; applications audit; common databases; use of computers in general audit work; computer assisted audit techniques. Part 12 Forming final opinions and reporting: Auditing Standards and Guidelines; opinion forming; more complex opinions; regularity; final opinions; reporting.