Читать книгу Wiley Practitioner's Guide to GAAS 2020 - Joanne M. Flood - Страница 279

Some control procedures allow you to select a sample of transactions that were recorded during the period and:

 Examine the documentation indicating that the control procedure was performed.

 Reperform the procedure to determine that the control was performed properly. For example, the process for recording inventory purchases may require physically matching a paper-based warehouse receiving report with an approved purchase order.

 Determine that the purchase order was properly approved, as indicated by a signature.

 Determine that the vendor is an approved vendor.

 Observe evidence (e.g., checkmarks, initials) that warehouse personnel counted the goods received.

To test the effectiveness of this control procedure, you could:

 Examine documentation that the control was performed, including:Documents were matched.Purchase order was signed.Receiving report was marked.

 Determine that the control was performed properly, including:Purchase order and receiving report are for the same transaction.Vendor is an approved vendor.Signer of the purchase order has the authority to approve the transaction.

Computer application controls also may lend themselves to similar testing techniques. For example, suppose that purchased goods are accompanied by a bar code that identifies the goods received and their quantities. The bar code is scanned, and the information is matched electronically to purchase order files and approved vendor master files. Unmatched transactions are placed in a suspense file for subsequent follow-up. (As indicated previously, the computer application control consists of both the programmed elements of the control and the manual follow-up of identified errors.) To test the effectiveness of this control, you could:

 Prepare a file of test transactions and run through the system to determine that all errors are identified.

 Review the resolution of the suspense account items performed throughout the period to determine that they were resolved properly.

When performing tests of transactions, you will have to address issues related to the extent of testing: how many items to test. Suggestions for considering the extent of tests were provided earlier in this chapter.

Before performing your tests of transactions, you also should define what you will consider a control procedure error. In instances in which the evidence of performing the procedure is documented (e.g., an initial or a signature), the lack of documentation (a missing signature) should be considered an error in the operation of the control. That is, in order for a documented control to be considered properly performed, both these points must be true:

 The documentation indicates that the control procedure was performed.

 Your reperformance of the procedure indicates it was performed properly.