“It is an exciting time to be an accountant.” This is the way we’ve started our auditing lectures since the last five years. With all of the changes that have occurred in the audit environment, it is an exciting time to study accounting and to be an auditing teacher.
This book recognizes the changes that have occurred in the profession in the past 10 years: new regulatory boards, ever changing auditing and accounting standards, and a move in the profession to merge US Standards with International Standards. All of these changes make this an exciting time to work as an auditor.
Why a new auditing textbook? — This textbook was written to combine the teaching of theory and practice. Accounting students usually do not like theory; they are happier solving problems and focusing on “practical” issues. Contemporary texts weigh heavily on theory, many of them devoting most of the first half of the text to theory and waiting until the second half to address the issues and the problem solving of auditing. In our teaching experience, we have found that students often thought the theory sections to be boring, causing them to become discouraged and stifling their interest in the business process rules that came later in the course. Obviously, students need a theoretical basis so they can understand the logic of audit practice, but current textbook approaches need to be modified.
Introducing the reading of ledger accounts early in the text allows instructors to talk about audit theory and concrete examples and challenging problems for resolution. This approach promises to help students see that theory is important to grasp because it supports problem solving and can be learned in relation to practical issues encountered in business environments. Such linkage, we think, supports student learning. Students’ experience of connecting theory to practice through specific problem solving exercises shows them the importance of theory and that it is useful because it shows how the professional addresses practical issues as they arise. Having used this approach, we find that an early mix of practical and theory works well.
The syllabus contains a list of the topics covered in each chapter which will avoid the controversies regarding the exact scope of the syllabus. The text follows the section-wise, chapter topic pattern as prescribed in the syllabus. We have preferred to give the text of the section and rules as it is and thereafter added the comments with the intention of explaining the subject to the students in a simplified language.
Contents –
1. Vouching
2. Verification
3. Standards on Auditing
4. Audit of Limited Companies
