Gathering audit evidence is generally the
longest stage of the engagement. Below are some tips to consider to save time:
Scanning Documentation
- Avoid scanning a document that you could get
electronically. Ask the client if you can get the information in a
soft copy as this is always easier and more efficient to deal with.
- Do not set the resolution too high on the scanned
document. Setting DPI’s greater than 200 for scanned
documents will lead to unnecessarily large images.
- Check to make sure client scanned documents are not too big
before attaching to the file. Also, watch out for client documents
that contain unnecessary pages.
- Avoid scanning documents that you don’t really need.
Superfluous documents waste significant time as they have to be scanned,
annotated, signed off, and reviewed.
- Avoid cross referencing documents before they are scanned into
the file. Instead, use the cross referencing feature
of CaseWare Working Papers.
- For new users, until you are comfortable with tick marks in
Working Papers, try tick marking manually prior to scanning the document.
Microsoft Word and Excel documents in CaseWare
- Avoid attaching unnecessary Word or Excel documents. Just
because a client can produce an Excel spreadsheet does not mean it is
useful audit evidence.
- Remember to avoid client produced schedules for immaterial
balances and/or reconciliations that do not address the assertions at
risk.
- Avoid including large dumps of general ledger or account
balance information that serves no purpose as audit evidence.
- Remember not to “link” to document but to ensure that a copy of
the file exists in the CaseWare data directory so that the document will
always be accessible no matter where you work on it.