audit

[′ȯd·ət]

(computer science)

The operations developed to corroborate the evidence as regards authenticity and validity of the data that are introduced into the data-processing problem or system.

audit

a process in which the performance of organizations is monitored by independent agencies. Compared with direct observation and control of behaviour (see SURVEILLANCE), audit usually does its work by an examination of the records of the processes and/or outcomes of organizational activity Audits are a prominent part of what has been termed the ‘new governance’ in contemporary advanced societies. As well as the more familiar financial audits of business organizations, there are today organizational audits of hospitals, schools and universities as well as environmental audits. See also AUDIT SOCIETY.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

audit

(1) A formal examination by certified auditors of systems, programming, operations and security to determine compliance with internal policies and procedures or with external standards. An audit is often used to satisfy legal requirements of regulatory agencies and laws. See assessment, COBIT, COSO, ISO/IEC 27000, SAS 70 and SSAE 16.

(2) An examination of systems, programming and datacenter procedures in order to determine the efficiency of computer operations.

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Audit

a check of the business and financial activity of enterprises, organizations, institutions, or individual officials for a certain period of time; one of the forms of subsequent review.

In the USSR all state and cooperative enterprises are audited. The audit is generally conducted once a year; organizations that do not directly conduct business operations must be audited at least once every two years. When necessary an audit may be made at any time (surprise audit). Audits are included in the functions of agencies of state control and intradepartmental control agencies. They were instituted by the Apr. 15, 1936, decree of the Soviet of Peoples’ Commissars of the USSR entitled Intradepartmental Financial Control and Auditing of Institutions, Enterprises, Economic Organizations, and Construction Projects.

The purposes and general procedure of the audit are regulated by governmental resolutions and departmental instructions. The primary purposes of the audit are to check fulfillment of state plans; check the legality of economic transactions and compliance with financial and estimate discipline; monitor the security of socialist property; check the correctness of bookkeeping records and the quality of documentary records underlying bookkeeping entries; and check the correctness of materials accounting in storage business. Auditing helps uncover abuses, unused reserves, and losses owing to unproductive use of time and identifies positive experience in the work of the organizations being audited, thus promoting stronger business accountability and economy measures.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

The Naval Audit Service's independence is not absolute, but even external auditing firms cannot operate free of influence.

Just how independent are internal auditors in DoN? The Naval Audit Service

The performance audit team followed government auditing standards (the Yellow Book) and conducted the review in a manner consistent with the code of ethics and standards issued by the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.

Enhancing public confidence: the GAO's peer review experience: even auditors need to be audited

The recommendations addressed to the ASB in part represented a call for auditing standards that provide "more specific and definitive guidance containing imperatives," such as SAS No.

Assessing risk: AICPA's new risk assessment standards present a sea change for auditors

The first new edition since the guide was originally released in 2001, the Auditing Derivative Instruments, Hedging Activities, and Investments" in Securities guide has been upgraded to reflect all the latest accounting literature issued since FASB Statement No.

Now available

Clearly, a contingency fee lease auditing firm will generally not waste time on a claim that is not legitimate because it is only compensated for successful results.

Audit clauses trap tenants in accounting nightmares

Professional standards: Accounting principles established by the standard-setting body described in Section 19(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 ('33 Act), as amended by the SOA, or prescribed by the SEC under '33 Act Section 19(a), or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ('34 Act) Section 13(b); and auditing standards, standards for attestation engagements, quality control policies and procedures, ethical and competency standards and independence standards that, according to the PCAOB or SEC, relate to the preparation or issuance of audit reports for issuers; and are established or adopted by the PCAOB or promulgated as SEC rules (SOA Section 2(a)(10)).

Effects of the SOA on the accounting profession

But drafting an impressive list of calls for exemptions for EU auditing firms under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is one thing.

Preventing European "Enronitis": how European regulators are handling the spillover effects of Sarbanes-Oxley

The meeting will establish priorities for auditing the equipment, devise a tentative schedule for the audit, and coordinate the resources required by the plant team.

The value of biannual corrugated engineering audits: biannual audits can help corrugating operations "tune up" and operate more efficiently

There appears to be a strong preference for auditing bonds whose proceeds have been lent by the issuer to large corporations ("conduit borrowers").

Tax departments should be prepared for audits of tax-exempt bonds

With the consultant, the team underwent training on the techniques and methods of auditing, the reasoning behind audits and how the results of audits affected the quality system.

Obtaining quality system certification: The galesburg castings way: This article describes a small foundry's path to ISO certification and details steps for other firms to follow to implement their own quality system

Reducing such information risk is a primary objective of auditing. For example, accounting auditors reduce (to an acceptable level) the chance that a financial statement is incorrect (Robertson and Smieliauskas 1998).

Protecting PRIVACY

Police Auditing: Theories and Practices by Allan Y Jiao, Ph.D., Charles C.

Police Auditing: Theories and Practices