Based on the need of improving audit efficiency and quality
The need to improve audit efficiency and quality is the basic driving force for the evolution of audit methods. With the progress of society and the development of economy, the contradiction between complicated audit business and limited audit resources is becoming increasingly acute, and a comprehensive and detailed review of the audited business can no longer meet the requirements of the development of audit business. In this way, the development and evolution of audit methods from simple to scientific and from single to systematic has become a historical necessity. It is one of the main factors to promote the further development of audit by using scientific and standardized audit methods, undertaking the historical mission entrusted by society with limited audit resources and maximizing audit efficiency. It is under this background that the audit method has evolved and developed in a scientific and standardized direction, which has become the law and trend of audit development in the world.
The gradual evolution of audit methods reflects the dynamic process of the nature, time and scope, selection and transfer of audit substantive testing work. In this case, the traditional view of audit quality is being replaced by the new view of relative quality. The so-called relative quality view is to determine the quality requirements and level of audit work according to certain reference objects, rather than taking the 100% reliability and accuracy of audit conclusions as the standard for judging audit quality. In order to obtain better audit results with less resource consumption, auditors should use sampling audit instead of comprehensive and detailed review; We can't implement direct inspection method, but should use reverse inspection method; We should not follow the idea of account-oriented audit, but should follow the idea of system-oriented audit and even risk-oriented audit. Therefore, the audit method has been constantly evolving and developing.
Audit efficiency and audit quality are interrelated and mutually restricted, and the improvement of one aspect may have a positive or negative impact on the other. The two aspects of influence need to find an optimal equilibrium state, and then further promote the evolution and development of audit methods.
Based on the need to avoid audit risks and responsibilities
Audit risk refers to the possibility that audit opinions and conclusions are inconsistent with objective reality due to the influence of various factors such as subject, object and environment. Among them, the main factor is the improper or negligent behavior of the audited entity, the objective factor is the management, decision-making mistakes and fraud and irregularities of the audited entity, and the environmental factor is mainly the political and economic environment, legal environment and increasingly competitive market environment. Audit risk is constantly changing with the continuous development and improvement of audit science, which has the characteristics of objectivity, universality and potential. Its basic law is that risks are gradually increasing and complicated, but they can be controlled and avoided. Only by reducing the risk to an acceptable level can auditors better grasp the expressed audit conclusions and opinions. In this case, it is required that the adopted audit method can meet the needs of auditors to control and prevent audit risks, and the audit method must be gradually scientific and feasible after continuous evolution. Risk-oriented audit, as a modern audit idea evolved from account-oriented audit and system-oriented audit, essentially requires auditors to comprehensively analyze and evaluate the internal risk and control risk of the audited entity in the audit process, and take this as a starting point to determine acceptable inspection risks and formulate audit strategies to achieve audit objectives.
As an independent form of economic supervision, audit responsibility is the responsibility of audit institutions and auditors to audit clients and other parties, and it is a narrow concept. Broadly speaking, audit responsibility is the mutual responsibility relationship among auditors, auditors, auditees and related parties in audit activities, that is, not only audit institutions and auditors, but also audit clients, auditees and stakeholders related to audit activities. Audit responsibility is usually narrow. Audit responsibility is intrinsically related to audit risk. Audit responsibility depends on the size of audit risk. The greater the audit risk, the greater the responsibility of audit institutions and auditors. Generally speaking, audit institutions and auditors should bear legal responsibility for the relevant behaviors and results in their audit activities. This legal responsibility is intangible and continuous, which plays a positive role in regulating audit behavior. However, the undertaking and performance of a specific audit responsibility should be based on the quality and responsibility disputes in the audit activities, on the fact that auditors do have mistakes or frauds in the audit activities, and should be confirmed by true and sufficient evidence. In this way, auditors have an avoidance problem about audit responsibility, that is, they must bear the responsibility for specific audit quality disputes when necessary, and they should not bear it without responsibility. In this case, the audit method has gradually evolved to meet the needs of audit institutions and auditors to avoid audit responsibilities.
Just like the relationship between efficiency and quality, risk and responsibility are closely related and mutually restricted. Through this relationship, they seek a dynamic balance and form a driving force to promote the continuous evolution of audit methods.
On the basis of satisfying the demand of ownership supervision
After the restoration of audit supervision system in China in 1980s, on the objective basis of the emergence and development of audit, the viewpoint based on the need of supervision accounting and economic supervision appeared. Later, many scholars demonstrated from the perspective of the relationship between entrustment and entrusted responsibility, and thought that auditing originated from the need to maintain or terminate the relationship between entrustment and entrusted responsibility. After the separation of the two rights, the relationship between entrustment and responsibility is formed, with ownership supervision and management supervision. When maintaining or removing the principal-responsibility relationship, auditing is more from the perspective of safeguarding the interests of owners, or directly speaking, auditing was born and developed in the need of ownership supervision. After the separation of the two rights, the owner entrusts the property to the operator. What he cares about is whether the operator keeps and manages his own property well to maintain and increase its value. Therefore, the owner entrusts or appoints an audit to supervise. Audit institutions and auditors adopt corresponding audit procedures and methods in order to complete the entrusted economic supervision tasks. When the accounting data of the audited entity and the economic activities it reflects are relatively simple, and the audit supervision tasks it accepts are relatively easy to complete, the audit methods adopted by auditors are naturally relatively simple and one-sided; On the contrary, when the audited entity's accounting data and the economic activities it reflects are more complex, and the audit supervision tasks it accepts are more difficult to complete, the audit methods adopted by auditors will naturally be more systematic and perfect. With the development of economy and society, accounting data and its economic activities are becoming more and more complicated, and auditing methods are constantly developing in the direction of systematization and standardization.
To sum up, the evolution of audit methods reflects the internal motivation of improving audit efficiency and quality, avoiding audit risks and responsibilities, and meeting the needs of ownership supervision. These three aspects are integrated with each other. Improving audit efficiency and quality is the basic motivation and the first consideration in the early stage of the evolution of audit methods. When it has evolved to a certain stage or level, it is gradually necessary to avoid audit risks and responsibilities, and these two aspects constitute the premise of achieving audit objectives to the greatest extent and meeting the needs of ownership supervision. Meeting the needs of ownership supervision will in turn affect the direction and degree of improving audit efficiency and quality and avoiding audit risks and responsibility factors.