Methods for Understanding Internal Control

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ACCA F8 考试：Methods for Understanding Internal Control

■ To be able to understand internal control, the design of a control and then its implementation must be ascertained by the auditor.

□ Evaluating the design of a control involves considering whether the control, individually or in combination with other controls, is capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material misstatements.

□ Implementation of a control means that the control exists and that the entity is using it.

□ A poorly designed control may still result in a material misstatement regardless of the fact that it is being correctly operated.*

Control Design

■ Risk assessment procedures to obtain sufficient evidence about the design of internal control include previous experience, inquiry, observation, inspection and walkthroughs

Previous experience	■Past understanding and assessments carried out （as recorded in the PAF）. This must be updated when changes have occurred in the current year.
Inquiry	■ Usually of entity personnel （e.g. management, internal audit, those charged with governance, operational personnel）.
Observation	■ Reviewing the application of specific controls, especially in manual systems （e.g. inventory counts, inspection of goods received, enforcement of ethical practices）.
Inspection	■ Documents and reports, for example: □ the entity's risk-strategy assessment and response; □ internal control procedure manuals; □ management reports; □ system and control error reports; □ internal audit testing programmes （including reports to management and management response）.
Walk-through	■ Desktop walk-through, supported by design and procedural manuals, to gain a theoretical understanding of the controls in a system. ■ Tracing a separate transaction through each relevant element of the control system （e.g. the sales system） and reviewing the design of appropriate controls. ■ This will often require the use of computer audit assisted techniques to enable the transaction to be traced through computer-based information systems （IS）.