A Guide to Effective Audit Interviews

Edward Seipp, CPA, and Deborah L. Lindberg, DBA, CPA

Inquiry is a well-established audit procedure used by auditors to obtain evidence in support of an audit opinion and a better understanding of the company undergoing the audit. The topic of inquiry is discussed in a number of Statements on Auditing Standards (SAS). For example, SAS 106, Audit Evidence, spends several paragraphs discussing the application of audit inquiry as a procedure for obtaining audit evidence (pars. 31–36). SAS 109, Understanding the Entity and Its Environment and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement, discusses inquiries that should be made and to whom these inquiries should be directed in order to assess the risk of material misstatements in financial statements (pars. 6–8). Likewise, SAS 99, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, discusses at considerable length inquiries that should be made of management and others within the company about the risk of fraud (pars. 20–27).