1、1Auditing Dictionary of TermsThe words defined in this dictionary all appeared in questions on the CPA exam, so they are worth knowing if you are studying for the exam. 本字典中定义的单词均出现在注册会计师（美国）的考试之中，如果您正在参与此项考试，那么您值得一读。acceptance sampling is sampling to determine whether internal control compliance is
2、 greater than or less than the tolerable deviation rate.accounting and review services are official pronouncements covering compilation and review engagements. Compilation is presenting in the form of financial statements information that is the representation of management (owners) without expressi
3、ng assurance. Review is inquiry and analytical procedures to provide the accountant a basis for expressing limited assurance that there are no material modifications that should be made to the statements for them to be in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles or, if applicabl
4、e, another comprehensive basis of accounting.accounting data includes journals, ledgers and other records such as spreadsheets that support financial statements. It may be in computer readable form or on paper.accounting estimate An approximation of a financial statement element. Accounting estimate
5、s are often included in historical financial statements because measurement of some amounts is uncertain pending outcome of future events and relevant data about events that have occurred cannot be accumulated on a timely, cost-effective basis.accounting principles are alternative ways of reporting
6、and disclosing information in financial statements and related footnotes.accounts receivable Debts due from customers from sales of products and services. Normally a current asset.adjusting entries are accounting entries made at the end of an accounting period to allocate items between accounting pe
7、riods.adverse An audit opinion that the financial statements as a whole are not presented in conformity with U.S. GAAP.advisory services are a consulting service in which the CPA develops the findings, conclusions, and recommendations presented for client consideration and decision making. This diff
8、ers from attestation services 2where the CPA expresses a conclusion about reliability of a written assertion that is the responsibility of another.aggregate (aggregated) Constituting the whole. Aggregate expenses include expenses of all divisions combined for the entire year.agreed-upon procedures A
9、n engagement where the client specifies procedures and the accountant agrees to perform those procedures. An accountant may accept an engagement limited to applying agreed-upon procedures to financial statement elements, where the scope of the engagement is not sufficient to express an opinion on th
10、e elements, if the users assume responsibility for sufficiency of the procedures, and use of the report is restricted to specified users. aicpa American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The professional organization of CPAs in the U.S. It is a private organization of CPAs, not an arm of th
11、e government. Each state issues CPA certificates, not the AICPA. Since each state makes its own laws, each state could prepare and grade their own CPA examination. However, each state uses the uniform CPA exam prepared and graded by the AICPA.allocation Distribution according to a plan. Depreciation
12、, amortization, and depletion are methods to allocate a cost to periods benefited. allowance for doubtful accounts A contra asset account with a credit balance used to reduce the carrying amount of accounts receivable to net realizable value. The allowance balance is the estimated total of uncollect
13、ible accounts included in accounts receivable. allowance for sampling risk The difference between a sample estimate and the projected population characteristic at a specified sampling risk. This allowance is also the difference between the expected error rate and the tolerable deviation rate.analyti
14、cal procedure A comparison of financial statement amounts with the auditors expectation. An example is the comparison of actual interest expense for the year (a financial statement amount) with an estimate of what that interest expense should be. The estimate can be found by multiplying a reasonable
15、 interest rate times the average balance of interest bearing debt outstanding during the year (the auditors expectation). If actual interest expense differs significantly from the expectation the auditor explains the difference in the working papers.analyze Identify and classify items for further st
16、udy.3anticipated Expected.application control Programmed procedure in application software designed to ensure completeness and accuracy of information. approve To authorize. A manager authorizes a transaction by signing a voucher providing approval for the disbursement.ascertain An audit procedure t
17、o determine or to discover with certainty. For example, to ascertain the date on which an investment was purchased by examining source documents.assertion Management asserts financial statements are correct with regard to existence or occurrence of assets, liabilities or transactions, completeness o
18、f information in the financial statements, rights and obligations at a point in time, appropriate valuation or allocation, presentation, and disclosure.assess To determine the value, significance, or extent of.assessed Determined. The level of control risk determined by the auditor, based on tests o
19、f controls, is the assessed level of control risk.assurance The level of confidence one has in a proposition.attest (attestation) report An attest engagement is one in which a practitioner is engaged to issue a written conclusion about the reliability of a written assertion that is the responsibilit
20、y of another party. A financial statement audit is one type of attestation.attorneys letter is signed by the clients lawyer and addressed to the auditor. It is the auditors primary means to corroborate information furnished by management about litigation, claims, and assessments.attribute sampling T
21、he characteristic tested is a property that has only two possible values (an error exists or it does not).audit adjustment, whether or not recorded by the entity, is a proposed correction of the financial statements that may not have been detected except through audit procedures.audit committee A co
22、mmittee of the board of directors responsible for oversight of the financial reporting process, selection of the independent auditor, and receipt of audit results.audit objective In obtaining evidence in support of financial statement assertions, the auditor develops specific audit objectives in the
23、 light of those 4assertions. For example, an audit objective related to the completeness assertion an auditor might develop for inventory balances is that inventory quantities include all products, materials, and supplies on hand.audit planning is developing an overall strategy for the conduct and s
24、cope of the audit. The nature, extent, and timing of planning varies with the size and complexity of the entity, experience with the entity, and knowledge of the entitys business.audit risk A combination of the risk that material errors will occur in the accounting process and the risk the errors wi
25、ll not be discovered by audit tests. Audit risk includes uncertainties due to sampling (sampling risk) and to other factors (nonsampling risk).auditing standards board Statements on Auditing Standards are issued by the auditing standards board, the senior technical body of the AICPA designated to is
26、sue auditing pronouncements.authorize (authorization) To give permission for. A manager authorizes a transaction by signing a voucher providing authorization for the disbursement.backup A copy of a computer program or file stored separately from the original.batch A set of computer data or jobs to b
27、e processed in a single program run.benfords law is a mathematical law that applies to any population of numbers derived from other numbers (such as the dollar amount of a sale, found by multiplying the quantity sold times the unit price). It holds that 30% of the time the first non-zero digit of th
28、is derived number will be one, and it will be a nine only 4.6% of the time. Benfords law is used by auditors to identify fictitious populations of numbers. bill of lading A document issued by a carrier to a shipper, listing and acknowledging receipt of goods for transport and specifying terms of del
29、ivery.blind trust A financial arrangement in which a person avoids possible conflict of interest by transferring financial affairs to a fiduciary who has sole asset management discretion. The person establishing the trust also gives up the right to information regarding the assets.cancel supporting
30、documents To mark supporting documents as having been used to support a transaction so the same documents cant be used as support for a second transaction. An example is stamping vouchers “paid“ and marking them with the check number. 5capitalized Recorded as an asset. A capitalized lease is in subs
31、tance a purchase to the lessee. An asset is recorded equal to the present value of the lease payments, which is also recorded as a liability. Payments, partly interest and partly principal, are made on the lease liability. The lease asset is depreciated by the lessee as though it were legally owned
32、by the lessee. caveat A warning or caution.check digit A redundant digit added to a code to check accuracy of other characters in the code.check register A listing of checks issued, normally in numeric sequence and in order by date issued.classification Arrangement or grouping. Assets and liabilitie
33、s are normally classified as current or noncurrent.collateralize To pledge property as security (collateral) for a debt.collusion A secret agreement between two or more parties for fraud or fort letter A letter written by the auditor to an underwriter of securities, which expresses an opinion about
34、whether the audited financial statements and schedules in the registration statement comply as to form with applicable accounting requirements of the Act and related rules and regulations adopted by the SEC. The procedures to be performed are specified by the underwriter. comparability Users evaluat
35、e accounting information by comparison. Similar companies account for similar transactions in similar ways. Another goal is comparison of one companys information from one period to the next (consistency). Operating trends should not be disguised by changing accounting parative Financial statements
36、of a prior period shown with those of the current period to aid in comparisons between pare (comparison) An audit procedure. The auditor observes similarities and differences among similar items such as an account from one year to the pensating balance An offsetting balance. A requirement by some ba
37、nks that a borrower maintain a minimum balance in a checking or savings account as a condition of granting a loan. The offsetting balance increases the effective interest rate to the bank since the net amount loaned is reduced but the interest paid is unchanged.6competence of an internal audit staff
38、 is a function of qualifications, including education, certification, and supervision. Competent audit evidence is valid and reliablecompile (compilation) A compilation is presenting in the form of financial statements information that is the representation of management without expressing assurance
39、. Compilation of a financial projection is assembling prospective statements based on assumptions of a responsible party, reading the statements, considering appropriateness of presentation, and issuing a compilation report. No assurance is provided on the statements or underlying assumptions. The a
40、ccountant need not be pleteness Assertions about completeness deal with whether all transactions and accounts that should be presented in the financial statements are included. For example, management asserts that all purchases of goods and services are recorded and included in the financial stateme
41、nts. Similarly, management asserts that notes payable in the balance sheet include all such obligations of the pliance Following applicable rules or prehensive basis of accounting A complete set of rules other than U.S. GAAP applied to all items in a set of financial statements. Examples include a b
42、asis of accounting required by a regulatory agency, a basis of accounting the entity uses for its income tax return and the cash receipts and disbursements puter controls Internal controls performed by computer (software controls) as opposed to manual controls. Also means general and application con
43、trols over the computer processing of data.condensed financial statements are presented in considerably less detail than complete financial statements.confirm (confirmation) Communication with outside parties to authenticate internal evidence.consignment Transfer of possession but not title to goods
44、. Title stays with the consignor, while the consignee has possession. consistency To achieve comparability of information over time, the same accounting methods must be followed. If accounting methods are changed from period to period, the effects must be disclosed.consulted Sought advice or informa
45、tion. 7consulting services performed by CPAs include consultations, advisory services, implementation services, product services, transaction services, and staff and support services.contingency is an existing condition involving uncertainty as to possible gain (gain contingency) or loss (loss conti
46、ngency) that will be resolved by future events. Estimates, such as the useful life of an asset, are not contingencies. Eventual expiration of the assets utility is not uncertain.continuing auditor is the auditor of the current year who also audited the financial statements of the client for the prev
47、ious year.continuing accounting significance Matters of continuing accounting significance are those normally included in the permanent audit working paper file, such as the analysis of balance sheet accounts, and those relating to contingencies. Such information from a prior year is used by the aud
48、itor in the current years audit and is updated each year.control A policy or procedure that is part of internal control. control environment is the attitude, awareness, and actions of the board, management, owners, and others about the importance of control. This includes integrity and ethical rules
49、, commitment to competence, board or audit committee participation, organizational structure, assignment of authority and responsibility, and human resource policies and practices.control policies and procedures Control activities are the policies and procedures that help ensure management directives are carried out. Those pertinent to an audit include performance reviews, information processing, physical controls and segregation of duties.control risk The risk that material error in a balance or tran
