ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How To Perform an External Audit

Updated on September 2, 2020

Accountant with Auditor

Accountant with Auditor
Accountant with Auditor

An external audit is an audit performed by a certified public accountant that is not affiliated with the company and has no financial interest to the accountant. It is done on top of an internal audit by the accountant of the company. It is done periodically to determine whether the company is performing financially and if the current financial situation is favourable to the business. It also makes sure that the records entered by the company’s accountant are true and accurate. An external audit requires records to be accessed. If you are asked to do an external audit, this article will show you how.

  • Meet with the company’s executives. By the time that you are commissioned to perform an internal audit, it is necessary to meet with the executives or the internal auditor to talk about the work ahead. Draw up a contract regarding the audit and work up a fee.
  • Determine the type of audit to be performed. The company will be the one that will tell you what type of audit you will be doing. It may be a financial audit, supplies audit, etc. If you are asked to do a financial audit, you have to determine the company’s financial standing.
  • Request for access to important documents. Documents and data that are essential in the audit must be accessed. If you can have the internal audit, you can use it as a reference on your own audit. See if you can get hold of the internal auditor’s audit. Documents and data may be in different forms. They may be paper works or data stored in computers. Ask for assistance from the company to help you gain access to computer data stored in the company’s system. Print the data so it will be easier for you to refer to them.
  • Organize the data. Once you have gathered all the necessary documents and data, organize them such that they are easy to look at and refer to. Use a work table that is big enough to lay down all the papers related to the audit. This way, you work faster and more efficiently. Double check all the data you enter into the audit to make sure that they are correct. Review your work closely prior to submitting it to the company.
  • Compare your audit work with the internal auditor’s work. When you are done with the external audit, compare it with the audit of the company’s auditor. See if they match. If not, consult the executives and show them your work and tell them that there are differences between your work and the internal auditor’s work.

Whenever you are asked to perform an external audit by a company, the company executives must give you full access to pertinent documents and data necessary for the audit. If they keep important documents from you – whether they are doing an illegal operation or they do not want people outside of the company to know of the company’s under-the-table transactions, an external audit will not be done.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)