Advantages & Disadvantages of Audit Program

Advantages of An Audit Program

Following are the advantages of an audit program:
 
1. There is no danger of any essential part of the work being overlooked or omitted.

2. Clerks engaged on an audit may be changed with the minimum of dislocation and waste of time.

3. The auditor is enabled more effectively to control the progress of several audits simultaneously.

4. The clerk responsible for a particular section of the work can be identified, and the responsibility for any errors passed can be fixed.

5. The program will furnish satisfactory evidence of the thoroughness of the audit in the event of the auditor being changed with negligence in the performance of his duties.

Disadvantages of An Audit Program

Following are the disadvantages of an audit program:
 
1.The work of the audit may tend to become mechanical, and initiative on the part of clerks engaged on the audit may be discouraged.

2. Unless the program is reviewed frequently in the light of experience, the audit may not be conducted according to the changes in the nature of the business or in the book- keeping system.

These disadvantages are not serious at all and can be easily removed if it is impressed on the audit clerks that the program is merely a guide and a minimum statement of the work to be done, if the are encouraged to make suggestions for its improvement, and if it periodically revised.