List 5 objectives of a standard audit programs?

Answer 1

Audit programs were specifically mentioned in SAS No. 96 as a form of audit documentation. Among their objectives are:
* They promote compliance with the firm's audit methodology and is especially helpful to new staff. Audit firms often take in staff from other firms. While auditing in general is pretty much the same everywhere, each firm has its own methodology and way of documentation.
* They promote consistency in the work performed by staff and among the audits of various clients
* No one knows all the auditing guidelines by heart and the audit programs act as a memory jogger, especially since they're updated by an administrator all the time
* They facilitate review by supervisors who can tell at a glance what was or was not done
* Audit programs may provide evidence of audit planning as well as limited evidence of the execution of audit procedures, (but the signed-off audit programs should generally not be used as the sole documentation that a procedure was performed, evidence was obtained, or a conclusion was reached.)
An audit program aids in the conduct and supervision of an engagement, but completed and initialed audit program steps should be supported with proper documentation in the working papers.