Introduction to Auditing

The Definition for Audit and Assurance Standard AAS-1 by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India(ICAI) — “Auditing is the independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, and irrespective of its size or legal form, when suchan examination is conducted with a view to expressing an opinion thereon.” The general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person, organization, system, process,
enterprise, project or product. The term most commonly refers to audits in accounting, but similar concepts also exist in project management, quality management, and energy conservation. This topic attempts at explaining the reasons as to why auditing exist as a specialized discipline. The chapter further explains the need for the audit. It also explains the objectives of auditing besides explaining the parties who are interested in financial statements of any business organisation.