Enquiry:

During our audits third party direct confirmations are sent directly by our staff (on local GPO post) and received in our office in enclosed envelop and dates of send/ receive were mentioned in control sheet. Is there any audit requirement to send them by courier? Also is there any requirement of audit to maintain in and out registers or stamping in and out of the mail is mandatory condition for audit?

 

Opinion:

The Board would like to draw your attention to Para A4 of ISA 505, External Confirmations, which states the factors that need to be considered when designing confirmation request. One of the factors is the method of communication that can be in paper form, or by electronic or other medium. Therefore, ISA 505 does not mandate as part of audit procedure to send third party direct confirmations, only through courier other means like reliable general postage system may also be used.

In case of obtaining bank confirmation guidance is provided under ATR 18 ‘Bank Reports for Audit Purposes’.

Further, with regard to your query on audit requirement to maintain in and out registers or stamping in and out of the mail. This is not an audit requirement but may be firm’s internal policy to maintain in and out registers or stamping in and out of the mail for control purposes, as it considers necessary.

 (October 02, 2017)