CA inter auditing

Audit Plan refers to the scheme formulated by the auditor that comprises of strategy or approach, that is followed for carrying out audit. On the other hand, Audit Programme implies a range of verification procedures, which are applied to the final accounts, to acquire audit evidence, and thus helping auditor in providing an informed opinion.

Audit Plan

Audit Plan can be understood as the plan for carrying out the audit of an organization, which comprises of strategies or guidelines.

Audit Plan is the fundamental principle of the audit, which says that the auditor should acquire details of the business undertaken by the client. This is to ascertain the nature, time and extent of audit procedures, which is carried out by the engagement team members. Besides other facts, it should be developed to cover:

• Obtaining knowledge of client’s business, i.e. policies, accounting system, internal control procedures, etc.
• Setting up the certain degree of reliance that rests on internal control.
• Ascertaining the nature, time and extent of the procedures of the audit.
• Coordinating the audit work.

Audit Programme

An audit programme is the blueprint of the audit plan, which specifies, how the audit is to be performed, who is going to perform and what are the steps to be followed for conducting the same. It is a set of instructions, which audit staff pursues, for proper execution of audit.

Once the audit plan is formulated, an audit programme, comprising of various steps, is developed. It is nothing but a comprehensive plan for implementing audit procedures, in specific conditions, with directions for selecting the appropriate method for attaining audit objectives. It is primarily based on the size of the entity and similar other factors. The audit programme determines what and how much evidence or facts are to be obtained and analyzed.