[The following paragraph was effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after January 1, 1989. It was amended, effective for audits of fiscal years beginning on or after December 15, 2010. See PCAOB Release No. 2010-004.

Return to the current version.]

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Analytical procedures are used for the following purposes:

  1. To assist the auditor in planning the nature, timing, and extent of other auditing procedures
  2. As a substantive test to obtain evidential matter about particular assertions related to account balances or classes of transactions
  3. As an overall review of the financial information in the final review stage of the audit

Analytical procedures should be applied to some extent for the purposes referred to in (a) and (c) above for all audits of financial statements made in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. In addition, in some cases, analytical procedures can be more effective or efficient than tests of details for achieving particular substantive testing objectives.