[The following paragraph was effective for audits of financial statements beginning on or after January 1, 1989. It was amended by PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 2, effective for audits of fiscal years ending on or after November 15, 2004, for accelerated filers, and on or after July 15, 2005, for all other issuers. See PCAOB Release No. 2004-008.

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AU 329.16

The auditor obtains assurance from analytical procedures based upon the consistency of the recorded amounts with expectations developed from data derived from other sources. The reliability of the data used to develop the expectations should be appropriate for the desired level of assurance from the analytical procedure. The auditor should assess the reliability of the data by considering the source of the data and the conditions under which it was gathered, as well as other knowledge the auditor may have about the data. The following factors influence the auditor's consideration of the reliability of data for purposes of achieving audit objectives:

  • Whether the data was obtained from independent sources outside the entity or from sources within the entity
  • Whether sources within the entity were independent of those who are responsible for the amount being audited
  • Whether the data was developed under a reliable system with adequate controls
  • Whether the data was subjected to audit testing in the current or prior year
  • Whether the expectations were developed using data from a variety of sources

Copyright © 2002, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Inc.