.16

Analytical procedures and related inquiries. The accountant should apply analytical procedures to the interim financial information to identify and provide a basis for inquiry about the relationships and individual items that appear to be unusual and that may indicate a material misstatement. Analytical procedures, for the purposes of this section, should include:

• Comparing the quarterly interim financial information with comparable information for the immediately preceding interim period and the quarterly and year-to-date interim financial information with the corresponding period(s) in the previous year, giving consideration to knowledge about changes in the entity’s business and specific transactions.
• Considering plausible relationships among both financial and, where relevant, nonfinancial information. The accountant also may wish to consider information developed and used by the entity, for example, information in a director’s information package or in a senior committee’s briefing materials.
• Comparing recorded amounts, or ratios developed from recorded amounts, to expectations developed by the accountant. The accountant develops such expectations by identifying and using plausible relationships that are reasonably expected to exist based on the accountant's understanding of the entity and the industry in which the entity operates (see paragraph .17 of this section).
• Comparing disaggregated revenue data, for example, comparing revenue reported by month and by product line or operating segment during the current interim period with that of comparable prior periods.

See Appendix A [paragraph .54] of this section for examples of analytical procedures an accountant may consider performing when conducting a review of interim financial information. The accountant may find the guidance in section 329, Analytical Procedures, useful in conducting a review of interim financial information.