During the course of an audit engagement, an auditor (and his or her audit staff) makes a number of visits to the client's premises, primarily for the purpose of gathering audit evidence. Once the auditor has agreed to accept, or continue with, an audit engagement, the auditor may find it necessary to visit the client in order to finalize the audit plan, including the audit approach. After the audit approach has been determined, the auditor will plan further visits, the date of which depends on the nature, timing and extent of the planned audit procedures. These visits are often referred to as interim and final visits and are normally scheduled in conjunction with the client's management.
The auditor may make one or more interim visits, or visits prior to balance date, to gather evidence of the effectiveness of operation of internal control procedures, the substantiveness [fn] of classes of transactions or, where internal controls relating to an account balance are known to be effective, evidence relating to the substantiveness of that account balance.
The auditor also makes a final visit after balance date to gather all other evidence necessary to form an opinion on the financial statements. In a very small audit engagement, there may be no separate interim and final visits - all the evidence may be gathered during the one visit after balance date.
The work performed during these two consecutive 'visits’ are referred to by auditors as the interim work and the final work, respectively. There may be more than one interim visit, especially if the audit approach adopted is an in-depth controls testing approach. As part of the interim work the auditor may, for example, gather evidence in relation to the determination of the audit plan, perform tests of controls, and/or gather evidence in relation to the class of transaction level.
There are a number of reasons for performing interim work including the following:
Additionally, the auditor may consider it necessary to make one or more unscheduled surprise visits. In such an instance, the auditor arrives at the client's premises without prior notice. The purpose of such a visit is usually to gather evidence that internal control procedures are operating as planned, even when the auditor is thought by the client's staff to be absent.
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