Group Audits, Group-Level Controls, and Component Materiality: How Much Auditing Is Enough?
开发了一个贝叶斯集团审计模型，帮助审计师在集团层面确定各组成部分的重要性金额，以在满足审计目标的同时控制成本，并发现集团层面控制和结构化子组对提高审计效率至关重要。
ABSTRACT Auditing standards now mandate that group auditors determine and implement appropriate component materiality amounts, which ultimately affect group audit scope, reliability, and value. However, standards are silent about how these amounts should be determined and methods being used in practice vary widely, lack theoretical support, and may either fail to meet the audit objective or do so at excessive cost. We develop a Bayesian group audit model that generalizes and extends the single-component audit risk model to aggregate assurance across multiple components. The model formally incorporates group auditor knowledge of group-level structure, controls, and context as well as component-level constraints imposed by statutory audit or other requirements. Application of the model yields component materiality amounts that achieve the group auditor's overall assurance objective by finding the optimal solution on an efficient materiality frontier. Numerical results suggest group-level controls and structured subgroups of components are central to efficient group audits. Data Availability: Upon request, Dr. Stewart will provide Excel-based software that facilitates exploration and application of the model described in this paper.