Forecast Systems: Construction and Attestation.
通过对比审计师与企业高管的回答，研究了审计师对客户预测系统的理解，发现审计师对预测系统的协商过程、正式模型和外部数据输入等属性的重视程度可能低于财务规划高管。
Abstract The issue of the auditor's understanding of clients' forecasting systems is explored by analyzing auditor responses to questions concerning the construction and evaluation o f forecasts, and by comparing auditor responses to those of corporate executives. When asked what information and processes would be employed to develop a financial forecast, the respondents indicated that the informational inputs were very similar for each task, while the processes were dissimilar. Responses of financial planning executives are contrasted with those of the subject auditors. It is concluded that auditors currently may not place as much importance as do financial planning executives on the following forecast systems attributes: (1) the negotiation process, (2) formal models and (3) data input from external sources.