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AUDITOR'S DICTIONARY

Terms, Concepts, Processes, and Regulations

David O'Regan

John Wiley & Sons. Inc.

 This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright ? 2004 by John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

O'Regan, David. Auditor's dictionary : terms, concepts, processes, and regulations / David O'Regan. p. cm. ISBN 0-471-53118-9 (cloth) 1. Auditing--Dictionaries. I. Title. HF5667.O6728 2004 657'.03 -- dc22 2004003665

Printed in the United States of America

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Acknowledgments

When this dictionary was under preparation a great deal of assistance, generosity, and razor-sharp comment came my way. I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to all those who helped me by answering queries, giving opinions, drawing attention to valuable sources, and supplying information and documents from private collections. All of this led to a better book.

I thank the following (with apologies for the inadvertent omission of any academic or professional titles): Lynne Alexander, Chris Allen, Rachel Alterator, Professor Urton Anderson, John Marnie Angeles, Dolores Argo, Susannah Bolton, Barbara Brady, Fergus Brown, Geordie Cassin, Professor Andrew Chambers, Chiba Kanan, Danielle Cohen, Dr. Robert Colson, Charlie Culkin, Shirley Davies, Stefan de Greling, Wendeline Dill, Aslam Dossa, Sheila Doyle, Kim Ellis, Professor Serge Evraert, Michael Feland, Professor Dale L. Flesher, Ndung'u Gathinji, Giam Siewhun, Damarys Gil, Deborah Harrington, Trish Harris, Ho Foong Chin, Midori Imhoof, Kathleen Kraemer, Lisa Krist, John Lamming, Professor Tom A. Lee, Brenda Lovell, Janet Maillard, Professor Keith Maunders, David McNamee, Christine Miller, Professor Belverd E. Needles Jr., George Ochido, Des O'Neil, Nicola Perry, Professor Michael Power, Professor Gary J. Previts, Professor Phil Reckers, Kathy Rice, Professor Jeffrey Ridley, Dr James Roth, Professor Prem Nath Sikka, Megan Spillane, Lesley Stephenson, Chuck Teeter, Genevi?ve Tremblay, Terry Trsar, Professor Curtis C. Verschoor, Professor Gerald Vinten, Margaret Walsh, Robert Whitaker, Jim Woehlke, Susan Wright, and Dan Zautis.

I also thank John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and Tim Burgard in particular, for taking on a project unprecedented in the field of auditing. I thank Karen Ludke, Petrina Kulek, and Louise Jacob at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., for their support in seeing the book through to publication.

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vi ? Acknowledgments

My record of gratitude to all those who assisted me in my search for enlightenment does not imply any endorsement of my definitions. Indeed, individuals may on occasion dissent vigorously from my interpretations. This is not a dictionary created by a committee of consensus, and any errors are my responsibility alone. I invite readers' comments, corrections, and criticisms to help ensure the quality and accuracy of any future editions.

In his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Samuel Johnson remarked that "to make dictionaries is dull work." I wouldn't necessarily agree with Dr. Johnson's view, but I can certainly confirm that dictionary-writing is a grueling task. I thank my wife, Abhishikta, for her encouragement, affection, and love, which greatly helped me in the preparation of this book.

David O'Regan Oxford, U.K. July 2004

About the Author

David O'Regan is Head of Audit at Oxford University Press in Oxford, England. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is the author of International Auditing--Practical Resource Guide (Wiley, 2003) and two audit-related books for the Institute of Internal Auditors. His articles and essays have appeared in U.S. and British professional and academic journals, including Internal Auditor and Managerial Auditing Journal. Prior to joining Oxford University Press he worked for United Technologies Corporation and Price Waterhouse (the forerunner to PricewaterhouseCoopers). Further information on his writing is available at .

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Contents

Preface

xi

User Guide

xv

Entries A?Z

1

Sources

279

Abbreviations

295

Appendix 1: List of Institutions

303

Appendix 2: List of Publications, Texts,

and Legislation

309

Appendix 3: Biographical Names

313

Appendix 4: List of Non-English Terms

315

ix

Preface

What is meant by Enronitis, facilitating payment, lapping, negative assurance, and phantom ticking? This dictionary offers a measure of clarity to these and other terms in the complex and evolving language of auditing. Auditing has been in continuous development over the last century and a half, and words continue to jostle for prominence in the auditing lexicon: some auditing terms turn out to be intransient and fall away into obscurity, while others gather a solid basis of usage. With increasing trends toward systematic auditing practice and theory, there is now a pressing need for rigor in the discipline's terminology.1

Given the large number of auditing professionals today, and an ever-increasing level of public interest with auditing, it is perhaps surprising that no dictionary specifically dedicated to the subject has previously appeared.2 This book aims to fill the gap, and it is therefore the first of its kind. Its target audience includes practitioners, students, and scholars of auditing. Indeed, it should be of use to anyone whose work demands familiarity with auditing and corporate governance, including individuals subjected to auditing processes and those whose duties involve the reading of audit reports. As well as serving as a reference tool, I also hope that the dictionary will act as a learning aid and as a complement to study.

As this dictionary has no precedent, an explanation of its aims may assist the reader in assessing its utility. My intention has been to define and clarify the meanings of essential auditing terms and concepts, to illustrate their usage, and to point toward further sources of information. In attempting to dispel some of the mists surrounding auditing terminology, I have attempted to combine a reasonable degree of academic rigor with brevity3 and practical relevance. A book of this size cannot hope to provide in-depth treatment of every topic it mentions, and for this reason many of the entries have guidance to further reading and to more

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xii ? Preface

detailed sources of information. In areas of contention or dispute, I have tried to strike a neutral balance between differing standpoints. Although the dictionary's primary aim is to give up-to-date information, it also keeps an eye on the historical context in which the language of auditing has developed.

In addition to the terminology and concepts of auditing, the dictionary also covers the discipline's major international institutions, people, and publications. In all these cases, brief sketches are given, with suggested further reading and Web links, as appropriate. Some selectivity has been necessary. With institutions, I have tried to restrict entries to the auditing-related institutes of larger countries. For example, to include every single institute of chartered accountants seemed excessive; therefore, while I have listed the chartered accountants' institute of Bangladesh (population: 140 million), I have excluded that of neighboring Nepal (population: 25 million). With individuals, I have sought to include writers, theorists, and practitioners who have made important contributions to contemporary auditing thought or practice. I had to draw my lines somewhere, and the inclusion or exclusion of a publication, organization, or individual should not be interpreted as a definitive value judgment.

The terminology of auditing has a solid center, yet no discernable circumference. Its words are not simply lying around, ready to be picked up or harvested. In addition to what may be considered "core" auditing terminology, the dictionary also contains entries that derive from a number of disciplines: financial accounting, management accounting, corporate governance, economics, finance, information technology, law, and management science. Auditing borrows terminology in a promiscuous fashion, as it has emerged from complex interactions between all these contributory disciplines. However, auditing frequently modifies the meanings of the words it borrows. An auditor's definition of cell, for example, differs significantly from that of a biologist or a lawyer. A chacun son m?tier,4 as the French would say.

For these reasons, no description, explanation, or portrayal of auditing can avoid encroaching on a range of disciplines. However, I have sought to strike a balance by selecting only the terms, concepts, and institutions from other disciplines that seemed most relevant to auditing,5 and I have defined them with their auditing meanings prominent.

The first draft of this dictionary was written almost continuously, within one year, to encourage a broad consistency of style. I have taken a rather formulaic approach to the preparation of some categories of entry--the entries for auditing

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