ABSTRACT
The term ‘audit’ comes from the Latin verb ‘audire’, which means ‘to hear’. In the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome, checking activities were performed to make sure that public revenues and expenditures were properly accounted for. The regimes were worried about corrupt officers committing fraud and incompetent officers making book keeping errors. Checking clerks were therefore appointed to check the public accounts, by hearing verbal explanations from those responsible for keeping the books, judging their explanations and after an examination announcing the results of their audit. Hence, in ancient days, auditing existed primarily as a method to maintain and check public or government accounts.
