Auditors.

One of the most important requirements in an Accountant is the capability of fulfilling faithfully and with satisfaction to his clients and himself, the manifold duties which he undertakes in accepting a position of the above nature. To look over, in a hurried and cursory manner, the accounts rendered for inspection, was at one period frequently the mode of conducting an audit, but this fashion of auditing has proved to be entirely insufficient. Errors and discrepancies, unavoidably passed unnoticed, in the course of a short and superficial investigation, were subsequently exposed in the settlement of business transactions; consequently professional men have found it absolutely necessary to alter in its entirety the system of auditing, and to adopt a more perfect method of determining the accuracy of the various accounts placed in their hands for verification. It would be out of place, in these columns, to refer particularly to the enormous frauds that have remained for great lengths of time undiscovered, owing rather to the laxity or ineffacacy of the system of Audit, than to the want of efficiency or fidelity in the Auditors; but that many such malpractices have been unwittingly favoured by the former cause cannot be disputed. For many years a fraud may have been creeping gradually along in the security afforded by the want of thorough examination; when the stringent exercise of their duty by those employed to detect irregularities and discrepancies, would have checked it in its infancy. There are many systems now in use, one, the most general, being to follow and check the various items, which culminate in the details forming the Balance Sheet, or whatever Statement requires authentication; another and more laborious mode is to analyze the whole of the transactions in abstracts specially prepared for the purpose, something in the manner adopted in compiling a statistical return. Some Auditors however, are satisfied with simply checking the totals here and there of the Cash and other books, ascertaining that the statement rendered, agrees with the Ledgers, and that the result tallies with precedents. There exist many more ways of auditing, some more or less complicated, but the three quoted will serve to illustrate the work of an Auditor, who, notwithstanding the smallness of his fee, is expected to verify accounts which, perhaps on a thorough investigation would be found teeming with errors and inaccuracies. In a subsequent article I propose to refer in detail to the duties of auditors, and in a third contribution to their responsibilities.