Public management has great impact on economic development of the state. Government authority is implemented via public administration institutions which have at their disposal financial resources. State audit is one of the most reliable ways to provide exhaustive information on the legitimacy of financial management institutions as well as cost effectiveness, productivity and efficiency of public services. The essence of audit is to provide an audit conclusion based on reliable, sufficient and suitable evidence.

Audit evidence consists of the information collected, assessed and used during auditing used to substantiate the facts ascertained during auditing procedures and help make an impartial and reasonable opinion on the legitimacy, cost effectiveness and efficiency of operation of an enterprise. Audit evidence may be of different type selected from various sources using particular methods.

Audit evidence is collected during the stages of audit planning and implementation of independent procedures by conducting control tests and independent procedures the type, scope and time of implementation whereof is directly affected by such factors as the risks identified, level of significance, etc.

One of the most important factors determining the obtaining and assessment of audit evidence is audit sampling, i.e. application of audit procedures to a lesser extent than the totality. Audit sampling may be conducted with the help of statistic and non-statistic sampling methods which provide sampling results of different level of objectivity.

The auditor selects evidence by applying specific procedures for audit sampling, e.g. monitoring, survey, examination, calculation and re-calculation, analytical procedures, etc. The decision to use specific procedures is conditioned by personal competence of the auditor, type and goals of the audit conducted, particular circumstances, risks identified, etc. Most often several audit sampling procedures or their combinations are used during one auditing.

Evidence collected during auditing must meet the requirements raised, i.e. be reliable, sufficient and suitable.

The sufficiency of audit evidence implies necessary amount thereof, reliability means impartiality of audit evidence or the level of trust in them, whilst suitability is understood as the compliance of audit evidence with the audit goals.

The most important factor which determines the sufficiency, reliability and suitability of audit evidence is personal competence and professional experience of the auditor.

Raktažodžiai: audit evidence, audito įrodymai