Audit Risk Model

Audit risk is a risk that an auditor is likely to issue an incorrect opinion on the financial statements of a company. The purpose of auditing records is to lower the audit risk to a low level through testing and evidence. Because investors, creditors, and stakeholders use financial statements, an audit risk comes with legal liability for the firm performing audit work.

In the course of the audit, the auditor inquires and performs tests on the ledger and supporting documents. If there are errors, the auditor requests the management to correct journal entries. At the conclusion of the audit, after corrections, the auditor provides a written statement highlighting whether the financial statements are clean of material misstatement.

There are two key types of audit risk that the auditor must look into:

• Risk of Material Misstatement: This is a risk that a financial report is materially incorrect before an audit is conducted. “Material,” in this case, means a dollar amount that can change the opinion of the financial statement reader. For example, if the sporting goods inventory balance of $1.5 million is incorrect by $10,000, the stakeholder reading the statement may consider this a material amount. Lack of insufficient controls raises the risk of misstatement.
• Detection Risk: This is a risk that an auditor’s procedures don’t detect a material misstatement. An example is when the auditor performs a count of inventory and compares results with accounting records. This process proves the existence of the inventory, so if the test sample count is not sufficient, the detection risk will be higher.

What Is the Audit Risk Model?

Before exploring the topic, let’s define audit risk model. An audit risk model is a tool auditors use to manage and evaluate different risks arising from conducting an audit engagement. This tool helps the auditor understand the types of evidence and how much is required for each assertion. The tool provides insight on how to manage risk. For a basic audit, these are the components of audit risk model that an auditor focuses on to provide an accurate report:

• Inherent risk;
• Detection risk;
• Control risk.

Here’s the audit risk model formula.

Audit Risk = Inherent Risk x Control Risk x Detection Risk

Through the audit risk model, auditors can uncover the type of evidence that should be collected for different transaction classes, account balance, and disclosure. This is best determined in the planning stage and only carries little value in evaluating audit performance.

Components of Audit Risk Models

There are different components of audit risk model an auditor must review to get an accurate picture of the audit results.

1. Inherent Risk

This is the auditor’s assessment of the possibility of material misstatement of a record about a transaction class, attached disclosure, or an account balance. This assessment is conducted before considering relevant internal control in place. It’s essentially the systematic risk of misstatement based on a firm’s industry, structure, or market. Getting a high inherent risk means the transaction class, attached disclosure, or balance is at risk of material misstatement. Low inherent risk means the amount is not likely to be misstated. An inherent risk depends on factors that affect different accounts.

2. Control Risk

This highlights the auditor’s review of how likely the material misstatement could occur in a statement about an account balance, transaction class, or attached disclosure. It cannot be identified or prevented in a timely manner by pre-existing controls. The auditor performs the control risk assessment on the financial statement level of risk and its assertive risk level. So, such an assessment requires an auditor to have an understanding of the internal controls in an organization.

One of the audit risk model examples is that the control risk can be high for a valuation assertion in accounts calculated through a complex manner or with the accountant’s best judgment. Also, this could happen if the internal controls don’t have an independent review and verification process for financial statements.

3. Acceptable Audit Risk

The acceptable audit risk is an auditor’s risk level that they accept to release an unqualified opinion about financial statements, which could be materially misstated. Unqualified audit reports state financial statements are presumed free from misstatements.

4. Detection Risk

Detection risk is when the audit evidence does not capture material misstatements. If a client shows a high detection risk, an auditor can detect material errors. They can then react by lowering substantive testing.

How Do Auditors Use Audit Risk Models?

The audit risk model helps to understand the relationship between different risks that arise from an audit engagement. This helps them to manage the overall audit risk. The model allows for the amount of adaptation. If the auditor is limited to audit procedures involving steps, they will not change based on the company, which means audits become useful or complete. Using the risk model, the auditor can provide suggestions for allocating staff based on their experiences and skills. Also, they can help implement proper monitoring and supervision in the auditing process.

Advantages of Audit Risk Model

There are numerous benefits to using an audit risk model. First, the audit model is important because regulations for business accountability are stricter and encourage the beefing up of auditing practices. The audit risk model allows auditors to incorporate these standards to ensure strong audits that businesses and investors depend on. Second, an audit risk model is vital for handling complex audits, as it allows adaptation. Because of the risk model, auditors can assess the current situation and make the audit a flexible tool to inspect for specific errors.

Disadvantages of Audit Risk Model

Despite all the benefits of audit risk models, there are several downsides to keep in mind. First, it’s difficult to place quantitative value on inherent risk so that the model can imply unrealistic accuracy. Also, control risk may not highlight all factors that determine figures in financial statements. The model needs sufficiently large numbers for an accurate review, which rules out the application in smaller audits.

Understanding the Audit Risk Model – a Simple Summary

All businesses need a unified opinion, which is possible when an audit shows that financial records are free of misrepresentations. With automation tools, businesses can reduce inherent risk and control risk. This makes an audit risk model easy to manage when auditors perform their job. This review answers the question “what is the audit risk model?” and tells everything you need to know about managing risk during audits.