audit
detailed checking of the financial records of a business by an independent qualified person ( auditor) in order to verify their correctness or to detect errors or fraud. Glossary of Business Terms
————
An examination of a company's accounting records and books conducted by an outside professional in order to determine whether the company is maintaining records according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary
* * *
▪ I. audit au‧dit 1 [ˈɔːdt ǁ ˈɒː-] noun [countable]
1. ACCOUNTING an official examination of a person's or organization's accounts by an expert, to check that they are true and honest:
• An audit of the company showed accumulated losses of £1.5 billion.
• The accounts will need to have an independent audit before they can be submitted.
• We carry out a full internal audit once a year.
an audit where a company's financial records are checked for mistakes etc through the whole year, rather than just once a year
an audit done by an expert from outside a company or organization that is being audited
• The prison population has risen by 2,500 in the last six months, according to a government audit.
• She wants the oil company to agree to an external audit of its environmental policies.
an official examination of the effects of a company's activities on the environment
an official examination of how well a company behaves, for example how it treats its employees, the environment etc:
• The social audit of Ben and Jerry's in general commends the company, which gives 7.5% of pre-tax profits to charity.
[m0] ▪ II. audit audit 2 verb [transitive]
1. ACCOUNTING to officially check that an individual's or organization's accounts are true and honest:
• To taxpayers who've been audited, the Internal Revenue Service is a frightening organization.
2. COMMERCE ECONOMICS to check a particular part of an organization's activities or performance:
• When the cars it builds in Canada were audited, they were accepted as having the 50% North American content required under trade rules.
* * *
An official examination of a company's accounts.
* * *
Ⅰ.
audit UK US /ˈɔːdɪt/ noun [C or U]
► ACCOUNTING »
A full audit is performed each year by a district auditor.
»
We conducted an audit of the accounts for the year 2009/10.
»
Companies must issue a statutory audit report.
an audit committee/firm/team »
Members of the audit committee must be independent.
► complete/conduct/do/undertake an audit »
We conduct an annual audit to ensure that we comply with standards.
a performance/quality/skills audit »
Departments must carry out an internal quality audit.
»
Managers should undertake an audit of staff performance.
»
an independent audit of needs and facilities
»
The whole process is subject to audit and inspection.
→
See also BRAND AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
brand audit),
CONTINUOUS AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
continuous audit),
CULTURAL AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
cultural audit),
DESIGN AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
design audit),
ENERGY AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
energy audit),
ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
environmental audit),
EXTERNAL AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
external audit),
FINANCIAL AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
financial audit),
GREEN AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
green audit),
INFORMATION AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
information audit),
INTERNAL AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
internal audit),
IT AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
IT audit),
MANAGEMENT AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
management audit),
MARKET AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
market audit),
NON-AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
non-audit),
PERFORMANCE AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
performance audit),
POSITION AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
position audit),
SOCIAL AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
social audit),
TAX AUDIT(
Cf. ↑
tax audit)
Ⅱ.
audit UK US /ˈɔːdɪt/ verb [T]
► ACCOUNTING »
The accounts are audited annually.
have sth audited »
They had the books audited by a qualified accountant.
► »
Our operations are regularly audited.
be independently/externally audited »
Our quality system is independently audited by an approved certification body.
Financial and business terms.
2012.