Tests of details
In one sentenceProcedures in which the auditor examines specific transactions or balances against their documents, to confirm that the recorded amount is correct, real and complete.
Simply put
In tests of details the auditor takes an entry and traces it back to its source: the invoice, the goods received note, the contract and the bank statement, or starts from the document and confirms it was recorded.
Together with analytical procedures they form what are called substantive procedures, and their aim is to detect errors in the figure itself, not in the way work is done.
Worked example
An auditor examined a sample of 40 purchase invoices at a plastics factory, totaling 200,000 SAR, and found two invoices recorded at more than their value.
Sample value200,000 SAR
Overstatement found in the two invoices2,000 SAR
Error rate in the sample2,000 ÷ 200,000 = 1%
Error found in the sample2,000 SAR
Formula: Error rate = value of error found ÷ sample value
Don't confuse it with
Tests of controlsTests of controls ask: is the control working? Tests of details ask: is the figure correct?