Expenditure Cycle Risks and Audit Concerns
Taking the most narrow attest-function view, external auditors are concerned primarily
with the potential for understatement of liabilities and related expenses. Reported balances
usually consist of items that have been reviewed, validated, and acknowledged by
management. Attempts to improve financial statement presentation may involve actions
to suppress the recognition and reporting of valid liabilities related to the period under
review. Substantive tests of expenditure cycle accounts are therefore directed toward
gathering evidence of understatement and omission of material items rather than their
overstatement. Broader operational audit concerns, however, include process efficiency,
fraud, and losses due to errors. Within this context, overstatement of liabilities and related
expenses are also important.