This is often used to determine whether manual controls, like the follow-up of exception reports, are being performed. Evidence could include written explanations, check marks, or other indications of follow-up documented on the exception report itself. Inspect evidence of the performance of a control when it might reasonably be expected to exist. Absence of evidence may indicate that the control is not operating as prescribed and further procedures will be necessary to determine whether there is in fact an effective control.
It is important to recognize that a signature on, for example, a voucher package to indicate that the signer approved it does not necessarily mean that the person carefully reviewed the package before signing. The package may have been signed based on only a cursory review (or without any review). As a result, the quality of the evidence regarding the effective operation of the control might not be sufficiently persuasive. If that is the case, reperforming the control (for example, checking prices, extensions, and additions) will likely be more appropriate. In addition, we might inquire of the person responsible for approving voucher packages what he or she looks for when approving packages and how many errors have been found within voucher packages. We also might inquire of supervisors whether they have any knowledge of errors that the person responsible for approving the voucher packages failed to detect.