Glossary of Audit in Bangladesh and Related Terms to Value Property

Glossary of Audit and Related Terms
source: www.cagbd.org/html/perfaudit.html

Accountability: That responsibility to some outside or higher level of Authority by a person or group of persons in an organisation.
Administrative Control System: A series of actions, being an integral part of the internal control system, concerned with administrative procedures needed to make managerial decisions, realise the highest possible economic and administrative efficiency and ensure the implementation of administrative policies, whether related to financial affairs or otherwise.
Audit Code: The Audit Code issued by the Comptroller and Auditor- General of Bangladesh which contains guidance on audit principles and practices to be followed by auditors.
Auditee or Audited Body or Entity: The body, organisation or entity for which the C&AG is responsible for auditing.
Audit Evidence: Information that forms the foundation, which supports the auditor's opinions, conclusions or reports. Sufficient: information that is quantitatively sufficient and appropriate to achieve the auditing results; and is qualitatively impartial such as to inspire confidence and reliability.
Relevant: information that is pertinent to the audit objectives. Reliable: information that is consistent with the facts, i.e. it is valid.
Auditors: Officials of the Bangladesh Audit Department who perform audit work on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Any audit official involved in planning, conducting, supervising or reporting the audit.
Audit Mandate: The audit responsibilities, powers, discretion and duties conferred on the SAI under the Constitution or other lawful authority of a country.
Audit Objective: A precise statement of what the audit intends to accomplish and/or the question the audit will answer. This may include financial, regularity or performance issues. It will help decision-makers to improve the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of their operations.
Audit Procedures: Tests, instructions and details included in the audit programme to be carried out systematically and reasonably.
Audit Scope: The framework, boundary or limits and subjects of the audit. 
Audit Standards: Audit standards provide minimum guidance for the auditor that helps determine the extent of audit steps and procedures that should be applied to fulfil the audit objective. They are the criteria or yardsticks against which the quality of the audit results are evaluated; the Government Auditing Standards which are issued by the Comptroller and
Auditor General of Bangladesh containing standards with which auditors are required to comply.
Causes: Management or employee action or actions that took place or should have taken place and created a result by not following an appropriate standard.
Conclusions: Conclusions are statements deduced by the auditor from the findings.
Constitutional: A matter that is permitted or authorised by the fundamental
law of the Republic of Bangladesh. 
Cost Benefit: The techniques for determining the product or service of greatest benefit for the least cost.
Criteria: Any standards used for measuring the results caused by the actions of employees or management in any performance audit situation.
Economy: Minimising the cost of resources used for an activity, having regard to the appropriate quality.
Effectiveness: The extent to which objectives are achieved and the relationship between the intended impact and the actual impact of an activity.
Efficiency: The relationship between the output, in terms of goods, services or other results, and the resources used to produce them.
Field Standards: The standards that apply to the planning and examination phases of an audit. These allow the auditor to systematically meet the
requirements for setting the audit objective, choosing suitable criteria, supervising the audit, gathering sufficient, relevant and competent evidence, and making an appropriate study and evaluation of internal controls. 
Findings (or Observations): Findings (observations) are the specific evidence gathered by the auditor to satisfy the audit objectives; the results of an audit on the basis of the evidence obtained.
General Standards: The qualifications and competence, the necessary independence and objectivity, the exercise of due care, and appropriate quality controls, which shall be required of the auditor to carry out the tasks related to the field and reporting standards in a competent, efficient and effective manner.
Independence: The freedom of the SAI in audit matters to act in accordance with its audit mandate without external direction or interference of any kind.
Internal Control: The whole system of financial and other controls, including the organisational structure, methods, procedures and internal audit, established by management within its corporate goals, to assist in conducting the business of the audited entity in a regular economic, efficient and effective manner; ensuring adherence to management policies; safeguarding assets and resources; securing the accuracy and completeness of accounting records; and producing timely and reliable financial and management information.
Internal Rate of Return: The discount rate at which a stream of costs and benefits has a net present value of zero, net present value being the sum of the present values of all benefits less the sum of the present values of all costs.
Management Control: The plan of organisation and all other plans, policies, procedures and practices needed by an entity to assure that the objectives of the entity are achieved.
Materiality: In general terms, a matter may be judged material if knowledge of it would be likely to influence the user of the financial statements or the performance audit report. Materiality is generally considered in terms of value, i.e. the amount of money involved in relation to the whole. The inherent nature or characteristics of an item or group of items may also render a matter material, for example, where the law or some other regulation requires it to be disclosed separately regardless of the amount involved. A matter may also be considered material because of the context in which it occurs, for example, an item in relation to the corresponding amount in previous years. Audit evidence plays an important part in the auditor's decision concerning the selection of materiality issues 
Value for Money or Performance Audit: An objective and systematic review of an organisation to assess whether in the pursuit of predetermined goals it has achieved economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the utilisation