> Auditors insist that their services cannot be treated as a guarantee that accounts are truthful, and note that sophisticated frauds are by their nature difficult to spot.
As someone who knows nothing about this area, I don't understand why audits won't always detect fraud.
I would naively assume that auditors have access to all financial accounts and records of cash flows and they make sure they all add up and are categorized correctly. And that if fraud is happening, there will necessarily be numbers that don't add up.
So what am I missing? Do they not have access to all accounts and statements? Is it just a top-level glance at the numbers because there isn't enough time/money to scrutinize everything? Or can the numbers all add up but there's still fraud?
Is there anyone here who can give an example of something fraudulent that is hard to catch?
As someone who knows nothing about this area, I don't understand why audits won't always detect fraud.
I would naively assume that auditors have access to all financial accounts and records of cash flows and they make sure they all add up and are categorized correctly. And that if fraud is happening, there will necessarily be numbers that don't add up.
So what am I missing? Do they not have access to all accounts and statements? Is it just a top-level glance at the numbers because there isn't enough time/money to scrutinize everything? Or can the numbers all add up but there's still fraud?
Is there anyone here who can give an example of something fraudulent that is hard to catch?