Accounts Payable/Expense Accounting

Audit Work Program

PROJECT TEAM (LIST MEMBERS):

Project Timing Date Comments

Planning

Fieldwork

Report Issuance

Time Project Work Step Initial Index

Planning

Conduct project planning, scope setting, and auditee requests/coordination.

Coordinate meetings with key process personnel.

Review known best practices for initial benchmarking in the accounts

payable/expense accounting areas.

Obtain electronic data for testing.

Fieldwork

Obtain and review the policies and procedures for accounts payable and
expense reporting.

Accounts Payable

Interview key accounts payable personnel.

Determine if systems surrounding accounts payable are fully integrated and

review current systems used (e.g., purchasing, accounts payable, receiving).

Understand how invoice errors are tracked and monitored.

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 Time Project Work Step Initial Index

Understand how A/P checks authorizations. Do they check all invoices for
authorizations?

Benchmark the company; check signing authority procedures against those

of other companies.

Test a sample of invoices for P.O.s, requisitions and timely processing. Are
all checks prepared on the basis of approved documentation, compared with
supporting data and properly approved?

How are vendor returns controlled?

Understand the performance measures for the employees in accounts

payable. Do they maximize process effectiveness?

Use CAAT to analyze electronic data in order to identify duplicate payments,

unusual debit balances, unusual trends/fluctuations, stratification of
disbursements, etc.

Benchmark the accounts payable process to known best practices.

Document all accounts payable fieldwork and include process maps if

necessary.

Conduct segregation of duties testing on system access

rights/responsibilities.

Analyze gathered information.

Expense Reporting

Interview key personnel in the expense reporting department to understand

process flows.

Understand how expense reporting is done, how reports are processed, and
how employees are reimbursed. What department handles this? This should
be done through the payroll department, according to current best practice
research.

Are expense reports done manually or online? Understand the "electronic"

process for expense reporting.

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 Time Project Work Step Initial Index

Review the outsourcing contract for the travel and expense function and
evaluate what is being outsourced. Determine if competitive bidding took
place.

Evaluate how travel expenses are being audited and determine if appropriate
methods are being followed to evaluate travel reports.

Test a sample of reports to verify that audit steps completed by staff are
being followed.

Use CAAT to evaluate all expense reports > (Insert Scope Here) and
determine if expenses are reasonable/approved.

Test a sample of expense reports to ensure the following:

Compliance with policies and procedures
All transactions are promptly and accurately recorded
All transactions are properly accumulated and summarized
A critical review of all expense reports is performed

Determine what profile (employee) has been used to test expense reporting
and the relevance of the measures.

Test a sample of expense reports to ensure that proper authorizations were

made on the front end and that all expenses are reasonable.

Determine the impact of corporate credit cards and consider interviewing a

sample of users to determine the usefulness to employees (if applicable).

Document all expense reporting fieldwork and process maps.

Analyze gathered data.

Other meetings/interviews/discussions.

Other follow-up.

Purchasing

Use CAAT to test purchasing transactions (e.g., stratification, unusual

fluctuations, etc.).

Document all purchasing testing fieldwork.

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 Time Project Work Step Initial Index

Analyze gathered data.

Other meetings/interviews/discussions.

Other follow-up.

Procurement Cards

Interview key personnel in the purchasing department to understand

procurement cards.

Interview key personnel in the accounting department to understand

payment processes and to identify disbursement issues.

Obtain and understand approval levels and authorization limits (e.g., dollar
amount per month, etc.).

Identify the procurement card user and determine appropriateness.

Understand the relationship of procurement card limits to the budget.

Use CAAT to stratify procurement card purchases and analyze trends.

Assess the overall effectiveness and efficiency of procurement card use.

Document all procurement card fieldwork and process maps.

Test procurement card controls.

Analyze gathered data.

Other meetings/interviews/discussions.

Other follow-up.

Reporting

Prepare a report on the procedures, findings and recommendations.

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 Time Project Work Step Initial Index

Total Project Effort

Cost by Level

Estimated Project Expenses

Total Project Costs

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