A completed audit is an audit that is not started until after the end of a financial period. It continues until it is finished. The final audit is done when all the transactions for a company's year are recorded and accounted for, and when the company has prepared its Trading and Profit & Loss Account, and Balance Sheet. The auditor carries out his or her work continuously, until it is complete.
When the audit is done throughout the year, this is called continuous audit. The auditor's work is high and they have to report regular intervals. If there are a lot of transactions or if the internal control system has problems, then you should use continuous audit. Banks do this kind of audit which is also known as concurrent audit in big branches.
Continuous Audit Vs Final Audit
There are some differences between Continuous and
Complete audit which is given below:
1. Continuous audit continues at regular or irregular intervals
throughout the year whereas Periodic audit commences after the finalization of
the books of accounts at the end of the financial years and continuous till it
is completed.
2. In Continuous Audit checking of accounts is detailed and intensive
whereas in
Periodic Audit intensive and detailed checking are not possible. Only test checking is possible.
3. Continuous audit is very suitable for large-scale business undertakings with a multitude of transactions Whereas Periodic audit
is suitable for small business undertakings.
4. Due to detailed
and intensive checking and, as such, there is very little possibility of
frauds or errors being undetected. Even after the completion of the audit, the possibility remains that frauds
and errors have not been detected
5. In Continuous audit cost is high because the auditor
has to do a lot of work whereas in
Periodic Audit cost is low because it is once in a year job
.