Today, my manager and I traveled to Penang for a fieldwork assignment with Company “E”, a publicly listed company based there. I asked my manager why we needed to attend the physical fieldwork instead of relying on softcopy documents provided by the client. My manager explained that relying solely on softcopy documents could result in the client modifying them, which could potentially lead to inaccurate conclusions about the company's internal control. As auditors, we have a responsibility to ensure the company's actions are in line with good internal control, especially for publicly listed companies where shareholders rely on our good faith and efficiency. Therefore, physical fieldwork is crucial.
After a three-hour journey, we arrived at the company's office and met with the person in charge, Mr. Lau. As auditors, we represented our audit firm and acted professionally and politely with the client to uphold the firm's reputation. We started by going through the information request list and asking for any pending documents, such as a screenshot of their server password setting, which we could obtain directly during the fieldwork. We then visited the server room to observe the controls in place. Afterward, we completed the audit working paper and management letter before having a short exit meeting with Mr. Lau to present our audit findings and address any concerns or disagreements. This was the agenda for the fieldwork, and the day ended with us returning to our hotel.
Main things that have learned:
• To know why it is necessary to have audit fieldwork
• To understand the agenda that we should do during audit fieldwork
Comment/idea/opinion
I still remember when I asked my manager and he replied me that: how you can be sure if the documents provided by them are true and there is no modification being made before. I then realised it is quite important for us to have audit fieldwork as the objective of audit is to ensure company to ascertain the reliability and validity of the information. If we just rely on the documents provided by client, hence we cannot really meet our audit objective.
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