An auditor is not an investigator. His vital task is to approach his task with an inquiring mind.
“He is a watch dog but not a blood hound”
He is bound to inquire into the substantial accuracy of the balance sheet and ascertain that it is properly drawn up so as to contain a true and correct representation of the state of the company‟s affairs.
As observed in re Kingston Cotton Mills“ an auditor is not bound to be a detective”.
An auditor is justified in believing tried servants of the company in whom confidence is placed by the company. He is entitled to assume that they are honest.
An auditor is bound to exhibit the care, skill and caution of a reasonably competent, careful and cautious auditor. He is not bound to do more.
An auditor does not guarantee the discovery of all fraud.
He does not guarantee that the books do correctly show the true position of the company‟s affairs.
It is not the auditor‟s responsibility to ascertain whether the business of the company is being conducted prudently or imprudently, profitably or unprofitably. However the auditor may be deemed to be an investigator in certain circumstances:
i) If appointed to investigate the affairs of a company in relation to a particular matter
ii) If there is anything calculated to excite suspicion he must probe it to the bottom
In the words of Lord Denning in Fomento Ltd V Selsdon fountain Pen Co. Ltd [1958] “an auditor is not to be written off as a professional adder-upper and subtractor. Hisvital task is to take care to see that errors are not made, be they errors of computation, or errors of omission or commission, or downright untruths. To perform this task properly he must come to it with an inquiring mind –not suspicion of dishonesty…”In the light of the foregoing to what extent is an auditor an investigator?
