Answer
The following safeguards are suggested to minimize the disadvantages of test – checking:
i) The test should be made by the auditor’s selecting without regard to the wishes of the client’s staff.
ii) No indication should be given by the auditor in advance as to the portions of the work or accounts which he proposes to check in detail.
iii) A representative number of transactions or accounts from every book or ledger, covering the whole of the period under audit, should be checked.
iv) All cash and bank accounts should be balanced and reconciled at the same date, and all cash balances verified by inspection at the same time.
v) Although, as a general rule, the tests should be of such a nature that different portions of the work are checked at cash audit, care should be taken at every audit to check certain accounts which were checked at the previous audit, so that a likely deflator will not feel free from risk in manipulating the accounts.
vi) Test-Checks should not be applied to the impersonal ledger or to control accounts. These should be checked in detail at each audit.