CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Many people tend to seriously think that auditing is a subdivision of accounting, probably that is how it was introduced to us and because every auditor is an accountant but every accountant is not an auditor. Auditing has its root elsewhere. The relationship of auditing and accounting is close, but they are not the same. There are business associates.

Accounting is concerned with collecting, classification, correction, summarization and communication and financial information. It involves the measurement and communication of business events and conditions as they affect the peculiar enterprises or entity. The task of accounting is reduced a tremendous mass detailed information to manageable and understandable proportion. Auditing does more of these things.

Auditing is an independent examination and expression of opinion on the financial statement of an enterprise by an appointed or employed auditor in pursuance of that appointment and in compliance with the relevant statutory obligation, hence the role of the internal auditors in stocktaking.  Auditing is analytical not constructive. It is critical, investigative and concerned with the basis of accounting measurement and auditing emphasis is to proof of correctiveness. Auditing is also concerned with adequacy in design, effectiveness in operation and consistency in application of such proceedings.

It is also aimed at forming opinion on the truth and fairness of the transaction of an enterprise and also has its principles, rules not on accounting, which is learns for ideas and methods. Auditing is therefore a discipline independent on logic with accounting as art of its utilities.

Historically, the auditor had the accounts read to him since the term audit originated from the Latin ‘audire’ meaning to hear. After Luca Pacido published his book in the 15th century, the work of the auditor became more involved, but today, the increased complexity of business units, either by the scope of its own operation or by amalgamation, has now forced the auditor to adopt new methods of approach to his work – the role of auditor in stocktaking.

The auditor’s duty in respect to stock taking is often regarded as fully expressed in the case of re-Kingston Cotton Mill Co. Ltd, 1896 in which Lindly L. J. stated that it was “no part of the auditors duty to take stock”. But later in the united States, it is the recognized duty of the auditor to make physical stock checks – that is stocktaking – this duty having been imposed upon him after much defalcations as took place in the cause of MC Kesson V Robin (1940) whereby fictitious records affecting purchases, sales and stocks enabled various responsible officials working in collusion to overstate the assets on the balance sheet by some 21000,000 dollars.

On the other hand, stocktaking or physical verification of stock may by means of full count or measurement in case of bulk stock tally with the bin card records stocktaking could be done in three ways stated below: