The Audit Technique of Inquiry Has Advantages and Disadvantages

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The Answer is Advantages: Inquiries,interviews,and other oral evidence are significant because management's explanations are an important part of obtaining an understanding of the business and the nature of specific transactions.
Inquiry is especially useful in determining management's strategic plan such as its intentions to invest in new products,divest old product lines or expand into new markets.
Informal discussion with client personnel may reveal a great deal of information which more formal procedures may not uncover.
It is a relatively inexpensive means of gathering audit evidence.
Disadvantages: Inquiry can only produce spoken representations,which are the least reliable form of evidence.
The auditor may misunderstand statements made during a discussion or fail to properly document the discussion,or the interviewee may later deny statements made during the discussion.
Evidence gathered by formal and informal enquiry of auditee personnel generally cannot stand alone and must be corroborated by the findings of other procedures.

The Audit Technique of Inquiry Has Advantages and Disadvantages

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