AuditingAuditing has been around since the mid-1800s and originated in Great Britain. Some of today's firms have been around since the 1800s, such as Deloitte & Co. Price Waterhouse & Co. In this document, I will outline the functions of auditing, the nature of auditing, how standards apply to financial, operational and compliance aspects. audit and some other items that pertain to auditing in general. Nature of Auditing The nature of auditing is that auditors are assigned a special purpose, which is to provide credibility to the information reported in the financial statement, along with any other audits that are done by them. “The importance and comprehensive nature of the audit places a special responsibility on public officials or others entrusted with public resources who authorize or organize audits to be carried out in accordance with these standards. This responsibility is to provide coverage of the audit sufficiently broad to help meet the reasonable needs of potential users of the audit report. The comprehensive nature of the audit also highlights the importance of auditors clearly understanding the objectives of the audit, the scope of their work to be performed and the requirements. reporting" (gao.gov, 1999). The functions of auditing are that it "measures and evaluates the effectiveness of various types of controls and can also adequately deal with operational issues" (ofm.wa, 2006). Most audits, once performed, will provide a written report outlining the findings and what controls need to be in place, if any, are missing. It is up to management to make sure these controls start to happen. When we worked at Sonic Corp. we had internal auditors, along with external auditors who looked at how we operated in the Tax Department. Internal auditors would sit with you and see how things were done, asking some questions. They wanted to make sure all checks were in place, correct signatures on returns, journals, who checked what and how often, etc. Now with the external auditors, they would pull the previous years' statements and different shops to do sure the numbers were the same as what was reported on the returns. If there were discrepancies, then they should be noted, for example why the store's gross earnings were higher than those shown in the system. Elements of GAAS There are many elements involved in generally accepted auditing standards.