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Auditing & Assurance › Audit Evidence & Procedures

What is vouching and what is tracing?

Beginner

Answer

Vouching starts from a recorded item in the accounts and follows it back to supporting documentation—testing for occurrence/existence (that recorded items are valid). Tracing starts from source documents forward to the records—testing for completeness (that all items are recorded). Direction of testing matters for the assertion addressed.
Vouching: ledger -> source document (existence/occurrence)
Tracing: source document -> ledger (completeness)
Real-world example To test completeness of sales, the auditor traces shipping documents forward to invoices and the sales ledger.

Common follow-ups: Which assertion does vouching test? | Which direction tests completeness?

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All 18 Audit Evidence & Procedures questions