Q.State the duties of an auditor in respect of Internal Check. (3 marks)

An auditor's duties toward internal check centre on evaluating it, testing it, and deciding how far to rely on it — never on simply assuming it works.

An auditor does not design or operate a business's internal check system, but has specific duties in relation to it:

1. To study and evaluate the internal check system in place, before deciding the nature, timing, and extent of the audit tests to apply — normally one of the very first steps in planning an audit.
2. To test whether the system is actually operating as it is supposed to on paper, not merely assume it works because a policy document describes it — typically through enquiry, observation, and a limited walk-through of a few transactions.
3. To decide how much reliance can reasonably be placed on the system — a strong, genuinely-operating system justifies a narrower programme of independent test-checking; a weak or absent one requires a wider, deeper independent verification.
4. Never to relax vigilance entirely, however strong the internal check appears, since the auditor remains independently responsible for the audit opinion. …