To every season... turn, turn, turn. Even in accounting...
The audit cycle represents the circular process accountants go through to audit a company's financial information. The cycle is typically represented as having between five and seven steps, depending on how the stages are delineated.
(Side question: are going to sleep and waking up two different things? Or two sides of the sleeping process? That's the kind of distinction that comes up in figuring out how many steps there are in the audit cycle. Everyone agrees on the general path of the cycle, but some sources break the steps down more finely.)
Generally, the process works like this:
1. Identify what's being audited
2. Figure out what standards to use in order to judge the situation
3. Collect data
4. Compare the data with the agreed-upon standards
5. Implement change (if necessary)
Some sources then include the step of "re-audit" which basically restarts the cycle.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a proxy?8 Views
Finance a la Shmoop. What is a proxy? Well it's kind of an approx-i-mate. As in, it's
not exactly the way dogs mate. Not all of them try to text their goodies to each
other. In the land of Finance, a proxy is simply a substitute.
Someone's vote, for example, can be given to another party, who then acts on behalf
of the person, who was going to vote in the first place. But really couldn't care [coffee drive-thru]
less about the outcome, so she went to Dunkin Donuts instead. That's how
most votes are taken in public companies. Proxies are sent out to shareholders, who
then designate their wishes, to then be submitted to an individual, physically
present at the vote, who then you know votes and that's it.
We'll leave you with final warning. Beware of any incoming texts you may get
from a German Shepherd. [Phone with dog text]
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