Where to start
You can read the collection in its homepage order, or follow a question that interests you.
Can the records agree and still be wrong?
Start with Pacioli and the perfectly balanced lie, then visit McKesson’s invented business. The first explains why mathematical consistency is a limited achievement; the second shows how supporting documents can belong to the same deception.
What does history have to say about audit technology?
Begin with the mud trail, where misunderstanding a numerical system made competent scribes look mistaken. Continue with the tally sticks’ revenge for the risks that outlive a system, and the AI watchdog for the distinction between a possible explanation and evidence.
Who gets to ask the awkward question?
Pair the sheriff at the table with Who gets to be an accountant?. One concerns authority to demand an account; the other concerns authority to speak as an expert. Both ask what gives a challenge practical force.
Why does reform keep coming back?
Read Snell after the bubble and Enron and the endless repair of audit. They examine the difference between investigating a failure, improving an existing service and reconsidering what that service should do.
What does “complete” mean?
Domesday is the place to start. Its scale and authority make its boundaries especially instructive. Take that question back to any of the other articles: complete records of what, for whom, and as of when?
A few terms worth separating
| Term | The distinction used in these articles |
|---|---|
| Accounting | Recording, classifying and presenting information about resources and transactions. It supplies much of what an auditor examines. |
| Audit | An examination undertaken for a defined purpose. Its scope, authority and audience have varied greatly across history. |
| Financial-statement audit | An engagement directed at an opinion on financial statements under an applicable reporting and auditing framework. It is not a guarantee of every aspect of a business. |
| Investigation | An inquiry directed at particular questions or suspected events; its purpose can differ from a recurring financial-statement audit. |
| Internal control | Arrangements intended to help an organisation meet objectives and manage risks. The existence of a control and its effective operation are separate questions. |
| Corroboration | Evidence supporting a claim. Two documents derived from the same unreliable source may provide less support than their number suggests. |
| Professional scepticism | A questioning, critical approach to evidence. In these essays it also includes examining the reviewer’s own assumptions. |
These are reading aids, not quotations from a particular set of professional standards. Each article supplies the sources for its historical account.