Examination of Records

To perform an audit, the auditor must examine certain records. These may include, but are not limited to:

• Sales invoices
• Purchase invoices for supplies
• Capital asset invoices and journals
• Resale and exemption certificates
• General ledgers, subsidiary ledgers and journals, and supporting books and records
• Tax returns
• Bank statements
• Workpapers and accounting data used to prepare tax returns
• Electronic records.

The size and complexity of a business determines the scope of the audit and what records will be examined during the audit. The Revenue Act requires taxpayers to furnish all records requested by the auditor that are necessary for performing a fair and impartial audit. Treasury auditors employ methods that use electronic or computer-readable data files. Using records in computer-readable form is accurate and generally results in reduced audit time.