To gain understanding of an application and build an accurate simulation, what should an auditor request?

• A. Complete and current documentation
• B. Current and prior year financial statements
• C. Master files and production data
• D. Account balances and chart of accounts

Answer: (A)

Understanding an application well enough to build an accurate simulation hinges on having up-to-date documentation that describes how the system is designed, how data flows through it, what controls exist, and how inputs are transformed into outputs. Complete and current documentation serves as the blueprint of the application, covering system descriptions, data flows, data dictionaries, processing logic, interfaces, and control objectives. With this information, you can map the actual processing steps, identify where controls should operate, and model how the system should behave under different scenarios. Financial statements or account balances show results or data, not how the system processes them, and master files or production data reflect actual data/files rather than the system’s design and controls. Therefore, the most appropriate request is complete and current documentation.