page 5

II. THE AUDITOR'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR FRAUD AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL SKEPTICISM RESPONSIBILITY FOR FRAUD 1. One of the most important paragraphs in the authoritative auditing literature is the following (AU sec. 110, par. 2): The auditor has a responsibility to plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether caused by error or fraud. Because of the nature of audit evidence and the characteristics of fraud, the auditor is able to obtain reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that material misstatements are detected. The auditor has no responsibility to plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance that misstatements, whether caused by errors or fraud, that are not material to the financial statements are detected. II. THE AUDITOR'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR FRAUD AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL SKEPTICISM RESPONSIBILITY FOR FRAUD 1. One of the most important paragraphs in the authoritative auditing literature is the following (AU sec. 110, par. 2): The auditor has a responsibility to plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether caused by error or fraud. Because of the nature of audit evidence and the characteristics of fraud, the auditor is able to obtain reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that material misstatements are detected. The auditor has no responsibility to plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance that misstatements, whether caused by errors or fraud, that are not material to the financial statements are detected