Planning an audit of a financial report requires that an auditor plan their audit to reduce audit risk to an acceptable low level. Audit risk can be defined as

1. The risk that the auditor does identify the material misstatements

2. The risk that the auditor expresses an inappropriate opinion at the conclusion of the audit

3. That fraud exists in the accounts and the client is aware that the fraud exists

4. That sufficient appropriate evidence cannot be gathered to form an opinion of the truthfulness of the financial statements