You read about how evidence is the heart of the audit. Auditors base their opinions on the quality of evidence to confirm what the client states to be true. If evidence was weak or incomplete, it is hard for auditors to gain assurance on the clients claims. Suppose a lot of your clients paper documentation from early in the fiscal year was destroyed in a fire.

What measures would you take to gather evidence from that time?

Would you just give them a pass from that time period and audit the rest of the year instead? Why or why not?

Would you ask the client to reproduce the data in some way?