opponents in a chess match, each seeing the playing field (in this case, the business) from his or her particular point of view.
In a risk-based audit, the auditor sits on the same side of the desk as the client. Now the client has a partner, an ally, since both are viewing the business from the same perspective.
The Limitations of the Traditional Approach
Now, let’s get specific about the business of construction. In a traditional audit, auditors typically make all of their audit decisions on the basis of materiality, which is a percentage (or a fraction of a percentage) of a contractor’s volume. The inter¬nal controls established by the contractor are not extensively evaluated for audit-efficiency purposes because the focus is on verifying the numbers presented in the financial state¬ments.