Dear Managers … Check the records.

Managers in business entities often face with records of information whether on specific incidents or for routine reporting.“Dear Managers … Check the records.” is a convenient guide for managers to make sure the records meeting their intended purposes.

Managers in small-scale operations or multinational corporations involved in sales, purchases, production, accounting, marketing, human resources or regulatory compliance should know how to find meaningful information which is valid and complete. The directions of checking between records and source documents are the keys for validity and completeness. Image you have a list recording all fruits in a stall. You would count from the list to fruits on the shelves, baskets and boxes in the stall for validity. In order to ensure the list’s completeness, you would look for any unaccounted fruits elsewhere within the stall and its forecourt. Checking from records to supporting documents ascertain the validity but does not necessarily ensure the completeness, while checking from source documents should give assurance over the totality of information.

This book guides you to do the checking, and discusses possible pitfalls when facing related parties and circumstances requiring outside expertise.

This book comprises eight chapters as follows:

(1) What are records?
(2) Financial records and non-financial records
(3) Validity of records
(4) Completeness of records
(5) Extent of checking
(6) Review of data and analytical procedures
(7) Related parties
(8) Due diligence by independent outsiders