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A review of Wasiu Dolamu Akindele’s book, Risk-Based Approach To Financial Auditing by Musa, Inuwa Fodio.
This book is a product of over 30 years of Wasiu Dolamu Akindele’s experience as an auditor in professional and civil service career.
In the course of this review, the audience will get to appreciate the enormous wealth of practical experience and skills the author has brought to bear in the compilation of this book; significantly rich in content, from both theoretical and practical perspective..
A masterpiece in its own right, this book contributes to the area of auditing that has remained extremely dry in Nigeria and other parts of the world, especially in the public sector space. Indeed, textbooks in the area of Risk-Based Approach (RBA) to auditing in the public sector are currently rare to come by as the area is still evolving.
The content of the book covers the nitty-gritty of RBA and has been arranged in a philosophical and logical sequence. The scope of coverage ranges from conceptual definitions to preliminary engagement, audit plan, RBA audit process, audit strategy, down to audit risk determination, audit evidence gathering, audit documentation and concluding with audit report.
This arrangement is in tandem with the input-process-output phases of an audit exercise.
The first part of the book sets the ball rolling by establishing the nexus that binds financial statements with audit of financial statements and risk-based approach to financial audit.
Lesson one conceptualises audit risk and highlights audit risk typologies.
Lesson two uses ISSAIs (1300-Planning an audit; 1220-independence; 1210-engagement) to succinctly explain the preliminary activities involved at the preliminary stage of an audit.
In lesson three, the book provides a summary of the audit process involved in a risk-based approach to financial auditing. It outlines the risk assessment procedures required to be carried out by an auditor in accordance with ISSAI 1315.
Lesson four discusses in detail audit plan with emphasis on the components of a comprehensive audit plan as required by ISSAI 1315.
The auditor’s responsibilities in relation to financial statements generally and risk assessment in particular are discussed in lesson five.
Lesson six discusses the process for developing audit strategy. It defines some basic concepts that are relevant to overall audit strategy and highlights the practical procedures for determination of audit materiality (which encompasses overall and performance materiality).
In lesson seven, the book highlights the various business risks which the auditor should assess and captures the risk matrix indicators that the auditor is expected to use in determining and assessing risk.

Lesson eight takes a critical look at an entity’s control environment, with emphasis on the five elements contained in ISSAI 1315 framework for understanding, documenting and evaluating an entity’s internal control.
The book delves into discussion on misstatements, assertions and controls in lesson nine. It highlights, in line with ISSAI 1315, the process of identifying and assessing risks of material misstatements at the financial statement level and assertion level; covering classes of transactions, account balances, presentation and disclosure.
In lesson 10, the book discusses the methods that should be utilised by the auditor to obtain audit evidence at the execution phase for the purpose of testing controls and carrying out substantive procedures as well as evaluating the sufficiency and appropriateness of audit evidence.
Lesson 11 dwells on audit documentation including the appropriate working papers that should be used in documenting the audit work carried out to support the auditor’s conclusion and opinion.
The last lesson explains the nature of the final output of an audit exercise- the audit report, as required by ISSAI 1700. It discusses the four different types of audit opinion that can be expressed by the auditor as well as the constitutional, legal and regulatory requirements for audit opinion in Nigeria (as contained in the 1999 amended Constitution of FRN, Finance (Control & Management) Act, 1958, and Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007). The lesson also depicts the format of an auditor’s report for practical guidance.
The book may appear small in outlook but is extremely rich in content, a practical demonstration of the accounting standard of substance over form.
It is undoubtedly suitable for both academic and practical training in auditing generally and risk-based financial auditing in particular.

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