.: All In A Day's Work! :.

Why did the auditor crossed the road?
Because he looked into the file and that was what was done last year!
(Auditors & ex-auditors would get this joke!)

So my colleague and I was laughing about the silly lil things that this junior auditor asked her!

On the 29th June, she asked "Can I have the bank reconciliation pls?" to which my colleague explained that our year end is only 30th June and we could not possibly receive bank statement in advance (being sarcastic) and even if we had online banking, the transactions will only be updated 2 days later. The auditor thanked her and went back to her workstation, only to approach minutes later and ask the same colleague "In that case, can I have the subsequent bank clearance statement?". We laughed our heads off when my colleague told me this! And I jokingly said that this junior must have been using checklists to perform audit blindly.

For the sake of those who do not understand - subsequent bank clearance is an audit test to ensure that the cheques we received before year end are subsequently cleared in the near future. As you may all know, it takes roughly 3 days for in house cheques to clear and about a week or two for overseas cheques. In the first place, it's not a statement that we (as client) prepare. The auditor should, get the subsequent month bank statement (albeit July's bank statement in our case) and check line by line that the cheques received before 30th June are cleared within the normal time.

Ok, to simplify this joke to my non-accounting background reader, its like this

Auditor : Hi! Can I have your June's bank statement?
Colleague : It's only the 29th today, we will only get the statement after the 30th.
Auditor : Oh! In that case, can I have your July's bank statement?

ROFL. Ok, don't be mean. Afterall, I was an junior auditor once! :)