Out of over 160 million individual income tax returns that were filed last year, the IRS (AKA Internal Revenue Service) audited roughly 659,003. That said, what does the word audit mean? And why does the IRS audit taxpayers?

You have questions, and we have answers. Read on to discover everything you need to know about our word of the day: audit (/ˈɔdɪt/ /ˈɔːdɪt/ /ˈɔː.dɪt/).

What Is the Definition of Audit?

According to the Collins Dictionary, when an accountant audits an organization’s accounts, they examine the accounts officially in order to ensure that they’ve been done correctly.

In other words, the term audit can be defined as an official examination and verification of accounts and records.

What Are The Three Main Types of Financial Audits?

Did you know that there is more than one type of audit? The three main types of financial audits are as follows:

External Audit — External audits are most commonly performed by CPA (Certified Public Accounting) firms. Within the United States, standards for all external audits — which are referred to as GAAS (AKA Generally Accepted Auditing Standards)— are set out by the ASB (Auditing Standards Board) of the AICPA (American Institue of Certified Public Accountants).

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Audits — The IRS will regularly carry out audits to verify the accuracy of a taxpayer’s return, as well as specific transactions. The selection made by the IRS is chiefly made at random. That being said, you may be audited if the IRS finds that you have any dealings with a company or person who has already been found to have tax errors on their audit.

Internal Audit — Internal audits are essentially a managerial tool used to make improvements to a company’s internal controls and processes.

What Is the Word Origin of Audit?

The word audit was first seen in the early 15th century as Middle English audyte and borrowed from the Latin word audītus (a hearing), as well as the Latin word audire (the act of hearing).

What Are the Synonyms and Antonyms of Audit?

To further your overall understanding of our word of the day, let’s take a look at a few synonyms and antonyms provided by Power Thesaurus.

What Are Synonyms of Audit?

Once over
Look over
Examination
Inquire into
Go through
Pore over
Delve into
Present yourself at
Show one’s fact at
Take in
Turn up at
Inspection
Stocktaking
Scrutiny
Be a guest at
Bob up at
Bottom line
Run through
Wrap up
Survey
Make it to
Ring in at
Be an observer at
Enquire into
Check out
Appear in
Be present at
Make an inventory of
List of charges
Affidavit
Make the scene
Figure out
Reckon
Balance
Tally
Calculate
Go over with a fine-tooth comb
Give something a going over
Going-over
Write up
Round up
Compendium
Make a note of
Put on file
Put on paper
Put on record
Conspectus
Epitome
Inventory
Give something a once over
Price
Itemized account
Request for payment
Amount due
Look-see
Overview
Encapsulation
Summarization
Short-form
Summing up

What Are Antonyms of Audit?

Ignore
Neglect
Disregard
Brush aside
Shrug off
Pass over
Look away
Brush off
Turn a blind eye to
Bury one’s head in the sand
Pay no mind
Not take into account
Turn a deaf ear to
Look the other way
Close your eyes to
Misunderstand
Turn your back on
Shut eyes to
Avoid
Dodge
Forget
Approximate
Estimate
Neglect
Ignorance
Cursory look
Glimpse
Fundamental point
Chief part
Nitty-gritty
Connection
Lowdown
Peep
Glance
Essential details
Meat and potatoes
Nuts and bolts
Focal point

How Can You Use Audit in a Sentence?

By now, you should have a pretty good understanding of our word of the day — but do you know how to use it in a sentence?

Not to worry; we’ve got you covered with a number of sentence examples for you to study below:

“The IRS sent me a letter requesting to audit my taxes from last year.”

“Our company must issue a statutory audit report, so please gather all of our financial statements including the balance sheet from last year.”

“Susan is getting audited and asked me to gather her financial records from 2016.”

“An audit is simply an examination of financial accounts to check their accuracy.”

“It’s important to keep good bookkeeping in case of an audit!”

What Are Translations of Audit?

Did you know that there are multiple ways to say our word of the day? Yup, it’s true — translation of the noun audit provided by the Collins Dictionary is as follows:

European Spanish — auditoría
Finnish — tilintarkastus
French — audit
American English — audit
Arabic — مُرَاجَعَةُ الـحِسَابات
Japanese — 監査
Korean — 감사
Norwegian — revisjon
Polish — kontrola ksiąg
European Portuguese — auditoria
Romanian — audit
Brazilian Portuguese — auditoria
Chinese — 审计
Russian — проверка
Spanish — auditoría
Swedish — revision
Thai — การตรวจสอบบัญชี
Turkish — hesap denetimi
Ukrainian — аудит
Vietnamese — sự kiểm toán
Croatian — revizija
Czech — audit
Danish — revision
Dutch — accountantscontrole
German — Rechnungsprüfung
Greek — έλεγχος
Italian — revisione
British English — audit

Translation of audit as a verb are also provided by Collins Dictionary:

American English — audit
Arabic — يُراجِعُ الـحِسَابات
Czech — zrevidovat
Danish — revidere
Japanese — 監査する
Korean — 감사하다
Norwegian — granske
Polish — skontrolować
European Portuguese — fazer auditoria
Romanian — a verifica
Dutch — de boeken controleren
European Spanish — auditar
Finnish — tehdä tilintarkastus
French — auditer
Russian — проверять отчетность
Spanish — auditar
Swedish — revidera
Thai — ตรวจสอบบัญชี
Turkish — hesapları denetlemek
Ukrainian — перевіряти
Vietnamese — kiểm toán
German — prüfen
Greek — ελέγχω
Italian — revisionare
Brazilian Portuguese — examinar
Chinese — 稽核
Croatian — revidirati

Conclusion

In short, our word of the day refers to a thorough review, assessment, or counting of a collection of items or of a situation.

For instance, once you break out grandma’s famous chocolate chip cookie recipe, you’ll likely make an audit of the ingredients you have on hand to make sure you are ready to get baking!

Sources:

Audit definition and meaning | by Collins English Dictionary

Audit synonyms: 893 Words and Phrases for Audit | Power Thesaurus

IRS Audits Poorest Families at Five Times the Rate for Everyone Else | EDU

Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do's and don'ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.