Messier employs the new audit approach currently being used by auditing professionals. This new approach is a direct result of the demands of Sarbanes-Oxley, which has changed the way auditors do their jobs. The new auditing approach emphasizes understanding the entity (i.e., the organization or business being audited) and its environment (i.e. industry), and then assessing the business risks faced by the entity and how management controls those risks. This new audit process focuses on business processes instead of accounting cycles. This unique and innovative approach has been developed in response to changing market dynamics. The systematic approach, referred to in the subtitle of the text, reflects the early introduction of three basic concepts that underlie the audit process: materiality, audit risk, and evidence; this allows Messier to build upon this model in subsequent chapters. These are central to everything an auditor does and a unique feature of Messier. As such, this approach helps students develop auditor judgment, a vital skill in today's auditing environment.

As auditors, we are trained to investigate beyond appearances to determine the underlying facts—in other words, to look beneath the surface. From the Enron and WorldCom scandals of the early 2000s to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 to present-day issues and challenges related to significant estimation uncertainty, understanding the auditor’s responsibility related to fraud, maintaining a clear perspective, probing for details, and understanding the big picture are indispensable to effective auditing. With the availability of greater levels of qualitative and quantitative information (“big data”), the need for technical skills and challenges facing today’s auditor is greater than ever. The author team of Louwers, Blay, Sinason, Strawser, and Thibodeau has dedicated years of experience in the auditing field to this new edition of Auditing & Assurance Services, supplying the necessary investigative tools for future auditors.

Auditing and assurance service education has undergone dramatic change in at least three ways: (1) An awakening that practitioners have a comparative advantage in offering professional services that transcend the boundaries of financial statements; (2) An understanding that client strategies affect engagement risk; and (3) A transition away from first-person delivery by classroom instructors only and toward third-person discovery by students both within and outside of the classroom. Each has influenced the seventh edition. To transcend the boundaries of financial statements, Auditing and Assurance Services exposes students both to the demand for and the supply of the profession's flagship service, financial statement audits, and to the nature of the value-added assurance services decision makers demand in the information age.

Auditing is constantly and quickly changing due to the continuous evolution of information and communication technologies. As the auditing process is forced to adapt to these changes, issues have arisen that lead to a decrease in the auditing effectiveness and efficiency, leading to a greater dissatisfaction among users. More research is needed to provide effective management and mitigation of the risk associated to organizational transactions and to assign a more reliable and accurate character to the execution of business transactions and processes. Organizational Auditing and Assurance in the Digital Age is an essential reference source that discusses challenges, identifies opportunities, and presents solutions in relation to issues in auditing, information systems auditing, and assurance services and provides best practices for ensuring accountability, accuracy, and transparency. Featuring research on topics such as forensic auditing, financial services, and corporate governance, this book is ideally designed for internal and external auditors, assurance providers, managers, risk managers, academicians, professionals, and students.

Stuart's Auditing and Assurance Services: An Applied Approach is a concise, easy-to-read auditing text that trains students of today for the business world that they will face tomorrow. Using a fresh approach that introduces auditing application prior to auditing theory, students will encounter auditing in practice first, become more engaged in the subject matter, and consequently feel more readily prepared to understand the more challenging theoretical concepts. Stuart further engages students by highlighting real-world accounting scandals and by including the most up-to-date standards, including international coverage.