Auditing in the Athenian state of the golden age (500-300 B.C.)

Accountability and control of state revenues and expenditures in the Athenian state of the Golden Age was achieved through the verification process by three board of state accountants, based on the accounting records of execution and related budgetary and other documents. More specifically, the purpose of this process was to (a) strengthen the integrity of the accounting system by providing additional controls in the management or state resources, (b) establish accountability against any public officials in charge of public funds, and (c) provide dependable reports to the people on the management of these funds. The three boards were the Council Accountants, the Administration Accountants and the Examiners. Although the main purpose of the attest function was the discovery of fraud, internal controls were also evaluated by comparing the formalized budgets with the accounting records of execution. This conclusion is somwhat contrary to the assumption that internal controls were not recognized in ancient times.