audit

American  

[aw-dit] / ˈɔ dɪt /

noun

audits plural

1. an official examination and verification of accounts and records, especially of financial accounts.

2. a report or statement reflecting an audit; a final statement of account.

3. the inspection or examination of a building or other facility to evaluate or improve its appropriateness, safety, efficiency, or the like.

   An energy audit can suggest ways to reduce home fuel bills.

4. Archaic. a judicial hearing.

5. Obsolete. an audience.

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verb (used with object)

audits, present (3rd person singular) audited, past participle, past auditing present participle

1. to make an audit of; examine (accounts, records, etc.) for purposes of verification.

   The accountants audited the company's books at the end of the fiscal year.

2. to attend (classes, lectures, etc.) as an auditor.

3. to make an audit of (a building or other facility) to evaluate or improve its safety, efficiency, or the like.

verb (used without object)

audits, present (3rd person singular) audited, past participle, past auditing present participle

1. to examine and verify an account or accounts by reference to vouchers.

audit British  

/ ˈɔːdɪt /

noun

1. 1. an inspection, correction, and verification of business accounts, conducted by an independent qualified accountant

   2. ( as modifier )

      audit report

2. an audited account

3. any thoroughgoing check or examination

4. archaic a hearing

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verb

1. to inspect, correct, and certify (accounts, etc)

2. to attend (classes, etc) as an auditor

audit Cultural  

1. The examination by an outside party of the accounts of an individual or corporation.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reaudit
  noun
• auditable
  adjective
• unaudited
  adjective
• well-audited
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• audits
  plural

Participles

• auditing
  present
• audited
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• audit
  simple
• audits
  simple
• have audited
  perfect
• has audited
  perfect
• am auditing
  progressive
• are auditing
  progressive
• is auditing
  progressive
• have been auditing
  perfect progressive
• has been auditing
  perfect progressive

Past

• audited
  simple
• had audited
  perfect
• was auditing
  progressive
• were auditing
  progressive
• had been auditing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will audit
  simple
• will have audited
  perfect
• will be auditing
  progressive
• will have been auditing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of audit

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English audite, from Latin audītus “the sense or act of hearing,” noun derivative of audīre “to hear”

Explanation

An audit is a thorough counting, review, or assessment of a situation or collection of things. Before baking cookies, you'd better make an audit of the ingredients available to see whether there is enough sugar and butter. The most common use of the word audit is with the Internal Revenue Service, which sometimes performs an audit of a taxpayer’s finances to see whether that taxpayer has accurately reported his or her income. It can also be used in this context as a verb. It's easy to get nervous if the IRS is planning to audit you! You can also audit a class if you attend but don't pay for it. Just don't think that you'll get credit towards graduation from that.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

audit audits audited auditing

She, Lynette and Anne McBrien were part of a group called Beaconbridge which called for a special audit of how many women in Northern Ireland were living with stage four breast cancer.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

That audit, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, continues to help shape policy, treatment, and services.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

This year, the firm shrank the number of U.S. audit partners by 10% and is completely rethinking the role of junior-level auditors—college graduates who generally start with a salary around $80,000.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

An audit of city homeless programs ordered by U.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

“And the staff and the tax audit and the media attention and the people who wanted Joey to throw the fight, too.”

From "Lawn Boy Returns" by Gary Paulsen

Terekh says that from 2022 to 2024 Ukrainian authorities were desperately searching for manufacturers capable of supplying weapons, and insists the company welcomes audits, oversight and transparency.

From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026

Non-citizen voting is illegal and has been shown by both election audits and independent research to be exceedingly rare.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

Journalist Akram Kharief described the fire as a "national tragedy", called for fire safety audits at all public institutions and questioned why Algerians could not live "a normal life in a normal country".

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

If the measure passes, the costs of the audits would be paid via the revenues generated by the special tax.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

The Fowls had held on to Fowl Manor over the years, surviving war, civil unrest, and several tax audits.

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer

Note also that, like all other newsletters whose returns are audited by my firm, The Prudent Speculator pays a flat fee to be audited.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026

This policy has been independently audited and verified by Securitum for four consecutive years, most recently in August 2025.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

He said the accounts were "independently audited by external auditors and are submitted to the electoral commission for scrutiny".

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

The three utilities recently opposed a bill to require that wildfire safety spending by Southern California Edison, PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric be audited by an independent accounting firm.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026

Wait until Mom and Dad got home and I had to break it to them that my finances were being audited.

From "Lawn Boy Returns" by Gary Paulsen

Germany’s DAX fell 0.7%, with Zalando down 4.4% after the German regulator said it is auditing the online retailer’s financial statements.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

Failure to meet GoPro's commitments under financing arrangements will "raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern," the auditing firm added.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

With this in mind, I constructed a list of low-volatility stocks that are currently popular among the investment newsletters that my performance auditing firms tracks.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 6, 2026

Sokoloff, 37, alleged Mejia did not properly utilize the controller’s office to run audits on city departments and failed to keep up the auditing pace of his predecessor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026

Unnerved, Oppenheimer confided that every other registered student had already done the same—the hall was filled with students auditing the course for no credit, struggling to understand the subject matter without risking a grade.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

• analysis
• check
• examination
• investigation
• review
• scrutiny
• survey
• verification