auditor

American  

[aw-di-ter] / ˈɔ dɪ tər /

noun

• auditors
  plural

1. a person appointed and authorized to examine accounts and accounting records, compare the charges with the vouchers, verify balance sheet and income items, and state the result.

2. a university student registered for a course without credit and without obligation to do work assigned to the class.

3. a hearer; listener.

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auditor British  

/ ˈɔːdɪtə /

noun

1. a person qualified to audit accounts

2. a person who hears or listens

3. a registered student who attends a class that is not an official part of his course of study, without actively participating it

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• auditorship
  noun
• subauditor
  noun
• superauditor
  noun
• auditorial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• auditors
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of auditor

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English auditour, from Anglo-French, from Latin audītor “hearer,” from audī(re) “to hear” + -tor -tor

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Explanation

An auditor is someone who inspects accounting records. Don’t cheat on your taxes, or an auditor might come and check your figures. An auditor is also an attentive listener. That kind is usually more fun. The word auditor is Latin for “hearer.” This word still applies to someone who listens closely, but it also refers to a kind of accountant who checks the financial records of other people, usually to make sure nothing illegal is going on. If the Internal Revenue Service demands an audit, an auditor will go over your financial records with a fine-toothed comb. This process used to be done verbally, so both kinds of auditors need good hearing.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

auditor auditors

The auditor, his wife, two children and in-laws had arrived in Cyprus hours before the incident.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

One employee had been working and living in Idaho since late 2020 without disclosing that information to the agency, according to IP address records examined by the state auditor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

The auditor would examine whether the program is achieving its goals, how to cut the program’s costs by at least 10% annually and other areas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Now government is loading it up with expensive new obligations: age assurance, content controls, compliance infrastructure, parental-control architecture, an outside auditor checking the work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Most notable was an exchange between Clark and John Dougall, a Republican and electrical engineer and businessman who would later become Utah’s state auditor.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

The companies agreed to work with "independent auditors" to assess whether their AI systems are working as intended and make sure they do not "hack or access technical systems in unintended ways".

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

The researchers also urged the company to keep its promise to permanently host independent auditors, saying they feared their dismissals "may be used to justify ending" that work.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

In an interview with auditors she maintained she lived in California, although said she sometimes worked from Alabama and Tennessee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Over the past few weeks she’s received questions about whether auditors can speak freely without retaliation from the labs and if evaluators can gain sufficient access to the necessary materials needed to conduct an audit.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

Eventually Berkeley’s auditors would bring the fund fully into the formal regime established for all such trust funds, requiring that it be deposited in an interest-bearing bank account and designated as a university asset.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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Related Words

• accountant
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