Engagement Scope
Definition
The defined boundaries of a fraud examination: the organisational units, time period, transaction types, and evidence sources to be examined. Scope is driven by the predication and the working hypothesis; expansion beyond those boundaries requires new predication.
- Set by
- Predication and the working hypothesis
- Covers
- Units, time period, transaction types, evidence sources
- Expansion rule
- Requires new predication to widen
Common questions
What happens if an examiner finds evidence of fraud outside the stated scope?+
The examiner typically documents the observation, flags it to the engagement partner or client, and seeks new predication or an amended engagement letter before actively investigating it, rather than expanding the work unilaterally.
Why is a narrow scope not necessarily a weakness?+
A tightly defined scope keeps the examination proportionate to the predication and defensible against claims of a fishing expedition. Breadth is added deliberately, as new facts justify it, not assumed at the outset.
Related terms
- Legal Hold
- A legal hold is a preservation instruction intended to suspend relevant deletion or alteration when a preservation duty arises or an organisation...
- Predication
- The reasonable basis that justifies opening a fraud examination. The ACFE holds that no examination should begin without adequate predication, meaning a...
- Scope Creep
- The gradual expansion of an engagement beyond its original boundaries, often without a corresponding adjustment to the fee, timeline, or privilege structure....
- Spoliation
- The destruction, alteration, or concealment of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding. Spoliation can result in adverse inference instructions to a jury,...
- Working Hypothesis
- A precise, falsifiable statement of the fraud scheme suspected, derived from the predication. It names the scheme type, the suspected perpetrator or...