Substantive testing

Substantive testing is an audit procedure used to verify the accuracy, completeness, and validity of specific data, transactions, or account balances. Unlike control testing, which evaluates whether a process is functioning correctly, substantive testing examines the actual evidence to detect material errors or fraud.

In practice

An auditor performs substantive testing by selecting a sample of records—such as invoices or access logs—and tracing them back to source documents to ensure the data is accurate and authentic.