In a situation that uses inspection of records and documents as a type of evidence, distinguishing between vouching and tracing in terms of the direction of testing and the assertions being tested

Vouching refers to first selecting an item for testing from the accounting journals or ledgers and then examining the underlying source document. Thus, the direction of testing is from the journals or ledgers back to the source documents. Vouching provides evidence that items included in the accounting journals or ledgers have occurred (are valid). Tracing refers to first selecting an accounting transaction (a source document) and then following it into the journal or ledger. The direction of testing in this case is from the source documents to the journals or ledgers and tests whether transactions that occurred are recorded (completeness) in the accounting records.