Picture someone from outside going through every line of the books, line by line, checking that the numbers really are what the company says they are. The odd American sense — sitting in a class without taking the exams — makes sense once you know the word began as a hearing: to audit was to sit and listen.
From the word’s history
Audit is from Latin auditus 'a hearing, a listening' (audire 'to hear'). An official examination of accounts was originally an oral procedure — the accounts were read aloud and heard. The American sense 'attend a course without earning credit' is recorded from about 1933.
audit 來自拉丁文 auditus「聽、聽取」（audire 是「聽」）。中世紀查帳本來就是口頭進行的：帳目唸出來、由人聽著核對，所以「查帳」和「聽」的關聯是字面上的，不是比喻。美式的「旁聽課程、不修學分」約在 1933 年開始有紀錄，走的是同一個「只是坐著聽」的畫面。
Etymonline, entry for audit (etymonline.com/word/audit)
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料11 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
auditnoun/ˈɔːdɪt/
- 1
A judicial examination.
- 2
An examination in general.
- 3
An independent review and examination of records and activities to assess the adequacy of system controls, to ensure compliance with established policies and operational procedures, and to recommend necessary changes in controls, policies, or procedures
- National Assembly audit
- 4
The result of such an examination, or an account as adjusted by auditors; final account.
- Yet I can make my audit up.
- 5
ScientologylifestylereligionSpiritual counseling, which forms the core of Dianetics.
- [ Werner Erhard said:] I got a lot of benefit from auditing. It was the fastest and deepest way to handle situations that I had yet encountered.
- The trainings of Landmark, Block Training and UP Hans Schuster und Partner thus display strong similarities with the self-improvement seminars of Scientology, which are incidentally called 'auditing sessions', a term taken from the business world.
- 6
obsoleteA general receptacle or receiver.
- , "A Funeral Sermon" It [a little brook] paid to its common audit no more than the revenues of a little cloud.
- 7
obsoleteAn audience; a hearing.
- With his Oriſons I meddle not, for hee appeals to a high Audit.
auditverb/ˈɔːdɪt/
- 1
To examine and adjust (e.g. an account).
- to audit the accounts of a treasure, or of parties who have a suit depending in court
- 2
businessfinanceTo conduct an independent review and examination of system records and activities in order to test the adequacy and effectiveness of data security and data integrity procedures, to ensure compliance with established policy and operational procedures, and to recommend any necessary changes
- 3
ScientologylifestylereligionTo counsel spiritually.
- In John's case, I suspect, when he lost Diana he went back to his Scientology church to be audited.
- 4
To attend an academic class without the opportunity to receive academic credit.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。