The auditor uses these four phases to meet the overall objective of the audit, which is to express an opinion on the fairness with which the financial statements present fairly. Every audit requires planning, which occurs during the first of the four audit phases. Auditing – Creating a Plan for Success is a course that will review the audit planning process. This course will discuss the important of evaluating materiality and risk, which will impact the auditor's planned audit evidence. This course will describe how to develop a preliminary judgment about materiality and consider the most appropriate risks for each engagement. This course will review the eight steps involved in creating the audit plan.