What is Audit Evidence?

Audit evidence refers to the information obtained by the auditor during the audit to draw reasonable conclusions on which the audit opinion is based.

According to your Audit Planning 3B notes, audit evidence is central to the auditor’s role because gathering and evaluating information is the basic activity that enables the auditor to evaluate the effectiveness of governance, risk management, and internal control, and to provide assurance and insight 

In simple terms:

Audit evidence is any information used by the auditor to support audit findings and conclusions.

It can be obtained:

• Directly by the auditor (e.g. inspection, observation, recalculation),
• From third parties (e.g. bank confirmations, debtor statements),
• From management (e.g. documents, written representations) 

Audit evidence must be sufficient, reliable, relevant, and useful to ensure that the auditor’s conclusions and audit opinion are well-supported and professionally defensible 

In short, audit evidence is the factual basis that supports the auditor’s professional judgment and audit opinion.