The transition to the market, fundamental changes in the economy led to the creation of a new branch of scientific knowledge - audit.
An audit is defined as checking and confirming the correctness of maintaining the accounts of an enterprise, carried out by qualified specialists. In Russia, audit has been developed in the last 10 years.
In difficult economic conditions in the transition to market relations, it became important to have reliable economic information about the financial and economic activities of the organization. Excluding the above, the creation of commercial structures caused an influx of new entrepreneurs who did not have the proper experience in the new business conditions, poorly versed in legislative acts, and therefore the first violations (sometimes unintentional) appeared in compliance with the requirements of regulatory documents related to economic activity.
In connection with this, a new form of control over economic activity has arisen, including consultations on issues of maintaining accounting, the correctness of the calculation of taxes.
Audit activity - audit- represents the entrepreneurial activity of auditors (audit firms) for the implementation of independent non-departmental audits of accounting (financial) statements, payment and settlement documentation, tax returns and other financial obligations and requirements of economic entities, as well as the provision of other audit services.
Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that audit activity is a broader concept that includes both the audit itself (an audit to confirm the reliability financial statements), and related services (tax consulting, analysis of financial and economic activities, forecasting issues, etc.)
main goal audit activity there will be an establishment of the reliability of the accounting (financial) statements of economic entities and the financial and financial business transactions regulations in force in Russian Federation.
The value of the audit is essentially that it will not only be an independent audit of financial and economic activities, but gives recommendations and proposals for improving ϶ᴛᴏ activities, expanding audit services and creating audit companies and firms internationally.
The need for audit is related to:
Auditors should also apply audit methods that will minimize audit time without sacrificing quality.
The main tasks of the audit are related to the purpose of the audit (for example, audit of funds, etc.)
The main tasks of the audit activity will be:
The audit is based on civil law, administrative and economic law, accounting.
The ultimate goal of the audit is to analyze the financial condition of the organization, its financial stability and creditworthiness.
The financial condition and stability of the organization are measured by a number of financial ratios: To solvency, To liquidity, etc.
The purpose of the audit there will be a test of authenticity and reality financial reporting and confirmation of its ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙiya, as well as the expression of the opinion of the audit organization on the reliability of ϶ᴛᴏth reporting and its ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙiya normative acts.
Do not forget that issues related to revision, control and audit, their similarities and differences occupy an important place.
Audit and audit will be ways to organize control over the financial and economic activities of the organization. Audit and audit - ϶ᴛᴏ two approaches to the organization of control over the financial and economic activities of the organization. There are many similarities and significant differences between them.
revision- an integral part of the state financial control establishing the legality, reliability, expediency and efficiency of business operations.
Audit- independent review of financial statements or financial information economic entity in order to identify reserves and obtain conclusions about the financial condition of the enterprise.
During the audit, the shortcomings of the financial and economic activities of the audited organization will come out in order to eliminate them.
Features of revision, audit:
The main differences between audit and audit are presented in Table. one.
Table 1
| Distinctive feature | Audit | revision |
|---|---|---|
| 1. According to the objectives of the study | Identification of shortcomings in economic activity, provision of services, assistance in cooperation with the client, expression of an independent opinion | Identification and assessment of shortcomings for their elimination (liquidation of consequences) |
| 2. By solving practical problems | Assisting the client in optimization commercial activities | The main tasks for the suppression of abuses in economic activity and the safety of funds |
| 3. By nature | Entrepreneurial activity | Performing activity |
| 4. Legal feature | Civil law based on business contracts | Administrative law based on laws, instructions, orders, directives, etc. |
| 5. Management | Connections are horizontal, voluntary | Vertical connections in the order of administrative influence and coercion |
| 6. According to the methodology | The methodology and techniques can be used in general, only for auditing much more widely, taking into account modern requirements | |
| 7. By the principle of payment | The client or the one who needs the audit report pays | Organization administration pays |
| 8. By sufficiency | Focus on cost-benefit ratio | Accuracy and identification of the perpetrators, the amount of damage |
| 9. By results | Audit report and advice to the client | Act of audit, penalties, instructions, verification of performance |
Today in Russia, audit firms are organized in all major cities.
Auditing firms may have any organizational and legal forms provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation, with the exception of the form of an open joint stock company. Auditing firms have organizational and legal forms of a closed company or a limited liability company.
The main features of the classification of audit firms are as follows:
According to the nature of their activities, audit firms are divided into universal and specialized.
Universal audit firms are engaged in a variety of types of work and may have several licenses for the right to conduct one or another type of statutory audit. For example, an audit in the field of general audit, banking audit, insurance, etc., services for setting up, restoring and maintaining accounting, analyzing financial and economic activities, consulting on financial, managerial and tax accounting, accounting computerization and other services.
Specialized audit firms perform the narrowest range of work and specialize in certain types of work (for example, audits, training, etc.)
In addition to audit firms, auditors can also be involved in auditing, who must pass certification, obtain a license in a certain area for the right to conduct audits and register as entrepreneurs. Private auditors can be engaged in both universal and specialized activities. Auditors and audit firms may not engage in any entrepreneurial activity except for auditing and other related activities. Both universal and specialized firms must perform the main type of service - a statutory audit.
According to the volume of services provided, audit firms are divided into large, medium, small. Universal firms are most often large and medium. In Russia, mainly small and medium-sized audit firms are created. For example, a small company - up to 10 people, medium - 10-15 people, large - 50 and more.
In a large audit firm, there are deputy heads, who report to ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙ departments (for example, departments for types of audit and related services)
Excluding the above, for accounting purposes the company has an accounting department, and for the implementation of economic activities - an administrative and economic department, an editorial and publishing department is engaged in publishing activities.
Small audit organizations may have a simplified two-level management system - the head of the audit organization and auditors reporting to him.
Do not forget that an important area of audit checks is the use of pre-prepared basic methods (intracompany standards) for checks on ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙ accounting sections and accounts.
Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that the main activities of audit firms will be:
This list can be expanded and supplemented, but it is obvious: even at present, audit firms perform a wide variety of services.
Questions for self-examination
Auditing began to develop in the 14th century, when ledgers began to appear in court. In the XVI century. book data is controlled.
The birthplace of the audit will be Great Britain (Scotland), where in 1844 a series of company laws was issued.
In 1853, the Edinburgh Audit Institute was established (in France, the Audit Institute was established in 1862, in the USA - in 1937)
Since 1905, the formation of the profession of an auditor begins. In the 70s of the XX century. International auditing standards began to be issued, in which changes and additions were made up to the present time.
Today, in all countries with a market economy, there is a public audit institution with its legal and organizational infrastructure.
In Russia, the title of auditor was introduced under Peter I in the army, where the positions of an auditor combined the duties of a clerk, secretary and prosecutor. Since 1867, with the introduction of military judicial reform in Russia, the position of an army auditor was abolished.
Attempts to create an audit institute with examinations in Russia were made in 1889, 1909, 1912, 1928. (Institute of State Accountants-Experts), but they all ended in failure due to the lack of a mechanism for the action of these financial control bodies and the economic prerequisites for auditing. Material published on http: // site
In Russia, an important feature for the creation of the audit was the transition to a market economy. In 1987, in ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙii, with the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the first audit firm Inaudit was established, which was privatized in 1991.
Since 1987, with the creation of this company, the formation of audit in Russia begins, but the official date is 1991 (transition to a market economy)
The activity of auditors in Russia, as well as in other countries of the market economy, is regulated on the basis of laws.
In 1993, audit received a legal basis - the Provisional Rules for Auditing were introduced (Decree of the President of Russia No. 2263 of December 22, 1993)
Since 1998, the development of norms and standards has begun in relation to the conditions of Russia, while the development of norms and standards abroad dates back to the 70s.
Since 1999, separate volumes of the Encyclopedia of General Auditing have been published.
Audit in our country is beginning to gain momentum.
Auditing can be carried out by individuals licensed to carry out such activities. Material published on http: // site
The Audit Committee under the President of the Russian Federation determines the procedure for issuing and revoking licenses, organizes work on the development of standards and recommendations in the field of audit, accounting, and economic analysis. Licenses are issued for conducting: banking audit; audit of insurance organizations; audit of stock exchanges, off-budget funds and investment institutions; general audit. Having one license, for example for a general audit, does not give the right to conduct a banking audit without a valid license.
It should be noted that the creation of audit and audit firms in Russia had the following directions:
Questions for self-examination
Within the framework of international practice, as well as in our country, the audit is divided into: internal, external, initiative and mandatory.
Internal audit is considered as part of common system management and control over the production and economic activities of the organization.
It is worth noting that it is carried out at the discretion of the management.
tasks internal audit will be:
The scope of internal audit work should be determined by management independently of the work of external auditors.
The role of internal audit has changed. So, at first, there was control over information, its processing, then internal control over the quality of information, the effectiveness of the methodology for analyzing information began to increase.
Internal audit is often called on-farm audit, it will be the information base for external audit. Internal audit is carried out continuously during the business process.
The main task of internal audit is to help the employees of the enterprise to perform their duties and duties in a qualified manner.
It is carried out to carry out self-control over the level of prime cost, distribution costs, quality of products and work, etc.
The internal auditor prepares information on the financial and economic activities of the enterprise, the correctness of reporting and posting accounts, etc.
Internal auditors will traditionally be employees who are on the staff of the enterprise and report to its management.
The tasks that the internal audit service should perform determine the functions of the employees of the ϶ᴛᴏ service and their professional and qualification composition:
Performing this task, the internal auditor studies the accounting and control system, assesses the effectiveness of its functioning using various techniques (sampling, scanning, etc.). The auditor checks the legal validity of the operation and the optimality of taxation, assesses the significance of the errors found.
As a result of the audit, analysis and consultation by the internal audit service, the organization will be prepared for audit by external auditors, tax office and other control bodies.
The third task is performed by the internal auditor as needed. Certified auditors, as well as specialists in legal issues, taxation and analysis can be involved in its solution.
Internal audit is divided into:
Management audit is performed by an independent auditor and will be one of the types of consulting services;
Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that internal audit is determined by management: its role changes from checking and preventing losses to analyzing the quality of information systems.
Internal audit provides the management of the enterprise with information about the financial and economic activities of the enterprise, contributes to the creation of a highly efficient accounting and internal control system that prevents the occurrence of violations and confirms the reliability of the reports of the enterprise and its structural divisions.
The existing external audit system is aimed primarily at protecting the interests of enterprises and organizations, shareholders, as well as counterparties (banks, insurance organizations, suppliers, buyers, etc.)
External audit - ϶ᴛᴏ independent control, carried out by highly qualified specialists in the field of accounting, control and analysis of economic activity, who have a ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙa license or certificate. An audit is carried out by independent auditors on the basis of contracts and the preparation of a ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙ statement confirming the reliability of financial statements and the effectiveness of the results achieved in accordance with current standards, the correctness of accounting. The object of the external audit will be the financial and economic activities of the enterprise. An external audit may make recommendations to the client. Auditors at ϶ᴛᴏm use modern forms of calculations based on economic and mathematical statistical methods of analysis.
For a clearer understanding of these types, we use the scheme for conducting internal and external audits (Table 2.)
table 2
| Distinctive feature | Internal audit | External audit |
|---|---|---|
| 1. By object | Determined by management in order to avoid losses. Today, the audit is aimed at the quality of information systems | Determined by the contract. The audit of financial statements and the reliability of information prevails |
| 2. According to the qualifications of the personnel | Less independence, professional control | High degree of independence, high professional level |
| 3. According to the methodology | There is much in common in the methodology and methods of analysis, however, with an external audit - a more detailed level of research, the use of modern methods of calculation based on computer technology | |
| 4. According to the purpose of the study | Determined by the management of the enterprise | Determined based on external needs |
| 5. Reporting | Before management | To third parties |
| 6. By time | continuously | 1 time per year |
The main tasks of the external audit will be:
An external audit is carried out by audit firms or individual auditors in order to objectively assess the reliability of accounting and financial statements of the audited object; There are types of external audit: initiative and mandatory.
Initiative audit (or voluntary) - ϶ᴛᴏ verification of the financial and economic activities of the client at his request.
The reason is staff turnover at the enterprise, low qualification of accounting personnel, especially at newly formed enterprises, and other reasons.
Heads of enterprises, firms facing such problems themselves turn to audit firms about the need for an audit (in order to check the quality of work accounting apparatus to verify the accuracy of reporting, etc.)
An initiative audit can be thematic, and the audit can be selective or comprehensive.
Mandatory audit - is carried out in accordance with legislative acts. It is worth noting that it will be comprehensive and can be carried out on behalf of state bodies determined by the Provisional Rules. Evasion of a mandatory audit leads to a penalty or a fine, the amounts go to the republican budget. The purpose of a mandatory audit is to confirm the reliability of financial statements. If an audit firm has previously provided services to this enterprise, then it cannot conduct a mandatory audit.
Questions for self-examination
The development of audit abroad and in Russia has led to the need for unification of audit activities. Material published on http: // site
As a result, standards began to be developed, first within the national framework, then on an international scale. At the heart of modern audit are theoretical concepts that involve the use of postulates that determine the audit methodology. Postulates are scientifically based provisions governing the basic, important points auditing standards.
The organization of audit activity in Russia is formed taking into account the experience that has developed in world practice. It is worth saying that standards play an important role for a quality audit. The standards define the requirements for auditors, for a general approach to conducting audit, to reflect the results of the check.
The value of auditing standards is essentially that they have the following features:
The standards are divided into:
General patterns (postulates) include general approach to the audit - ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙ standards, consistency, access to information, management responsibility, etc., and serve as a scheme for auditors to form an independent opinion and draw up an audit report.
General standards define the quality and degree of qualifications that an auditor must have, in other words, the standards of conduct for auditors.
To the general standards ᴏᴛʜᴏϲᴙt: independence, confidentiality, competence, objectivity, due attention.
The independence of the auditor is due to the fact that he will not be an employee public institution, is not subordinate to the control and audit bodies and does not work under their control, complies with auditing standards, does not have any property or personal interests in the audited enterprise.
The auditor, therefore, must be independent, have access to all audit documents and the right to obtain the necessary information.
Confidentiality is the most important requirement when conducting an audit. The auditor should not provide any information to any authority about the economic activities of the audited company. For the disclosure of the secrets of their clients, the auditor is liable under the law, as well as moral, and if provided by the contract, material responsibility.
Competence is related to the fact that the auditor must have the necessary professional qualifications, take care of maintaining it at the proper level, and comply with the requirements of regulatory documents. The auditor must be sufficiently competent in the main issues of the audit and should not provide services to the client if he does not have sufficient qualifications.
He must use economic, statistical and mathematical methods of analysis, factor analysis models, skillfully apply new information technologies in auditing. Material published on http: // site
The auditor must be sufficiently objective in conducting the audit. This quality is closely related to internal control. The better the control is organized, the more objective its accounting and reporting data. Good system control eliminates the possibility of abuse, unforeseen losses, fraud, etc.
Due diligence is related to the fact that the auditor is obliged to act in the audit process with due diligence and to be extremely careful in ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙii with the standard. The auditor must be prepared for possible forgeries, additions, various violations, be able to resist them.
These are the general auditing standards.
Working (special) standards - ϶ᴛᴏ rules by which the auditor is guided when performing the audit.
Working standards include:
Let's explore these directions.
The auditor should plan the audit in order to improve the quality of the audit. The auditors also exercise control over the verification of members of the audit team. Attention is paid to internal control in the evaluation of accounting and reporting, as well as risk assessment.
The basis for the verification will be reliable information obtained during the verification.
The auditor for an objective opinion must be confident in good quality information.
Evidence can be: internal, received from the client, and external - from third parties and other organizations.
More valuable will be external evidence (extracts from bank accounts client, etc.), as well as evidence obtained by the auditor himself, taking into account the risk.
Collecting evidence, the auditor: 1) checks the arithmetic calculations of the client; 2) participates in the inventory of individual business transactions; 3) checks the documents received from the client.
Computer processing of data affects three aspects of the audit: 1) planning; 2) assessment of the risk of control inefficiency; 3) collection of factual data on the details of business transactions.
Of greatest importance are the features of planning and control when using computer systems, testing control procedures and collecting data on business transactions.
The auditor ends the review of working standards with an analysis of documents (for example, he analyzes documents related to profit growth, determines unprofitable operations at ϶ᴛᴏm, monitors the correct distribution of profits)
Reporting Standards- with their help, the auditor can determine whether the audited financial statements conform to generally accepted accounting principles. The auditor should express ϲʙᴏ's opinion on their reliability or state the reasons why ϶ᴛᴏ's opinion cannot be expressed.
Reporting standards include: the auditor's report on the audit of financial statements, types of audit reports, written information of the auditor to management economic object about the test results.
These standards will be extremely important, the type and content of the reports should be known not only to the auditors themselves, but also to all users of the reporting, confirmed by the audit report.
Auditing standards can be presented in the form of a diagram (Fig. 1)
Figure No. 1. Scheme of auditing standards
Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that the reporting standards, the report (or conclusions) must have an addressee, title, signature and date.
When formulating the conclusion, the auditor should pay attention to the significance of the issues, the nature of the activity of the audited enterprise.
Do not forget that it will be important to say that the auditor's opinion depends on his interests (professional, moral)
Additions to these generally accepted standards are periodically issued.
Specific standards can be used in the audit in certain areas of activity, for example, audit standards for banks, insurance organizations, etc.
With the development of market relations and the transformation of individual audit organizations into large international groups, it became necessary to unify auditing on an international scale.
Despite the undoubted achievements in the field of creating international auditing standards, it is too early to say that true uniformity has already been achieved. Modern international standards can be considered as a set of national and regional ones that have mutual influence, since national legislation in the ϶ᴛᴏth area differs significantly in different countries. Moreover, the leaders in this area, as well as in the service sector in general, will be industrialized countries.
A number of organizations are involved in the development of professional requirements at the international level.
It should be noted that the main organization will be the International Committee of Auditing Practice, operating within the framework of the International Federation of Accountants, which was established in 1977. At the same time, Russia is not included in this organization. Different countries apply international standards differently.
In Russia, the development of auditing standards (taking into account international standards) is led by the Research Financial Institute of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, which began work in this direction in 1993. Ten standards were chosen, which were extremely important to develop in the first place:
In general, it was supposed to create four groups of Russian analogues based on the standards developed by the International Committee on Auditing Standards:
The problem of ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙiya of Russian audit firms with international auditing standards is all the more relevant due to fierce competition in the Russian market from large Western firms.
Leading Russian firms tend to become clients of Western companies. Therefore, Russian audit firms face a very acute issue of compliance with international auditing standards in order to make real competition to Western companies.
Russian audit firms attract clients with lower prices and greater attention to the wishes of clients. The advantage of Western firms is a big name and a strong reputation.
With ϶ᴛᴏm, the quality of services provided by Russian auditors is usually no worse than that of Western colleagues. At the same time, the development of its own Russian market is largely hampered by the absence of a number of legally fixed standards for auditing, which would become a guideline for all firms and establish criteria for the professional responsibility of auditors.
The peculiarities of the application of audit standards in Russia and the specifics of audit as a whole are largely due to the fact that Russian audit historically arose on the basis of the work of control and audit bodies, in which there were both positive and negative aspects.
It is important to note that one of the shortcomings of the work of such services will be a narrow departmental approach, as a result of which a lot of attention during checks was paid to finding minor errors, which should have demonstrated the meticulousness of the inspectors, and major omissions were often "turned a blind eye" if it was not about theft. The fact that the Russian audit in many respects "grew" out of revision checks led to a distortion of the very concept of "audit".
Often, the purpose of an audit is not understood to be confirmation of reporting, but detection of theft, search for financial abuse, verification of the correctness of tax calculations and the timeliness of transferring taxes to the budget.
The national system of Russian standards, according to leading scientists, should include 59 rules, of which 46 will be analogues of international auditing standards (MCA), and an additional 13 standards are purely Russian. As an example for comparison, we will give a table of domestic and international auditing standards (moreover, a number of standards have already been published and approved by the Audit Commission under the President of the Russian Federation)
Do not forget that it will be important to say that Russian standards are more detailed and section XI "Education and training" refers entirely to Russian standards (Table 3)
Table 3
| No. p / p | Numerical value of ISA documents | ISA Standards (International Auditing Standards) | Domestic rules (standards) of audit activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. Introductory remarks | |||
| 1 | 100 | Foreword to ISA and Related Services | Foreword to Auditing Standards |
| 2 | 110 | Glossary of terms | List of terms and definitions used in the rules (standards) of auditing |
| 3 | 120 | General Structure of the ISA | General structure of auditing rules |
| 4 | Characteristics of related audit services and requirements for them | ||
| 5 | - | - | Organization and procedure of the auditor |
| 6 | - | Requirements for internal standards of audit organizations | |
| II. A responsibility | |||
| 7 | 200 | Objectives and Guidelines Related to an Audit of Financial Statements | Objectives and basic principles related to the audit of financial statements |
| 8 | 210 | Terms of audit engagements | Letter - an obligation of the audit organization on consent to the audit |
| 9 | - | Quality control of work during the audit | Intracompany audit quality control |
| 10 | - | - | External Quality Control Audit |
| 11 | 230 | Documentation | Audit Documentation |
| 12 | 240 | Fraud and error | The actions of the auditor in identifying misstatements in financial statements |
| 13 | 250 | Accounting for laws and regulations in the audit of financial statements | Verification of compliance with regulations during the audit |
| 14 | Rights and obligations of audit organizations and audited economic entities | ||
| 15 | - | The procedure for concluding contracts for the provision of audit services | |
| III. Planning | |||
| 16 | 300 | Planning | Audit planning |
| 17 | 310 | Business Knowledge | Understanding the activities of an economic entity |
| 18 | 320 | Materiality in audit | Materiality and audit risk |
| IV. Internal control | |||
| 19 | 400 | Risk Assessments and Internal Controls | Study and evaluation of accounting and internal control systems during the audit |
| 20 | 401 | Audit in the environment of computer and information systems | Audit in the conditions of computer data processing |
| 21 | 402 | Audit Features Applicable to Legal Entities Using Service Organizations | |
| V. Audit evidence | |||
| 22 | 500 | Audit Evidence | Audit Evidence |
| 23 | 501 | Audit evidence - additional consideration for specific cases | |
| 24 | 510 | Initial Jobs - Opening Balances | Primary audit of initial and comparative indicators of financial statements |
| 25 | 520 | Analytical procedures | Analytical procedures |
| 26 | 530 | Audit sample | Audit sample |
| 27 | 540 | Audit of estimated values in accounting | |
| 28 | 550 | Related organizations | Posting transactions with related assemblies during posting |
| 29 | 560 | Subsequent events | The date of signing the auditor's report and reflecting in it the events that occurred after the date of preparation and presentation of financial statements |
| 30 | 570 | ongoing activity | Applicability of the going concern assumption |
| 31 | 580 | Management Statements | Explanations provided by the management of the audited economic entity |
| VI. Using the work of third parties | |||
| 32 | 600 | Using the work of another auditor | Using the work of another audit organization |
| 33 | 610 | Accounting for the work of the internal auditor | Studying and using the work of the internal auditor |
| 34 | 620 | Using the work of an expert | |
| VII. Conclusions and reports in the audit | |||
| 35 | 700 | Auditor's report on financial statements | The procedure for drawing up an audit report on financial statements |
| 36 | 710 | Comparable values | Comparable values (under development) |
| 37 | 720 | Other information contained in documents related to financial statements subject to audit | Other information in documents containing audited financial statements |
| 38 | Written information of the auditor to the management of the economic entity based on the results of the audit | ||
| VIII. Specialized areas | |||
| 39 | 800 | Auditor's opinion on special audit engagements | The opinion of the audit organization on special audit assignments |
| 40 | 810 | Examining Forecast Financial Information | Verification of pro forma financial information |
| 41 | - | - | Bank Specific Auditing Standards |
| 42 | - | - | Specific standards of insurance activity |
| 43 | Specific Auditing Standards for Exchanges, Extrabudgetary Funds and Investment Institutions | ||
| IX. Related services and tasks | |||
| 44 | 910 | Tasks for the audit of financial statements | Tasks for checking financial statements |
| 45 | 920 | Assignments to perform agreed-upon procedures related to financial information | Law on the implementation of agreed procedures related to accounting information |
| 46 | 930 | Financial Compilation Engagements | |
| X. Worth mentioning - position on international audit practice | |||
| 47 | 1000 | Intrabank confirmation procedures | |
| 48 | 1001 | Means of computer information systems - individual microcomputers | |
| 49 | 1002 | Computer Information Systems Tools - Online (ON) Systems | |
| 50 | 1003 | Means of computer information systems - database systems | |
| 51 | 1004 | Relationship between bank controllers and external auditors | |
| 52 | 1005 | Small Business Audit Features | |
| 53 | 1006 | Audit of international commercial banks | |
| 54 | 1007 | Communication with management | Communication with the management of the economic entity |
| 55 | - | - | Tax audit and communication with tax authorities |
| 56 | 1008 | Risk assessments and internal control - characterization and accounting of the environment of computer information systems | |
| 57 | 1009 | Note that the technique of conducting an audit using computers | |
| XI. Education and training | |||
| 58 | - | - | Auditor education |
| 59 | Programs of qualified exams, the procedure for passing these exams, the formation of examination commissions and the rules of their work | ||
Questions for self-examination
The rights and obligations of auditors and customers of audit services are determined by the Law "On Auditing" dated August 7, 2001 No. 119-FZ.
Understanding auditors and their clients ϲʙᴏ their rights and obligations (as well as the contradictions between their interests) has ϲʙᴏ and features. Do not forget that it will be important to say that the rights and obligations of auditors and their clients in Russia are extremely important to study in detail, test in practice, solve and debug within the framework of creating a legal economy as a whole. This will be resolved over time.
An audit is carried out by individuals or legal entities licensed to conduct an audit. Auditors (individuals) may engage in audit activities as part of an audit firm by entering into an employment agreement with it, or independently by obtaining an audit license.
Auditors and audit firms are not entitled to:
There are three types of liability:
In the process of conducting audits, the auditor has the right to:
Considering the duties of auditors and audit firms, it should be borne in mind that they carry out financial control and their functions do not include tax control, as well as control over the formation and use of funds. social insurance and security and other off-budget funds. Based on ϶ᴛᴏgo, auditors mainly check accounting or financial statements (balance sheet with applications, i.e. 5 forms annual accounts), confirming its reality and validity. Excluding the above, the audit only covers those business transactions of the economic entity, which are documented. Business operations that are not documented will be the area of activity of other bodies.
As a result, the auditor is required to:
For a better understanding of the rights and obligations of auditors, we will reflect in the diagram (Fig. 2)
Figure No. 2. Rights and obligations of the auditor
To successfully perform ϲʙᴏ and duties, the auditor must meet a number of requirements. The directive of the International Auditing Service indicates the following principles, which must be observed during the audit: integrity, objectivity, independence, secrecy, qualifications and competence, job organization and integrity. A necessary requirement for an auditor is the presence of proper education. The International Federation of Accountants notes that key issues that should be carefully considered will be the objectives of the audit, its concepts, evidence, practices and procedures, as well as the rights, duties and responsibilities of auditors.
It is important to note that one of the main distinguishing features of a professional auditor is his understanding of responsibility "to the public. The necessary minimum rules of conduct are mandatory. Ethical behavior is not just the observance of certain prohibitions. The rules of data require strict adherence to the principle of respect for customers to the detriment personal interests of the public accountant (auditor)
Professional data requirements for auditors include:
The requirement of independence will be a prerequisite for the audit (these requirements are detailed in the topic on audit standards) Professional data requirements for auditors are reflected in the auditor data code, which was adopted by the Audit Council under the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation on August 28, 2003 behavior of auditors and basic requirements for audits.
The auditor takes a qualifying exam for the right to carry out audit activities. Material published on http: // site
Both the audit firm and the auditor can thus conduct an audit with the issuance of a formal audit report only if they have a license.
Individuals with an economic or legal education (higher or secondary specialized), with at least 3 years of work experience out of the last 5 years as an auditor, specialist of an audit firm, accountant, economist, head of an enterprise are allowed to be certified. Persons convicted by a court verdict are not allowed to attestation.
Certification is assigned to the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation for the audit of enterprises, organizations, stock exchanges, investment, pension, public and other funds, as well as citizens engaged in independent entrepreneurial activities. central bank RF - to check banks, credit organizations, their unions, etc.
Certification is carried out on the basis of educational and methodological centers for training and retraining of auditors (AMU), the list of which is determined by the commission on audit activities under the President of the Russian Federation. Exams are held according to uniform programs.
It is worth saying that the regulation on licensing by types of auditor was approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 23, 2002 No. 190 “On licensing audit activities”.
Certification is carried out on the basis of educational and methodological centers (with representatives of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, teachers of the Moscow Financial Academy under the Government of Russia). The license is issued for a period of 5 years. The work on certification of auditors and issuance of licenses is carried out by the Central Licensing Commissions established under the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the Federal Service of Russia for Supervision of Insurance Activities.
Questions for self-examination
(Manual for preparing for the qualifying exam
for a professional accountant certificate)
V.I. Podolsky, A.A. Savin, L.V. Sotnikova
FOREWORD
The section "Fundamentals of Auditing" is part of the general training program for applicants for the qualification exam for the certificate of professional accountant. It includes six main topics, each of which covers materials in accordance with the program.
The first topic deals with general issues of auditing activities, the second topic is devoted to the regulatory regulation of auditing activities in the Russian Federation, the third and fourth topics cover the issues of interaction between audit organizations and audited entities.
The fifth topic is devoted to materiality in the audit and, finally, the sixth topic - the final stage of the audit - the audit report.
To consolidate the material after each topic, questions for self-examination and tests are offered.
The manual is based on the legislative and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation in force as of April 1, 2002.
In this topic, the concepts of audit activity, audit, its goals and objectives are considered. It also discusses the principles of audit, as well as the types of audit-related services. The subjects of statutory audit and the responsibility of the audited entity for evading the statutory audit are separately defined.
In accordance with federal law"On audit activity" (Article 1) audit activity, audit is an entrepreneurial activity for independent verification of accounting and financial (accounting) statements of organizations and individual entrepreneurs. In addition, audit firms and individual auditors may provide audit-related services.
General classification audit activity is presented in fig. 1.1.
┌────────────────────────┐
│Audit activity│
└───────────┬────────────┘
┌────────────────────────┴──┐
┌──────┴─────────────┐ ┌─────┴─────────────────────────────┐
│Mandatory audit │ │ Audit-related services │
└────────────────────┘ └─────┬─────────────────────────────┘
│ ┌──────────────────────────┐
┌───────────────────────────────┐ ├──┤ Counseling │
│ Leading, staging, │ │ └──────────────────────────┘
│recovery of accounting ├───┤
│accounting, reporting │ │ │ Economic analysis │
└───────────────────────────────┘ │ │ activities, assessment │
├──┤ assets and liabilities, │
┌───────────────────────────────┐ │ │ computerization, │
│Internal audit, proactive│ │ │ audit scientific │
│ audit, audit on special ├───┤ │ research, training │
│ audit assignments │ │ └──────────────────────────┘
└──────────────────────────────┘ │ ┌──────────────────────────┐
└──┤ Other Related │
│ audit services │
└──────────────────────────┘
Rice. 1.1. General classification of audit activities
The Federal Law "On Auditing Activities" defines the legal framework for regulating auditing activities in the Russian Federation. On the basis of and in pursuance of this Law and other federal laws, decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation has the right to adopt resolutions containing the norms of the legislation of the Russian Federation on auditing.
The Law "On Auditing" defines the scope of audit - verification of accounting and financial (accounting) statements of organizations and individual entrepreneurs as well as its goals.
In the domestic theory and practice of audit, the following system of its classification is recognized.
An external audit is carried out on a contractual basis by audit firms or individual auditors in order to objectively assess the reliability of accounting and financial reporting of an economic entity.
Internal audit is an independent activity in an organization to check and evaluate its work in the interests of managers. The purpose of internal audit is to help the organization's employees perform their functions effectively. Internal audit is carried out by auditors working directly in the organization. Small organizations may not have full-time auditors. In this case, the internal audit can be entrusted to the audit commission or an audit firm on a contractual basis.
An initiative audit is an audit that is carried out by decision of the management of the enterprise or its founders. The main goal of an initiative audit is to identify shortcomings in accounting, reporting, taxation, to analyze the financial condition of an economic entity and help it organize accounting and reporting.
A mandatory audit is an audit, the conduct of which is conditioned by a direct indication in the Federal Law and other federal laws.
The fact that the need for an audit in a number of cases is established by legislative acts, and not by the desire of the heads of economic entities, has its own reasons and certain consequences both for auditors conducting an audit that is mandatory for economic entities, and for these economic entities.
Reasons for the need for a mandatory audit.
1. Subjects of mandatory audit, as a rule, work with the funds of individuals and / or legal entities - these are banks, insurance organizations, non-state pension funds, open joint-stock companies. Employees of these organizations do not always know how to read financial statements, analyze financial indicators, and draw adequate conclusions. In the case of an audit of such economic entities, the auditor acts as an intermediary between the audited economic entity and an economic entity interested in the activities, but not a fully qualified user of financial statements.
2. By establishing the obligation to confirm the reporting of enterprises that have a large amount of proceeds from sales, the size of their property, the state thus organizes control over the activities of these enterprises as large taxpayers.
From the point of view of the development of audit in the scientific literature, three audit functions are distinguished: confirmatory, system-oriented and risk-based audit function.
Confirming - characterized by the fact that during the audit, the auditor checks and confirms almost every business transaction, in parallel with the accountant creates his own accounting registers.
Since audit is an entrepreneurial activity, i.e. activities aimed at making a profit, auditors should apply methods that would minimize the time to conduct the audit without compromising quality.
System - oriented - provides for the observation of systems that control operations. This function allows auditors to conduct an examination based on internal control. A well-functioning internal control system facilitates external auditing.
A risk-based audit is such an audit when an audit can be carried out selectively, mainly - bottlenecks (critical points) in the operation of an enterprise. By focusing audit work on areas where risks are higher, you can reduce the time spent checking low-risk areas. Those who rely on the judgment of auditors believe that this can provide a more cost-effective audit.
Depending on the object of study in practice, it is customary to distinguish three types of audit: financial, compliance and operational.
A financial audit (or an audit of financial statements) involves assessing the reliability of financial information. The generally accepted principles of accounting organization are usually used as evaluation criteria. Financial audit is carried out mainly by independent auditors, the result of which is an opinion on financial statements. The form and content of the financial audit is closest to the audit carried out in Russia.
A compliance audit is designed to verify that an entity is complying with specific rules, regulations, laws, regulations, contractual obligations that affect the results of operations or reports. In the process of checking for compliance, it is established whether the activities of the enterprise comply with its charter, whether the funds for wages are correctly accrued, whether taxes are charged and paid reasonably, etc.
Compliance checks require the establishment of appropriate criteria for evaluating financial statements.
An operational audit is used to test the procedures and methods of an enterprise's operation to evaluate performance and efficiency. It can be effectively used to check the implementation of business plans, estimates, various target programs, personnel work, etc. Sometimes such an audit is called an audit of the efficiency of an enterprise or administration.
Depending on the intended goals, operational audit is carried out: at the intersectoral, sectoral, on-farm levels; external or internal auditors; in the interests of external or internal users.
According to the frequency of audits, a distinction is made between initial and periodic audits. An initial audit is an audit that is carried out for the first time at a given enterprise (organization).
Periodic (recurring) audit is carried out at the given enterprise, as a rule, annually. This allows you to establish long-term cooperation between the auditor and the client, improve the quality of audits, give a more objective assessment of the economic entity and its activities.
This classification is not exhaustive, the expansion and deepening of the scope of audit services will identify new types and directions of audit activities.
Based on the above classification, it is advisable to consider the goals and objectives of auditing. The primacy in this regard belongs to the external audit, the purpose and main tasks of which are formulated in the Federal Law "On Auditing" and the Russian rules (standards) of auditing.
1. The system of legal regulation of the audit activity of the Russian Federation
The system of regulatory regulation of audit activity in Russia includes three main levels:
First level: the main purpose of the documents is to ensure the effective functioning of the institution of domestic audit in market conditions, its progressive development and improvement, control over the activities of auditors. These include the Codes of the Russian Federation, Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, Decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Law on Auditing and other legislative acts. The Law “On Auditing Activities” refers to the main legislative acts regulating auditing activities. This is a law of direct action, which determines, in particular, the place of audit in financial and economic activities as its necessary and equal element.
Second level: the main purpose of documents of this level is to establish audit standards that are unambiguously interpreted by all subjects of financial and economic activity, and above all by arbitration. These include the rules (standards) of audit activity: federal - mandatory for all participants in audit activity; standards adopted by professional audit associations and binding on their members.
These rules (standards) contain the basic principles for conducting an audit and drawing up an audit report. With their help, the auditors could choose both the necessary scope and depth of the audit, and its appropriate methodology. Audit standards also define the criteria by which the quality of audit results can be assessed. checks.
The documents of the third level regulating audit activities are of an auxiliary nature, and their main purpose is to assist in the technical implementation of the requirements of the rules (standards), in the development of progressive techniques and rational ways of organizing audit activities. it guidelines, instructions, regulations and other documents.
The main documents that define the legal framework for auditing activities in the Russian Federation are:
1. Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Part I, No. 51-FZ dated November 30, 1994; Part II, No. 14-FZ dated January 26, 1996).
2. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (dated June 13, 1996, No. 63-FZ).
3. tax code RF (Part II, dated August 05, 2000 No. 117-FZ).
4. Federal Law "On Auditing Activities" dated December 30, 2007 No. 307-FZ.
6. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 23, 2002 No. 696 “On approval of federal rules (standards) audit. activity"
7. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 06.05.94 No. 482 “On Approval of Normative Documents for the Regulation of Auditing Activities in the Russian Federation”.
The federal law “On Self-Regulatory Organizations” concerns urban planning and auditing activities, for which licensing was canceled from 01.01.2010, and the functions of state supervision and control were assigned to business or professional associations. In this regard, new subjects of mandatory audit, the so-called self-regulatory organizations (SROs), have emerged.
These documents reflect the regulations on the organization of audit activities in the Russian Federation, certification of auditors, licensing of audit organizations and auditors, the implementation of audits, and the issuance of audit reports.
2. Essence and principles of audit
Audit- this is an independent study of the organization's financial statements, carried out by an auditor (audit firm) involved in the prescribed manner in order to express an opinion on its reliability.
aim audit is an expression of opinion on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entities and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation. Reliability is understood as the degree of accuracy of financial (accounting) reporting data, which allows the user of these reporting, based on its data, to draw correct conclusions about the results of economic activity, financial and property status of audited entities and make informed decisions based on these conclusions.
The principles of the audit allow you to give objective, real and accurate information about the object of the audit, identify shortcomings in accounting, reporting, taxation, analyze the financial condition of the business entity and help it organize accounting and reporting.
To basic principles conducting audit activities include: independence and objectivity in the conduct of audits; confidentiality, professionalism, competence and integrity of the auditor; use of methods of statistics and economic analysis; application of new information technologies; the ability to make rational decisions based on audit data; friendliness and loyalty to customers; the responsibility of the auditor for the consequences of his recommendations and conclusions based on the results of audits; contributing to the growth of the credibility of the audit profession.
1. The independence of the auditor is determined by the fact that he is not an employee of a state institution, is not subordinate to the control and audit bodies and does not work under their control, complies with the standards of a professional audit association (association), does not have any property or personal interests in the audited enterprises.
2. Objectivity is ensured by high vocational training auditor, extensive practical experience, knowledge of the latest methodological literature.
3. Confidentiality is the most important requirement in the implementation of audit activities. The auditor should not provide any information to any authority about the economic activities of the object being audited by him. For divulging the secrets of his clients, he must be liable under the law, as well as moral, and if provided by the contract, then material responsibility.
4. The auditor must have the necessary professional qualifications, take care of maintaining it at the proper level, comply with the requirements of regulatory documents. The auditor should not provide services to the client in those areas of the economy in which he does not have sufficient professional knowledge.
5. The use of statistical methods and economic analysis allows organizing the analysis of the conducted inspections at a high scientific level, obtaining more objective and reliable data for decision-making.
6. The use of new information technologies consists mainly in the use of computers for the organization of audit activities. This also applies to the audit and analysis of reporting, maintenance and restoration of accounting.
7. Based on the results of the audit, the auditor can draw the necessary rational conclusions that will help the client in organizing work and maintaining accounting records.
8. The responsibility of the auditor is manifested in the fact that he is responsible for his opinion on the financial statements of the audited enterprise.
3. Types of audit: initiative and mandatory audit
Based on the principle of the initiative to conduct, the audit of an economic entity can be initiative (voluntary) or mandatory. Initiative audit is carried out, as a rule, by decision of the administration of the enterprise or its founders. Its purpose is to identify shortcomings in accounting, reporting, taxation, analyze the financial condition of the enterprise, develop recommendations for improving the efficiency of its activities, as well as preparing the organization for a mandatory audit. An initiative audit can be both complex and thematic, that is, aimed at studying individual sections and sections of accounting. The applied methods of analysis may also be different: continuous and selective verification, verification of accounting registers and (or) primary documents and etc.
According to Article 7 of the Federal Law "On Auditing" dated December 30, 2007 No. 307-FZ, mandatory audit- this is an annual mandatory audit of the accounting and financial reporting of an organization or an individual entrepreneur.
The following groups of economic entities are subject to mandatory annual audit:
1) if the organization has the organizational and legal form of an open joint stock company;
2) if the organization's securities are admitted to trading on stock exchanges and (or) other organizers of trading on the securities market;
3) if the organization is credit institution, the Bureau credit histories, an organization that is a professional participant in the securities market, an insurance organization, a clearing organization, a mutual insurance company, a commodity, currency or stock exchange, a non-state pension or other fund, a joint-stock investment fund, a management company of a joint-stock investment fund, a unit investment fund or a non-state pension fund(with the exception of state off-budget funds);
4) if the amount of proceeds from the sale of products (sales of goods, performance of works, provision of services) of an organization (with the exception of state authorities, local governments, state and municipal institutions, state and municipal unitary enterprises, agricultural cooperatives, unions of these cooperatives) for the previous the reporting year exceeds 400 million rubles or the amount of assets in the balance sheet as of the end of the previous reporting year exceeds 60 million rubles;
5) if an organization (with the exception of a public authority, local government, state off-budget fund, as well as state and municipal institutions) submit and (or) publish summary (consolidated) accounting (financial) statements;
6) in other cases established by federal laws.
Mandatory audit is carried out by audit organizations. When conducting a mandatory audit in organizations, in the authorized (reserve) capitals of which the share state property or the property of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation is at least 25%, the conclusion of contracts for the provision of audit services should be carried out based on the results of an open tender.
4. Features of the organization and analytical procedures of internal audit
Internal audit - control activities carried out within the organization and its divisions - by the internal audit service. The main objective of internal audit is to ensure the effectiveness of the functioning of all activities at all levels of management, as well as to protect legitimate property interests organization and its owners.
Features of the organization of internal audit: 1) Internal audit bodies are appointed by the owners of the economic entity (auditors, audit commissions, auditors or groups of auditors); 2) The internal audit service is independent from other units (the organizational status of the service in the organization's management system is determined by its ability and ability to maintain objectivity and independence in the functions assigned to it); 3) The internal audit service is directly subordinate to the head of the organization (the level of significance of the service is determined by how the recommendations of the internal audit are accepted for execution by the head); 4) Internal auditors perform the functions assigned to them by job descriptions.
The Internal Audit Service is responsible for the validity and timeliness of the submission of opinions on the state of the accounting report and reporting and all financial activities of the organization.
To perform its functions, the internal audit service must be staffed by qualified and trustworthy specialists who are well aware of the specifics of the enterprise, the objects of control, the range of issues to be audited, laws and regulations, know the technique and methodology for conducting audits, are able to summarize and analyze accounting and economic information, formulate conclusions and recommendations based on the results of inspections. The activities of the internal audit service should be carried out in accordance with the internal audit plan. Such a plan is developed by the head of the service, and approved by the head of the enterprise. Specific work on the control of a particular object is carried out by auditors in accordance with the internal audit program.
At the planning stage of an internal audit, analytical procedures allow identifying unusual or incorrectly reported facts, identifying high-risk areas that require additional attention.
Internal audit analytical procedures include:
a) accountability of some employees to others; b) internal checks and reconciliations of data on financial and economic activities; c) comparison of the results of counting cash, securities and inventories with accounting records (inventory); d) comparison of data obtained from internal sources with data from external sources of information; e) verification of analytical accounts and turnover sheets and arithmetic accuracy of records; f) exercising control over application programs and computer information systems, including by establishing control over changes in computer programs and over access to data files, over the right of access when entering and withdrawing information from the system; g) restricting access to assets and records; h) comparison and analysis of financial results with planned indicators.
The use of analytical procedures improves the quality of the audit and reduces the time spent on it. When forming an internal audit plan and program, the use of analytical procedures helps to reduce the number and scope of other audit procedures.
5. Professional requirements for auditors in accordance with the requirements of the code of ethics
audit internal requirement code
The ethics of the auditor is described in the "Code of Ethics for Auditors of Russia" (adopted by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation on August 28, 2003, protocol No. 16). The Code recognizes that the main goal of the audit profession is the activity of specialists at the highest professional level, ensuring the quality performance of tasks and meeting the public interest. Achieving this goal requires four basic requirements:
Reliability. In general, society is in need of reliable information and information systems. Professionalism. Audited organizations, employers and other stakeholders are in need of specialists who are professionals in the field of audit. Service quality. Confidence is needed that all services provided by the auditor meet the highest quality standards. Confidence. Individuals who use auditors need to be assured that the services are being provided in accordance with the professional ethical standards that govern them.
To achieve the objectives of the audit profession, auditors must comply with a number of assumptions and fundamental principles:
Honesty. In providing professional services, the auditor should act with integrity and honesty. Independence. When providing professional services, the auditor should be independent of the audited entities and third parties. Objectivity. The auditor must be fair, his objectivity should not be affected by prejudice, bias, conflict of interest, other persons or other factors. Professional competence and due diligence. The auditor provides professional services with due diligence, competence and diligence. It is his responsibility to continually maintain professional knowledge and skills at a high level so that the audited organizations or employers can benefit from competent professional services based on the latest developments in practice, legislation and technology. 5. Confidentiality. The auditor should maintain the confidentiality of information obtained in the course of providing professional services and should not use or disclose such information without appropriate and specific authority, except when disclosure of such information is dictated by his professional or legal rights or responsibilities. 6. professional behaviour. The auditor should act in a manner consistent with the good reputation of the profession and should refrain from any conduct that might discredit it. 7. regulatory documents. The auditor is required to perform professional services in accordance with applicable professional rules (standards). The auditor is obliged to carefully and skillfully follow the instructions of the audited organization or employer to the extent that they comply with the requirements of honesty, objectivity and independence.
The Code specifically addresses the problems that arise when an auditor provides a client with tax calculation, tax planning, tax optimization, tax audit, and the like services, since when providing services of this kind, the auditor often has to defend the position of a client seeking to minimize tax payments before tax or other regulatory authorities. In addition, the auditor should not simultaneously engage in any business, occupation or activity that is or may be detrimental to the integrity, objectivity, independence or good reputation of the profession and is therefore inconsistent with the provision of professional services. Parallel rendering of two or more different types professional services does not in itself pose a threat to integrity, impartiality or independence. The simultaneous conduct of other activities that are not related to professional services, but do not allow the auditor to conduct professional practice in accordance with the law and the business ethics of auditors, is considered incompatible with the provision of professional services. Family and personal relationships between auditors and managers or other employees of the entity being audited may create a vested interest, familiarity or intimidation threat.
The auditor should not accept gifts or hospitality from the audited entity.
6. Rights, obligations and responsibilities of the parties, regulated by the federal law "On Auditing"
Rights and obligations of audit organizations or auditors:
1. audit organizations or auditors have the right: independently determine the forms and methods of conducting an audit; check in full the documentation related to the financial and economic activities of the audited entity, as well as the actual availability of any property included in this documentation; receive clarifications from the officials of the audited entity in oral and written forms on issues that have arisen during the audit; to refuse to conduct an audit or to express their opinion on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements in the audit report in cases where the audited entity fails to provide all the necessary documentation and reveals circumstances during the audit that have or may have a significant impact on the auditor's opinion on the degree of reliability of the financial ( accounting) statements of the audited entity; to exercise other rights arising from the essence of legal relations, determined by the contract for the provision of audit services, and not contradicting the legislation of the Russian Federation.
2. When conducting an audit, audit organizations and individual auditors are required: carry out an audit in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation; provide, at the request of the audited entity, the necessary information on the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding the conduct of an audit, as well as on the regulatory acts of the Russian Federation on which the auditor's comments and conclusions are based; within the period established by the contract for the provision of audit services, transfer the audit report to the audited entity; ensure the safety of documents received and compiled during the audit, not to disclose their content without the consent of the audited entity, except as otherwise provided by the legislation of the Russian Federation; perform other duties arising from the essence of legal relations defined by the contract for the provision of audit services, and not contradicting the legislation of the Russian Federation.
Rights and obligations of audited entities and (or) entities that have entered into an agreement for the provision of audit services
When conducting an audit the entity being audited may: receive from the auditor information about the legislative and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation on which the auditor's conclusions are based; receive an auditor's report from the auditor within the period specified in the contract for the provision of audit services; to exercise other rights arising from the essence of legal relations, determined by the contract for the provision of audit services, and not contradicting the legislation of the Russian Federation.
When conducting an audit the entity being audited must: conclude contracts for a mandatory audit with audit organizations within the time limits established by the legislation of the Russian Federation; create the conditions for the auditor to conduct the audit in a timely and complete manner, assist the auditors in the timely and complete conduct of the audit, provide them with the information and documentation necessary for the audit, give, upon oral or written request of the auditors, comprehensive explanations and confirmations in oral and written forms, as well as request the information necessary for the audit from third parties; not take any action to limit the range of issues to be clarified during the audit; promptly eliminate violations of the rules of accounting and preparation of financial (accounting) statements identified by auditors during the audit; timely pay for the services of auditors in accordance with the contract for the audit, including in cases where the conclusions of the audit report do not agree with the position of the employees of the audited organization, as well as in case of incomplete performance of work by the auditors for reasons beyond their control; perform other duties arising from the essence of legal relations defined by the contract for the provision of audit services, and not contradicting the legislation of the Russian Federation
Audit organizations and their heads, individual auditors, audited persons and persons subject to mandatory audit, bear criminal, administrative and civil liability in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the federal law "On Auditing".
7. The concept of materiality of errors identified during the audit. Methods for assessing the level of materiality
The level of materiality is understood as the limiting value of the error in financial statements, starting from which a qualified user of these statements with a high degree of probability will no longer be able to draw correct conclusions on its basis and make correct economic decisions.
The auditor evaluates what is material in his professional judgment.
When developing the audit plan, the auditor establishes an acceptable level of materiality in order to identify material misstatements. The auditor considers materiality both at the level of financial (accounting) statements as a whole, and in relation to balances on individual accounting accounts, groups of similar transactions and cases of information disclosure.
In assessing materiality, the auditor uses two main approaches:
1) An inductive approach, which consists in determining the materiality of individual reporting items, and then by summing up the estimates, the overall materiality as a whole is calculated. The materiality level is calculated as follows: based on the results fiscal year in the economic entity subject to verification, are determined financial indicators, percentages are taken from these indicators. After analyzing the obtained numerical values, and in the event that any values deviate strongly up or down from the rest, you can discard such values. On the basis of the remaining indicators, the average value is calculated, which must be rounded for further work, but so that after rounding its value would change by no more than 20% in one direction or another from the average value. This value is a general indicator of the level of materiality that the auditor can use in his work.
2) Deductive approach, which consists in determining the total value of the allowable error and its subsequent distribution between reporting items. This allocation is provisional, but useful for determining what and how much data should be collected for different accounts.
The materiality level is calculated as follows: At the first stage of the audit, based on his professional experience and a preliminary analysis of the statements, the auditor determines the boundaries limit value allowable errors and omissions in it, the presence of which cannot mislead users of information. Errors below the minimum limit are considered insignificant, and errors above the maximum limit are considered significant. When the error is between the minimum and maximum limits, the auditor conducts a deeper study of it in order to classify the identified error as insignificant or significant. At the second stage, the auditor distributes the total value of the margins of the maximum allowable error among the elements within the selected reporting baseline. The third stage involves calculating the error and comparing it with a preliminary estimate.
8. Features of the preliminary stage of planning audit activities
The audit check is limited in time, therefore, in order to conduct an audit in a timely and high-quality manner, it should be carefully prepared for. Only as a result of a preliminary study of the economic entity, it is possible to determine the approximate volume and labor intensity of the forthcoming work, as well as the duration of the audit. The acquisition of knowledge about the activities of an economic entity is a continuous process of collecting and processing information.
Before conducting an audit, the audit organization should obtain an initial knowledge of the industry, ownership, management and operations of the entity being audited, and assess their adequacy to understand the activities of the entity for the purpose of auditing.
Auditors should begin their work by getting acquainted with the audited economic entity, for which they study the constituent documents, types of activities, accounting policies of the organization, etc. It is also necessary to familiarize yourself with the reporting, its main indicators, in order to identify the scope of the organization's activities and the results of its work for the period under study.
Before concluding an agreement with an organization on conducting an audit, it is necessary to find out who its head, founders, the level of qualification of the accounting and financial employees of the organization, what are the results of previous audits in this organization, obtain information about the forms and methods of organizing management, accounting, evaluate the effectiveness of the internal control system and study the activities of an economic entity, i.e. main, investment, as well as other operations, including non-sales.
The factors that determine the need for understanding the activities of an economic entity are: economic policy, strategy and tactics of an economic entity, as well as the component directions of its financial policy; identification of business transactions carried out by an economic entity; correct understanding of legal acts regulating operations conducted by an economic entity; the possibility of a quality audit; objectivity of conclusions about the reliability of the financial statements of an economic entity.
In the process of preparing the general plan and the audit program, a preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of the internal control system at the enterprise is given, an acceptable level of materiality and audit risk is established, which makes it possible to consider the financial statements reliable, areas significant for the audit are identified, the volume and sequence of audit procedures are outlined, control methods are selected.
Thus, only after a thorough study of the economic entity is a general plan and audit program drawn up.
9. Planning audit activities: drawing up a plan and program for an audit program
Planning is the initial stage of the audit. It includes the development by the audit organization of a general audit plan indicating the expected scope, schedules and timing of the audit, as well as the development of an audit program that determines the scope, types and sequence of audit procedures necessary for the audit organization to form an objective and reasonable opinion on the financial statements of the organization .
The audit organization should start planning the audit before writing a letter of engagement and before concluding an agreement with an economic entity to conduct an audit.
The overall plan should guide the implementation of the audit program. In general terms, the audit organization should provide for the timing of the audit and draw up a schedule for the audit, preparation of a report, an audit opinion. In general, the audit organization determines the method of conducting an audit based on the results of a preliminary analysis, an assessment of the reliability of the internal control system, and an assessment of the risks of the audit. In the case of a decision to conduct a selective audit, the auditor forms an audit sample. In general, it is recommended to provide:
1) the formation of the audit team, the number and qualifications of auditors involved in the audit;
2) the distribution of auditors for specific areas of the audit;
3) briefing all team members on their responsibilities;
4) control of the head over the implementation of the plan and the quality of work of the auditor's assistants, etc.
The audit program is a development of the overall audit plan and is a detailed list of the content of the audit procedures necessary to practical implementation audit plan. The program serves detailed instructions for assistants to the auditor, and for the heads of the audit organization and the audit team - at the same time as a means of monitoring the quality of work. The audit program should be drawn up as a program of tests of controls and as a program of substantive audit procedures. The control test program is a list of a set of actions designed to collect information about the functioning of the internal control and accounting system. Tests help to identify significant weaknesses in the controls of an economic entity. Essentially, audit procedures are a detailed check of the correct reflection in accounting of turnovers and balances of accounts. Depending on the conditions of the audit and the results of the audit procedures, the program may be revised. The reasons for and results of changes should be documented.
The auditor's conclusions on each section of the audit program, documented in the working papers, are the actual material for the preparation of the audit report and the audit opinion.
At the end of the audit planning process, the overall plan and audit program should be documented and endorsed in the prescribed manner.
The preparation and drawing up of an audit program are governed by Federal Rule (Standard) No. 3 "Audit Planning".
10. Audit quality control - external and internal
Audit quality is the generalized effect of an audit, expressed in terms of the degree to which the auditor's opinion meets the needs of interested users in objective information contained in the financial statements of the entity being audited.
Audit quality control is the policy and procedures adopted to provide reasonable assurance that all audits have been carried out in accordance with the objectives and general principles governing the audit of financial statements.
The Law on Auditing Activities in the Russian Federation provides for quality control of the work of audit organizations and individual auditors. Auditing organizations and individual auditors are required to establish and comply with the internal quality control rules for their audits. The requirements for these rules are regulated by Federal Rule (Standard) No. 7 "Internal Audit Quality Control".
Distinguish between external and internal control of the audit quality level.
Each audit firm must establish and maintain an in-house quality control system to ensure that audits conducted by that firm are in full compliance with regulatory documents regulating the audit activity. The principal auditor is solely responsible for the performance of the audit. In the process of conducting an audit, he must constantly monitor and direct the work performed by assistants. Assistants to whom work is assigned should be adequately briefed on their responsibilities and the tasks of the procedures to be carried out. The instruction provides for informing assistants about the activities of the enterprise and possible accounting audit problems that may affect the nature, timing and scope of audit procedures.
The system for checking the quality of work of individual auditors and audit organizations by external auditors is established by the authorized federal body, which can conduct such audits, both on its own, and delegate the right to conduct such audits to accredited professional audit firms.
Control by the audit firm over the work of the auditor is carried out, firstly, by discussing and verifying the validity of the audit plan and audit program for this client, secondly, through strict adherence to organizational and ethical audit principles, thirdly, through repeated, free for the client, rechecking the reliability of statements by another auditor of the company after the issuance of an audit report by the main auditor.
External quality control of the work of auditors can be carried out by state bodies. However, this control is indirect, since it does not aim to verify the work of auditors, but sets quite specific other goals, in particular, the correct payment of taxes, ensuring compliance with the liquidation procedure, etc. However, the Russian Federation also provides for a direct form of control, in particular, re-verification on behalf of the authority that issued the license.
Avoidance of external quality control or non-submission by the inspectors of all the documentation or other required information required for the audit may serve as grounds for the cancellation of the license to carry out audit activities of an audit organization or an individual auditor.
11. Audit risks
Audit risk - the risk of ineffectiveness of the audit, that is, the risk of issuing an opinion on the reliability of financial statements in the presence of significant errors and omissions in them.
Audit risk is associated with the subjectivity of the auditor's actions when checking the statements. Its value is always between zero and one. If the auditor determines a lower level of audit risk, then, therefore, he must be sure that there are no material errors in the reporting. Zero risk means the auditor's complete confidence in the reliability of financial statements. However, the auditor should not guarantee the complete absence of material errors in the client's financial statements.
There are two main methods for assessing audit risk:
1. The estimated (intuitive) method lies in the fact that the auditor, based on his experience and knowledge of the client, conversations with administration staff, determines the audit risk based on the reporting as a whole and individual groups of operations as high, probable and unlikely and uses this assessment in audit planning.
2. The quantitative (calculation) method involves the quantitative calculation of various factor models of audit risk. The simplest of them has the form
A r = In r × K r × H p ,
where VR- internal risk Cr- control risk HP- the risk of not being detected.
The auditor is obliged to study these risks in the course of work, evaluate them and document the results of the assessment. Audit organizations may decide to apply in their activities more gradations in risk assessments or to use quantitative indicators (percentages or fractions of a unit) for risk assessment.
On-farm risk- the probability, subjectively determined by the auditor, of material misstatements in the accounting account, balance sheet item, group of business transactions, reporting as a whole before such misstatements are detected by means of the internal control system or subject to the assumption of the absence of such funds. On-farm risk characterizes the degree of susceptibility to significant violations of an accounting account, balance sheet item, etc.
Control risk- the likelihood that the company's existing and regularly used means of the accounting system and internal control system will not timely detect and correct violations that are significant individually or in the aggregate. Control risk characterizes the degree of reliability of the accounting system and the internal control system of an economic entity. To assess the risk of controls, the auditor should apply special audit procedures: surveys and monitoring the execution of transactions; verification of documents reflecting financial and business operations; using the results of other audit procedures.
Detection Risk- is the probability determined by the auditor that the audit procedures used by the auditor during the audit do not allow to detect real-life violations. The risk of non-detection is an indicator of the effectiveness and quality of the auditor's work, it depends on the procedure for conducting a particular audit, as well as on the qualifications of auditors and the degree of their previous familiarity with the activities of the audited economic entity.
Acceptable audit risk should not exceed 5%.
12. Verification of constituent documents and the formation of the authorized capital during the audit
When conducting control, auditors must check the legal status and right of operation of this economic entity in accordance with applicable law. For these purposes, documents are used: the charter of the client, approved
meeting of founders and legally registered; founding agreement of the organization. During the audit, it is established: when and where the organization was registered; in which bank the accounts of this organization are opened; who are the founders and their shares of contributions in the authorized capital; whether the size of the contributions of each founder and, in general, the size of the authorized capital correspond to the requirements of legislative acts.
The audit should check for:
1) certificates of state registration(including new edition charter and constituent documents, if they have been amended); 2) minutes of the meeting of founders; 3) certificates of registration with the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation for economic entities with the participation of foreign capital; 4) certificates of registration with the statistical authorities, the Federal Tax Service, in the relevant departments of off-budget and environmental funds; 5) documents related to the privatization and corporatization of enterprises owned by the state, subjects of the Federation, public organizations, collective farms, etc.
When checking the constituent documents, the auditor must establish how the funds of the authorized (paid) capital of the organization are formed, whether all founders, in accordance with the law, make timely shares of their contributions to the authorized capital (when organizing 50% of the contributions, and the remaining 50% - during the year).
Authorized capital - a set of contributions of participants (owners) to property during the creation of an organization to ensure its activities in the amounts determined by the constituent documents. When checking the formation of the authorized capital, the auditor should be convinced of the reliability of its amount. It is shown in the balance sheet (form No. 1 line 410) and in the statement of capital flows (form No. 3 line 100). The balance on account 80 "Authorized capital" must correspond to the amount of the authorized capital recorded in the constituent documents of the organization.
Buildings, structures, equipment and other material assets, rights to use land, water and other natural resources, intellectual property, securities, cash. The receipt of contributions from the founders is checked on the basis of the data of primary documents and records on the Credit of account 75 "Settlements with the founders" in correspondence with the debit of the accounts of fixed assets, intangible assets, financial investments, materials, goods, cash.
It is advisable to improve the quality of verification is to conduct an inventory of property and other property rights, listed as contributions to the authorized capital.
The final stage of the audit is a generalization of the identified deviations in the accounting of the authorized capital in comparison with the current legislation and the rationale for proposals for their elimination.
13. Selective method of obtaining audit evidence. Sampling Risk and Types of Sampling Used in an Audit
According to Federal Rule (Standard) No. 16. Audit sampling The concept of audit sampling (selective check) means the application of audit procedures to less than all elements of one reporting item or a group of similar operations. Audit sampling enables the auditor to obtain and evaluate audit evidence about certain characteristics of the items selected to form, or help form, conclusions about the population from which the sample is drawn.
In an audit, two approaches are used to determine the sample size:
1. Non-statistical. It assumes: a) arbitrary choice, b) purposeful choice (check every tenth operation);
2. Statistical. Typically, the sample should be representative, or representative, i.e. all elements of the population must have an equal probability of being selected in the sample.
To ensure representativeness, the following methods are used: a) random selection (according to a table of random numbers, selection from a pack of documents); b) systematic selection - elements are selected at a constant interval starting from a randomly selected element; c) combined selection, i.e. a combination of random and systematic selection.
The audit firm selects the elements of the population in the most efficient and cost-effective way. In some cases, stratification can be used to calculate the sample size, i.e. the division of the studied population into separate groups, the elements of each of which have similar characteristics.
When determining the sample size, the audit firm should establish the risk of sampling, as well as the allowable and expected error. The risk associated with the use of audit sampling arises when the auditor's conclusion based on the selected population may differ from the conclusion that would be drawn if identical audit procedures were applied to the population as a whole. There are two types of risks associated with the use of audit sampling: a) the risk that the auditor will conclude that the risk of internal controls is lower than in reality or will conclude that a material error does not exist, despite the fact that what it really is. This type of risk affects the reliability of an audit and is highly likely to lead to an inappropriate audit opinion.
b) the risk that the auditor will conclude that the risk of internal controls is greater than actually, or will conclude that a material error has occurred, when in reality it does not exist. This type of risk has an impact on the effectiveness of the audit because it usually leads to additional work to establish that the initial conclusions were incorrect.
The sample size is determined by the amount of error that the auditor considers acceptable. An error is considered to be a deviation from the normal functioning of an internal control and a distortion in accounting or reporting. The lower the error, the larger the sample size. The allowable error is determined at the planning stage of the audit in accordance with the selected level of materiality. For any sample, the firm must: 1) analyze each error in the sample; 2) to extrapolate the result obtained during the sampling to the entire tested population. The auditor should be convinced that the error in the checked population does not exceed the allowable value. All work on the calculation of the sample size should be reflected in the working documentation of the auditor.
14. Working papers of the auditor
In accordance with Federal Rule (Standard) No. 2 “Audit Documentation”, during the audit process, auditors must draw up working documents, which are the main documents confirming the volume and quality of work performed.
All information confirming the audit opinion is documented, as well as evidence that the audit was carried out in accordance with the federal rules (standards) of auditing.
An audit involving the preparation of a formal audit report must be accompanied by mandatory documentation. The working documentation of the auditor must include: copies of extracts from the legal documents of the economic entity; information about the industry, economic and legal environment in which the audited entity operates; materials on the organizational structure; preliminary examination materials; letter of commitment, contract; audit plan and program; materials on the assessment of accounting, internal controls and compliance with the law; materials on correspondence with management, a letter - confirmation of consent to the audit; evidence supporting the assessment of inherent risk, the level of risk of applying controls, and any adjustments to those assessments; evidence confirming the fact that the auditor analyzed the work of the audited entity on internal audit and the conclusions drawn by the auditor; analysis of financial and economic operations and balances of accounting accounts; analysis of the most important economic indicators and their trends; information about the nature, time frame, scope of audit procedures and the results of their implementation; conclusions drawn by the auditor on the most significant audit matters, including errors and unusual circumstances that were identified by the auditor in the course of performing audit procedures, and details of actions taken in connection with this auditor; audit report; a copy of the financial statements.
Guided by his professional opinion, the auditor has the right to determine the amount of documentation for each specific audit. The auditor should draw up working papers in a sufficiently complete and detailed form. Details of working documentation are confidential. Working documentation should be created in a timely manner, drawn up clearly and clearly. Working documentation should contain required details documents. Working documentation should be stored in folders for at least 5 years in the archive.
In the practical work of an audit firm, working documentation includes: a permanent dossier; current dossier; special dossier (manager's dossier: letters to the client and from the client related to the organization of the audit, plans for verification).
The auditor's working documentation should contain the necessary background information about the client; short description completed work. It is necessary to indicate the method of verification - continuous or selective, or the amount of verified documentation; comments on the results of the audit; a list of primary and other documents not submitted for verification; other revealed inconsistencies with the current legislation; the auditor's opinion on ways to eliminate the identified deficiencies and other recommendations to improve the financial and economic activities of the client.
The working documents should contain a description of the client's on-farm control system, highlighting the weaknesses and positive aspects of this system. It is important that the details of the working paper are consistent with those contained in the certified financial statements. The auditor's conclusions on this part of the audit should be clear and unambiguous. Based on the entries made in the working documents, an audit report is drawn up.
15. Types, sources and quality of audit evidence
According to Federal Rule (Standard) No. 5 “Audit Evidence”, AD is the information obtained by the auditor during the audit, and the result of the analysis of this information, on which the auditor's opinion is based. As evidence in the audit, there can be any information that allows auditors to formulate their opinion on the financial statements, both in general and in separate parts. AD includes, in particular, primary documents and accounting records, which are the basis of financial (accounting) statements, as well as written explanations of authorized employees of the audited entity and information received from various sources (from third parties).
BP can be internal, external and mixed. Internal evidence includes information obtained from an economic entity in writing or orally. External evidence includes information obtained from a third party in writing. Mixed evidence includes information obtained from an economic entity in writing or orally and confirmed by a third party in writing.
The reliability of blood pressure depends on their source (internal or external), as well as on the form of their presentation (visual, documentary or oral). When evaluating the reliability of audit evidence, depending on the specific situation, proceed from the following: AD obtained from external sources (from third parties) are more reliable than evidence obtained from internal sources; BP obtained from internal sources are more reliable if existing accounting and internal control systems are effective; BP collected directly by the auditor is more reliable than evidence obtained from the entity being audited; AD in the form of documents and written statements are more reliable than oral statements. ADs are more persuasive if they are obtained from different sources, have different contents, and do not contradict each other.
Proofs are divided into natural, artificial and logical. Primary documents are artificial evidence.
Blood pressure must be reliable and sufficient. Their sufficiency depends on the following factors: the degree of audit risk, i.e. the probability of making the wrong decision by the auditor; evidence from an independent source; obtaining evidence based on the data of the internal control system; obtaining information as a result of self-analysis or verification.
If evidence obtained from one source contradicts evidence obtained from another source, the auditor should perform additional procedures.
The evidence must be relevant, i.e. be of value to the auditor.
The quality of evidence depends on the source. The main sources of receipt are: 1) primary documents, 2) accounting registers, 3) financial statements, 4) analytical calculations-procedures, 5) oral statements of employees and third parties, 6) results of an inventory of property conducted by employees of an economic entity, 7) matching documents, etc.
Upon receipt of audit evidence, the following substantive procedures are performed: inspection, observation, inquiry, confirmation, recalculation (checking the arithmetic calculations of the audited entity) and analytical procedures.
16. Audit methods
Audit methods are a set of techniques and methods by which the audit object is examined.
Auditors independently choose audit methods and techniques, the main of which are:
1. Inventory. Allows you to get accurate information about the availability of property and indicative information about the condition and value of the property. Property and financial obligations are subject to inventory. It is recommended to carry out checks in two directions: 1) verify the accounting data with the actual availability of goods and materials; 2) check the actual inventories of goods and materials with the account data.
2. Confirmation. To obtain information about the reality of balances on cash accounts, settlement accounts, receivables and payables accounts, the audit organization must obtain confirmation in writing from a third party.
3. Documentary verification. Includes the following components:
a) a formal verification of documents is that the auditor must verify the reality of a certain document. To do this, it is recommended to select certain entries in accounting and trace the reflection of transactions up to the primary document. You should make sure that the details are filled in correctly, that there are no unspecified corrections, erasures, and that the signatures are authentic; b) arithmetic verification of calculations (recalculation). It consists in checking the accuracy of accounting records and sources of documents, carried out selectively; c) verification on the merits (legality, expediency, quotations of documents); d) cross check. The use in the audit is limited, but can be used between divisions, between the parent organization and subsidiaries or affiliates; e) observation. It involves direct acquaintance with the work of departments and workshops; e) oral questioning of personnel and third parties. To conduct standard surveys, you can prepare forms with a list of questions. The results of the surveys are summarized with the names of the interviewed persons; g) analytical procedures. This is the analysis and evaluation of the information received by the auditor, the study of the most important financial and economic indicators in order to identify incorrectly reflected facts of economic activity. Typical types of analytical procedures: comparison of account balances for different periods; comparison of accounting indicators with estimated indicators; assessment of the ratios between various reporting items and their comparison with data from previous periods; comparison of financial indicators with industry ones; h) scanning. Skimming through a stack of documents in the hope of finding a problem; i) examination - personal acquaintance with the problem with understanding; j) special check (involvement of specialists in law, in computers);
k) tracking. The procedure during which the auditor checks some source documents, the reflection of these source documents in the registers of synthetic and analytical accounting, finds the final correspondence of accounts and makes sure that the corresponding business transactions are correctly (or incorrectly) reflected in the accounting records. It is recommended to pay attention to non-standard correspondence accounts; l) preparation of an alternative balance sheet. It is possible to draw up a balance of consumed raw materials and materials according to the norms per unit of production and the actual output of production. Allows you to identify deviations from the standard consumption of raw materials and thereby verify the reliability of the calculation financial result.
17. Audit services
In audit activity, two relatively independent areas are distinguished: examination of the reliability of reporting and the provision of services. As part of the direct audit services, five areas have relatively independent significance: consulting, constructive services, Information Support, performance of the functions of an economic entity and information support.
The examination consists in confirming the reliability of the balance sheet and financial statements, checking the accounting statement. Consulting is consultations on the organization of accounting, economic activity, on the implementation of tax calculations, tax optimization, etc. Constructive services include the development of projects of on-farm regulations, models for organizing production, on-farm audit, methods for calculating standards. The performance of the functions of an economic entity consists in compiling a balance sheet, calculating taxation, and dividends based on accounting data. And the provision of business information about a potential partner of the enterprise is information support.
Services related to the audit can be classified as compatible with the conduct of a mandatory audit by an economic entity (setting up accounting, control of accounting and preparation of financial statements, accrual and payment of taxes and payments, analysis of economic activity, evaluation of economic and investment projects, representation of the interests of an economic entity by third parties). persons, etc.) and incompatible (accounting, restoration of accounting; preparation of tax returns, preparation of financial statements).
Audits of financial and economic activity are the most important aspect of audit activity. They include confirmation of the reliability of public reporting of enterprises, verification of calculations for taxation and mandatory payments, correctness of accounting material assets settlements with buyers and suppliers, the establishment of yen for products and services, the distribution of income, etc.
Analysis of the financial statements of the client is carried out by auditors in order to establish the financial position of the economic entity.
18. Audit of settlements with other debtors and creditors
Verification of settlements with various debtors and creditors includes an analysis of the reliability and correctness of accounting for such operations as receiving and paying for services of communication organizations, public utilities, heat and water supply, educational institutions, for the lease of property, for compensation for material damage, etc.
Sources of information for checking settlements with other debtors and creditors are: contracts for the supply of products (works, services), waybills, invoices, acts of reconciliation of settlements, protocols on offsetting mutual claims, acts of inventory of settlements, copies of payment documents, book of purchases, book of sales , accounting registers (journals-orders, statements) for accounts 60, 62, 76, etc., General ledger, financial statements, etc.
According to the primary documents and accounting registers on account 76 “Settlements with other debtors and creditors”, the auditor will have to establish the causes and prescription of the occurrence of receivables and payables, the correctness of its documentation, reality, are the deadlines missed limitation period what measures are taken to pay off and collect debts. Depending on the volume of transactions and the results of preliminary testing of the system of internal control of settlements, methods of both complete and selective control can be applied. In the latter case, samples are formed separately for debtors and creditors, which include the corresponding transactions for one month from each quarter of the period under review.
It is mandatory to check the correctness of the correspondence of accounts for each type of settlement, the organization of analytical accounting for them, the validity of the accrual (or reimbursement) of VAT on these operations. If necessary, reconciliation of individual, doubtful, in the opinion of the auditor, operations on settlements with debtor organizations is carried out. The correctness of the reflection of receivables and payables in the balance sheet is also established - such debts should be reflected in detail.
The main violations in the field of settlements with other debtors and creditors can be classified as follows:
1) the absence of contracts, primary settlement and payment documents or their incomplete execution; 2) improper accounting (incorrect correspondence of accounts, unreliability of analytical accounting, formal inventory of calculations).
19. Audit and other forms of economic control: audit, financial control, forensic accounting expertise
Control is an important management function. This is an objective phenomenon in the economic life of society, and in the field of financial management, it is an integral part of the financial relations regulation system. Depending on the subject and the nature of the activity, control is divided into audit, revision, state financial control, forensic accounting expertise.
In the implementation of control activities, special methods of documentary and actual control, expert assessments, analysis methods and other tools are used.
Auditing activities, audit - entrepreneurial activities for independent verification of accounting and financial (accounting) statements of organizations and individual entrepreneurs. The purpose of the audit is to express an opinion on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entities and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
The difference between audit and other types of control can be represented as follows:
The difference between an audit and a revision:
1) the focus of activities in the audit: assessment of the economic life of the organization, identification of deficiencies, and the audit activity is aimed at identifying and assessing deficiencies in order to eliminate them.
2) audit is regulated by civil law on the basis of contracts, audit - by administrative law on the basis of laws, instructions, orders of higher state bodies.
3) in the audit, management relations are horizontal, voluntary, and in the audit - vertical, in the order of appointment.
4) the tasks of the audit are to help strengthen solvency, and the tasks of the audit are to preserve assets, prevent abuse.
5) in an audit, the client or customer pays for the services, and in the case of an audit, the state body pays.
6) audit results: audit report and recommendations for the client, audit results: audit report, penalties and instructions.
Audit is different from public financial control. The tasks of control are to verify the legality and correctness of the distribution financial resources state and accounting, the correctness of the calculation and payment of taxes. The subjects of state financial control are state bodies and structures, enterprises with state participation, organizations financed from the state budget. The subjects of audit, on the contrary, are mainly enterprises and organizations of the non-state sector of the economy.
The difference between an audit and a forensic accounting examination is that an audit is an independent verification, and a forensic accounting examination is carried out by decision of the judicial authorities. The special specificity of forensic accounting expertise lies in its procedural and legal form, which provides a source of evidence in the application of expert knowledge in the field of accounting in the course of studying completed business transactions. An audit exists regardless of the presence or absence of a criminal or civil case; an examination cannot exist outside a criminal or arbitration case, since it is a procedural-legal form (the legal side of this type of examination). An auditor may be involved as an expert accountant during a forensic accounting examination. The expert independently determines the research methods and is responsible for the validity of his conclusions. The legislation of the Russian Federation does not provide for any restrictions for auditors-specialists in performing the functions of an expert accountant.
The main difference between the audit and the above types of control is that the audit provides not only verification of the reliability of financial indicators, but also develops proposals for optimizing business activities in order to rationalize costs and increase profits, acting as an adviser, consultant (on accounting, taxation, training), an assistant to all professionals involved in the processing and use of financial documentation.
20. Main stages of auditing
Audit check in practice can be conditionally divided into a number of stages.
Assessment of client needs, formation of audit teams and definition of its tasks.
It is important to gain a clearer understanding of the needs and requests of the client and the best ways to meet these needs. In order to get a clearer picture of the client and its activities, each member of the team must provide relevant information after the project has been completed.
Audit project planning meeting.
It is necessary to develop an overall audit strategy that would meet the needs and requests of the client and take into account his business risk. At the same time, such a strategy should take into account the audit risk and economic aspects of the project. The audit strategy development meeting should be attended by relevant client staff and project execution team members who, at the end of the meeting, should have a common understanding of the schedule, deadlines and results of the audit, their responsibilities, issues raised and findings, and other matters which they deem necessary to consider.
Gain insight into market conditions, business environment, etc.
It is necessary to obtain an understanding of the market conditions, business environment, business objectives and shareholders that influence the business risk of the client and, accordingly, the associated audit risk.
Evaluation of significant internal control procedures.
It is necessary to obtain an understanding of the significant internal control procedures used by the client, as well as to determine the control procedures that affect the material accounts of the financial statements. Documentation, including system descriptions or block diagrams, control system analysis forms or equivalent forms, and end-to-end analyzes of all significant procedures should be prepared at minimal cost.
Risk assessment.
It is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of controls identified in significant internal control procedures, as well as to selectively test those controls that are considered to be pervasive, in order to determine the extent to which they can be relied upon to reduce the volume of audit procedures performed.
Essential and general audit procedures.
It is necessary to perform the remaining audit procedures to further reduce audit risk to an acceptable level, based on the results of assessments and spot checks of internal controls, as well as the audit strategy.
Create an Audit Summary Report
It is necessary to summarize the results of the audit, which, at a minimum, includes: discussion and resolution of significant issues identified during the audit; settlement of all audit risks identified in the course of planning and assessing internal controls; a description of the additions to be made to the client's financial statements; conducting a general analytical audit of financial statements; preparation of the general auditor's report.
Holding a final meeting.
This meeting should discuss and review: draft financial statements; a letter to management; issues identified during the audit and ways to address them; taxation issues; unresolved issues. By the time the meeting is over, all these persons should come to a common understanding of these issues. In addition, at the meeting, it is necessary to present to the client a final approved list of corrective entries with the necessary explanations and calculations.
Performance evaluation and improvement plan development.
It is necessary to evaluate the results of the work of the project team members in terms of the effectiveness of project management and auditing. The conclusions drawn from this assessment are subsequently included in the performance appraisal issued for each member of the team.
21. Distortions in financial statements, their types and factors affecting the degree of risk of their occurrence
Distortion of financial (accounting) statements (BO) may be the result of errors and dishonest actions.
An error is an unintentional misrepresentation in a BO, including the failure to reflect any numerical indicator or the failure to disclose any information.
Fraud is understood as intentional actions committed by one or more persons from among the representatives of the owner, management and employees of the audited entity or third parties with the help of illegal actions (inaction) to obtain illegal benefits. There are two types of intentional misstatements resulting from fraud considered in the course of the audit: 1) misstatements arising from the process of fraudulent compilation of BR;
2) misstatements arising from misappropriation of assets.
The unfair compilation of a BO involves the distortion or non-reflection of numerical indicators or the failure to disclose information in a BO in order to mislead users of the BO. The following actions are considered to be unfair preparation of BOs: a) falsification, alteration of accounts and documents on the basis of which BOs are compiled; b) intentional incorrect reflection of events, business transactions or other important information in the BO or their deliberate exclusion from this reporting; c) intentional violation of the application of accounting principles.
Assignment of assets can be carried out in various ways, including by appropriation of cash, tangible or intangible assets, initiation of payment by the audited entity for non-existent goods or services. Such actions are accompanied by misleading accounting records or documents to hide the lack of assets.
Fraud implies the presence of motivating factors and perceived opportunities for their commission. Unfair compilation of BW is possible in cases where the management of the audited entity, under the influence of external or internal factors, wants to achieve biased performance results. A perceived possibility of fraudulent BW compilation or misappropriation of assets exists when an individual believes they can circumvent internal controls.
An error differs from an act of bad faith in the lack of intent underlying the action that led to the distortion of the BR. Unlike error, fraud is intentional and usually involves the deliberate concealment of facts. While the auditor can determine the potential for fraud, it is difficult if not impossible for the auditor to determine intent, especially in terms of the subjective judgment of the entity's management.
If the audit identifies fraud risk factors that cause the auditor to consider necessary additional audit procedures, it shall document those factors and procedures.
An auditor should consider certain factors that increase the risk of misstatement: Significant financial investments in crisis sectors of the economy; dependence of an economic entity in a certain period of time on one or a small number of customers or suppliers; discrepancy between the amount of working capital rapid growth sales volumes or a significant change in profits; atypical transactions, especially at the end of the year; payments for services that clearly do not correspond to the nature of the service provided; features of the capital structure and profit distribution; the presence of deviations from the established rules of accounting and preparation of financial statements.
22. Types of audit reports
In accordance with federal rule (standard) No. 6 "Auditor's report on financial (accounting) statements", the audit report represents the opinion of the audit organization on the reliability of the statements. The opinion should express an assessment of the audit organization's compliance in all material aspects of the financial statements with the regulations governing accounting and reporting in the Russian Federation.
Types of audit reports.
unconditionally positive audit report. It means that the financial statements are prepared in such a way as to ensure, in all material respects, the reflection of assets and liabilities as of the reporting date and financial performance for the reporting period, based on the regulations governing accounting and reporting. Gives a reliable idea of the financial position and results of the financial and economic activities of the audited entity.
Modified audit the conclusion is drawn up if there are factors: a) that do not affect the auditor's opinion, but are described in the auditor's report in order to draw the attention of users to any situation that has developed with the audited entity and disclosed in the financial (accounting) statements; b) influencing the auditor's opinion, which may lead to a qualified opinion; c) disclaimer of opinion; d) negative opinion.
A positive modified auditor's report is drawn up if there are factors that do not affect the auditor's opinion, but are described in the auditor's report in order to draw the attention of users to any situation that has developed with the audited entity and disclosed in the financial (accounting) statements. The part describing the factors is usually placed after the part expressing the auditor's opinion.
The auditor may not be able to express an unconditionally favorable opinion if there is a circumstance that has or could have a significant impact on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements, for example, there is a limitation on the scope of the auditor's work or disagreement with management regarding: the admissibility of the chosen accounting policy; method of its application; adequacy of information disclosure in financial (accounting) statements.
A modified audit report with a reservation means that, with the exception of the circumstances specified in the audit report, the financial statements are prepared in such a way as to ensure in all material respects the reflection of the assets and liabilities of the economic entity as of the reporting date and the financial results of its activities for the reporting period based on the accounting regulations. accounting and reporting in the Russian Federation.
A modified auditor's report with a disclaimer of opinion on the reliability of the financial statements means that, as a result of certain circumstances, the audit organization does not express its opinion in any of the forms given above. Most often, this is a limitation on the scope of the audit.
A modified auditor's report with a negative opinion on reliability means that, due to certain circumstances, the statements are prepared in such a way that they do not provide, in all material respects, a reflection of the assets and liabilities of the economic entity as of the reporting date and the financial results of its activities for the reporting period based on the regulations on accounting and reporting in the Russian Federation.
23. Features of the audit when using modern computer technology
The presence of computer data processing (COD) significantly affects the process of studying the accounting system of an economic entity and its accompanying internal controls by the auditor.
The auditor should not force the audited economic entity to use the COD system known to the auditor.
An economic entity is obliged to provide the audit organization with the necessary access to the COD system.
It is desirable for the auditor to have an idea about the technical, software, mathematical and other types of computer equipment, as well as economic information processing systems. If the auditor does not have this knowledge, the work of an expert in the field of information technology should be used.
The auditor should be able to determine how the organization, planning and conduct of the audit are affected by the conditions for using the CPC system in the audited economic entity, including the study of the accounting and internal control system, and the assessment of risks associated with the audit.
The auditor must draw up in the course of work a document on the audited economic entity: 1) providing the COD with technical means; 2) Software CODE (compiled a brief description of, in particular by whom it was developed, when the CODE software was implemented, the frequency and method of updating); 3) technological support (data entry, verification, etc.), etc.
The working paper on accounting software should indicate the availability of licenses for each of its elements. The auditor must evaluate and draw up a working document the capabilities of a computer system in terms of: 1) flexible response to changes in economic, tax legislation; 2) formation of accounting and internal management reporting; 3) implementation of analytical procedures; 4) expansion of computer system functions.
The auditor must assess the qualifications of accounting personnel in the field of COD (education, courses) independently.
The organization of accounting data at the client in the COD environment affects the professional risk of the auditor. The auditor should evaluate the reliability of the internal control system of the audited economic entity applying the COD.
When evaluating the COD environment, the auditor should characterize: 1) compliance of the applied form of accounting with the data processing system used; 2) a way of organizing, storing and updating data; 3) ensuring data entry control; 4) the ability to print data on business transactions, etc.
The auditor needs to make sure that: 1) the accounting registers generated by the COD system correspond to the primary accounting data, the presence of the COD system does not relieve the economic entity from the obligation to document the facts of economic life in the prescribed manner; 2) there are no unauthorized changes to the software (not approved or verified by the software developer).
24. Review and reflection by the auditors of events that occurred before the date of signing of the auditor's report, but after the date of the financial statements
In accordance with Federal Rule (Standard) No. 10 "Events after the reporting date", the auditor's report must have the date of its signing, after which no changes can be made to the report that have not been agreed with the client. The conclusion cannot be dated earlier than the date of preparation of the financial statements of the enterprise.
The auditor must be confident that all significant circumstances and events that are subject to reflection in the financial statements, up to the date of signing the auditor's report, are identified and included in the financial statements.
The audit organization must make sure that it has identified and properly assessed all significant circumstances and events that should be identified in the financial statements. It is necessary to assess the ability of an economic entity to continue its activities for at least 12 months following the reporting period. Uncertain economic liabilities should be valued, i.e. potential future liabilities for an inaccurately known amount, arising from its past activities and materially changing its financial position in comparison with that reflected in the financial statements. These include: pending litigation; disagreements with tax authorities; various guarantees issued for the obligations of third parties.
Unspecified liabilities should be reflected in the summary of the auditor's report and in the auditor's written information to the extent that knowledge of them allows. To identify uncertain liabilities, it is necessary to perform certain procedures: a survey of management; research of legal documents; information from the tax authorities.
The auditor has the right to request management reports, minutes of meetings of the board of directors, materials of internal audit.
The audit organization is responsible for expressing its opinion on the events that occurred in the period from the end of the reporting period to the date of signing the audit report.
The audit organization is not responsible for events that occurred after the date of signing the audit report. The management of the economic entity is responsible for informing the auditor about these events. If the auditors become aware of events during this period, they should discuss the issues with the management of the entity. In the event that events significantly affect the reporting, require changes in the reporting. If the entity's management deems it necessary to amend the financial statements, the auditors must: 1) continue the audit; 2) prepare a new audit report with reference to the previous one.
If the management does not deem it necessary to make amendments, then the auditor needs to: 1) notify the economic entity in writing about it; 2) transfer responsibility for the consequences to the management of the subject.
If management refuses to amend, the auditor should further consider informing users of these significant changes. The auditor should reflect all these issues in the working papers.
25. The procedure for issuing and providing an audit report
Federal rule (standard) of audit activity No. 6 "Auditor's report on financial (accounting) statements" establishes the structure and content of the audit report. The auditor's report is an official document intended for users of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entities. It contains the opinion of the audit organization, expressed in the prescribed form, on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
In accordance with the rule (standard) "Auditor's report on financial (accounting) statements", the auditor's report includes:
Name: "Auditor's report on financial (accounting) statements"; Addressee: addressed to the owner of the audited entity (shareholders), the board of directors or the person stipulated by the legislation of the Russian Federation and (or) the audit agreement, etc.; Next information about the auditor: legal form and name, location; number and date of the certificate of state registration; number, date of granting a license to carry out auditing activities and the name of the body that granted the license, as well as the validity period of the license; membership in an accredited professional audit association; Next information about the audited entity: legal form and name; location; number and date of the certificate of state registration; information on licenses for the types of activities carried out; Introduction. It provides a list of audited financial (accounting) statements indicating the reporting period and their composition, with a statement that the responsibility for accounting, preparation and presentation of financial (accounting) statements is assigned to the entity being audited, and the auditor's responsibility lies only in expressing on the basis of the conducted audit of the opinion on the reliability of these financial (accounting) statements in all material respects and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation; Part describing the scope of the audit. This part indicates that the audit was conducted in accordance with the Federal Law "On Auditing"; federal rules (standards) of audit activity; internal rules (standards) of the audit activity of an accredited professional association; rules (standards) of the audit organization and other regulations. The audit was planned and conducted in such a way as to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial (accounting) statements do not contain material misstatements. The audit was carried out on a sample basis and included examination based on evidence testing; Auditor's Opinion Part. There should be a uniformity in the form of the auditor's opinion to make it easier for the user to understand and to help detect unusual circumstances if they occur.
The audit report must be signed by the head of the auditor or a person authorized by the head and the person who conducted the audit, indicating the number and validity of his qualification certificate. These signatures must be sealed. If the audit was carried out by an individual auditor who independently conducted the audit, the audit report can be signed only by this auditor. The audit report is accompanied by financial (accounting) statements, in respect of which an opinion is expressed and which is dated, signed and sealed by the audited entity in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding the preparation of such statements. The auditor's report and the specified reporting must be bound in a single package, the sheets are numbered, laced, sealed with the auditor's seal indicating the total number of sheets in the package. The audit report is prepared in the number of copies agreed upon by the auditor and the audited entity, but both the auditor and the audited entity must receive at least one copy of the audit report and the attached financial (accounting) statements.
26. Study and evaluation of accounting and internal control systems during the audit
The procedure for studying and evaluating accounting and internal control systems is reflected in federal rule(Standard) No. 8 "Risk Assessment and Internal Control Performed by the Audited Entity". Goals and objectives of the study of accounting and internal control systems. The auditor needs an understanding of the accounting and internal control systems sufficient to plan the audit and develop an effective audit approach.
Accounting system- this is an ordered system for collecting, registering and summarizing information in monetary and (or) quantitative terms about the property, obligations of organizations and their movement through continuous, continuous and documentary accounting of all business transactions and other events. When studying the accounting system, the auditor needs to understand it enough to establish: the main groups and types of operations carried out by him; ways of initiating such operations; main accounting registers, methods of systematization and storage of primary documents and accounting accounts used in the preparation of reports; the process of maintaining accounting records and compiling financial statements, from the moment important transactions and other events are initiated to the moment they are included in the financial statements.
Internal control system- this is a set of organizational measures, methods and procedures adopted by the management of an economic entity as a means for the orderly and efficient conduct of financial and economic activities, ensuring the safety of assets, identifying, correcting and preventing errors and distortions of information, as well as timely preparation of reliable financial statements. The internal control system includes:
proper accounting system- the system is considered effective if the following requirements are met: accounting transactions correctly reflect the time period of their implementation; accounting transactions are recorded in the correct amounts; transactions are correctly reflected in the accounts; details of the transaction that are essential for accounting and reporting are recorded; the possibility of abuse is limited.
control environment, which refers to the awareness and actions of the management of an economic entity aimed at establishing and maintaining the ICS. The control environment that affects the effectiveness of specific controls consists of the following elements: the style and basic principles of managing a given economic entity; its organizational structure; distribution of responsibility and authority; personnel policy; the procedure for preparing financial statements for external users; the procedure for the implementation of internal management accounting and reporting for internal purposes; compliance of the economic activity of the economic entity as a whole with the requirements of the current legislation.
control procedures– methods adopted by management to achieve specific goals. Control procedures include: accountability of some accounting employees to others, internal checks and reconciliations of data; approval of documents and control over documents; comparison of the results of counting cash, securities and inventories with accounting records (inventory); comparison of data obtained from internal sources with external sources of information; verification of analytical accounts and turnover sheets and arithmetic accuracy of records; restricting direct physical access to assets and records; comparison and analysis of financial results with the costs provided for by the estimate.
An understanding of the relevant aspects of accounting and internal control systems, along with an assessment of inherent and control risk and other information, enables the auditor to determine the types of potential material misstatements that may be encountered in financial statements; consider factors that affect the risk of material misstatement and develop appropriate audit procedures.
Evaluation of the effectiveness and reliability of accounting and internal control systems in general, the control environment and individual controls is assessed as high, medium, low. The results of the assessment should be reflected in the auditor's working papers.
27. The role of financial analysis in auditing
The most important direction of the audit is the analysis of the financial condition of the enterprise and the results of its economic activity. The purpose of financial analysis is to identify changes in the indicators of the financial condition of the enterprise and factors affecting its dynamics, to assess quantitative and qualitative changes in the current financial condition and in the future.
Financial analysis is part of a general, complete analysis of economic activity and is used in the audit in two directions: firstly, as a method of getting acquainted with financial mechanism enterprises, the processes of formation and use financial resources for its operational and investment activities. Its result is an assessment of the financial stability of the enterprise, the state of its property, the rate of capital turnover and its use.
Secondly, as a type of service of an auditor or an audit firm. In this case the financial analysis touches upon issues: development prospects, expected consequences of the managerial decisions made, options for achieving the client's strategic goals.
The study of the client's balance is one of the stages of the auditor's work both at the conclusion of the contract and in the process of the audit itself. Financial estimates of accounting reports are necessary for the auditor to choose the right solution in the audit process, which helps to plan the audit correctly and identify places in the accounting system.
The main analytical procedures of the auditor during the preliminary acquaintance with the activities of the client:
1) comparison of current data with data from previous periods; 2) comparison of current data with plan data, with normative values; 3) comparison of financial ratios with non-financial indicators. Analytical procedures are used to identify atypical situations in the activities of the enterprise and its reporting.
The main goal of financial analysis is to obtain key parameters that give an objective and more accurate picture of the financial condition of the enterprise. There are the following methods of analysis:
1) temporal analysis - comparison of indicators of the reporting period with the previous one; 2) structural analysis- identifying the impact of individual indicators of financial statements on the result as a whole; 3) analysis of relative indicators - calculation of relationships between individual positions of the report, determination of the relationship of indicators; 4) spatial analysis - this is an on-farm analysis of individual indicators of the company, divisions, workshops; and inter-farm analysis of the performance of a given firm in comparison with those of competitors; 5) factor analysis - analysis of the influence of individual factors and causes on the results of indicators using various research methods. Factor analysis can be direct (splitting the performance indicator into its constituent parts) and reverse (combining individual elements into a common indicator).
Thus, financial analysis plays a huge role in audit activities, can have a significant impact on the further development of an economic entity, its place in a market economy.
Qualitative financial analysis is the basis of the entire audit process, therefore it is given the closest attention by both the audit organization and the economic entity that is directly interested in it.
The main purpose of the audit is to establish the reliability of the financial statements of economic entities and the compliance of their financial and business transactions with regulations. From the departmental audit, the audit differs: independence in determining the forms and methods of audit, based on the requirements of the law and the terms of the contract with the economic entity; independence from any third party, the owner and head of the audit firm; the ability to organize an audit on the principles of entrepreneurial activity.
A full audit can be carried out at private enterprises. State and municipal enterprises that are not owners of property assigned to them under the right of economic management may engage auditors only to provide certain audit services. Only the body authorized to manage state or municipal property has the right to decide on the conclusion of an audit contract.
Particular attention during the audit is paid to its legal aspects. The audited economic entity has the right to receive from the auditor comprehensive information about the requirements of the legislation regarding the conduct of the audit, about the rights and obligations of the parties, and after reading the auditor's report - about the regulations on which the auditor's comments and conclusions are based.
The auditor is obliged to provide the economic entity with this information. The analytical part of the audit report indicates violations of the law in the course of economic and financial transactions that caused or could cause damage to the interests of the owners of economic entities, the state or third parties. In this regard, persons with an economic and legal education are allowed to be certified for the right to carry out audit activities. This requirement underlies the implementation of the tasks of forming the rule of law in Kazakhstan, increasing the role of the law in business activities. It must be understood in the sense that selective knowledge of accounting, business analysis, organization and auditing techniques, financial management without comparing them with the requirements of the relevant rules of law, they cannot achieve the main objectives of audits.
An audit is a necessary element of an audit and one of the types of audit activities. It consists in establishing the reliability of financial statements, as well as in the performance of other services, in particular, the preparation of income declarations and financial statements, advising on financial, tax, banking and other economic legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Auditors may also conduct training and provide other services in the profile of their activities. But in the provisional rules there is a clause containing a paragraph that limits the scope of the auditor's business activities: "Auditors and audit firms may not engage in any activity other than auditing and other related activities." It follows from this excerpt that the auditor cannot act as a founder, shareholder, owner of other enterprises not related to audit activities.
An audit may be mandatory or initiative. A mandatory audit is carried out in cases expressly established by regulatory enactments. For example, in the Banking Law and banking it is stipulated that banks publish the annual balance sheet in the form and within the time limits established by the Central Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, after confirmation by the audit organization of the reliability of the information indicated in it. There are other cases of mandatory audit for insurance companies, investment funds, etc.
In the field of general audit of the Law on foreign investment provides for an audit by an audit organization for the purposes of taxation of the financial and commercial activities of enterprises with foreign investment.
Mandatory checks in accordance with the procedural legislation are also carried out on behalf of the body of inquiry, investigator, prosecutor, court and arbitration court. An order to conduct an audit is given to the auditor if there is an initiated criminal case in the proceedings, accepted for proceedings in a civil case or a case subordinate to the arbitration court. The auditor's conclusion based on the results of such an audit is equated to an examination report. The auditor's report is a document that has legal significance for all legal and individuals, public authorities and administration, local governments and judicial authorities.
If the tax state or other body, which is entrusted by law with the verification of certain aspects of the enterprise's activities and the receipt of relevant reports, does not agree with the audit report adopted by the economic entity, then it has the right to challenge it in arbitration court. If the court establishes inaccuracies and errors in the statements submitted by the auditor, it shall compensate the economic entity for all losses associated with an unqualified audit report.
The basis for the audit is the desire of the client, which is fixed in the following documents: an audit contract and a letter of commitment.
According to the Law on Auditing, an audit contract is the provision of services in the profile of audit activity, which reflects the subject of the contract, the terms and scope of the relevant services (audit or related), the amount and terms of payment, the rights, duties and responsibilities of the parties. Audit Regulation (standard) 2 is devoted to the conditions for conducting an audit.
Before the start of the audit, the desire of the client and the list of work proposed by the auditor should be reflected in a letter of commitment. It is drawn up by the auditor as a response to the desire of the client and confirms his consent to the audit, specifies the purpose and scope of the audit, the degree of responsibility and the form of the report. In addition, the letter of engagement includes the following points, for which the auditor expects to obtain the written consent of the client:
The client returns 1 copy of the letter of commitment with a signature and seal, if necessary, can put forward additional requirements in writing, for example, regarding the content and form of the report.
The list of obligations may be amended as circumstances arise. In this case, the auditor and the client must agree on new conditions.
The rationale for the revision of obligations cannot be reasons arising from the unwillingness of the client to provide data that ultimately leads to a conditional or adverse opinion on the financial statements. Therefore, before agreeing to changes, the auditor should deeply study the reasons, including hidden ones.
The work of the auditor is a strictly organized process, which has certain stages and procedures for maintaining and compiling documentation, conducting audit procedures.
Audit practice in our country has developed the following sequence (stages) of auditing financial statements. It should be noted that if an audit of financial statements is ordered, then a comprehensive audit of the entity's activities should be implied. If a thematic audit, then, without delving into other issues or only to the extent that the scope of the audit object in question requires, an audit is carried out.
But regardless of the subject, the audit goes through the following stages:
Thus, according to the results of the first stage, the auditor completely forms the information base for further work and determines the scope of the audit.
Stage 2. Audit planning is carried out in accordance with Audit Regulation (Standard) 7 "Planning" and means the development of a general strategy and a detailed approach to the expected nature, timing and scope of the audit, which is reflected in the overall audit plan and program.
The auditor may discuss the elements of the overall audit plan and specific audit procedures with the audit committee, the management of the entity and its personnel to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the audit and to coordinate audit procedures with the work of the entity's personnel. However, the responsibility for the overall audit plan and program remains with the auditor.
In developing the overall audit plan, the auditor should consider the following points:
The activities provided for in the overall audit plan are detailed development in the audit program.
The audit program is a series of instructions for assistants involved in the audit, as well as a means of monitoring the proper performance of the work. Based on the foregoing, one can imagine that the general plan is divided into several programs. Depending on the number of persons involved in the audit, the auditor needs to coordinate their interaction and regulate their content.
Changes made to the contract and the letter of commitment will also be reflected in the overall audit plan and program.
When auditing financial statements, it is necessary to follow the sequence of consideration of topics. In our opinion, it is advisable to focus on balance sheet items and include the following topics:
1. Audit of long-term assets:
fixed assets;
intangible assets;
investments;
2. Audit of inventories:
production stocks;
work in progress;
finished products;
on settlement and currency accounts;
7. Audit of equity:
charter;
reserve;
undistributed income;
8. Audit of obligations:
long-term;
The results of work at the stage of "actual audit" are reflected in the working documents of the auditor and are audit evidence. The procedure for drawing up audit documentation is regulated by Audit Regulation (standard) 4.
Documentation refers to working documents prepared by both the auditor and for the auditor, or received and retained by the auditor in connection with the audit. Working documents can be on paper, electronic media.
The scope of working papers is determined by the auditor, but he needs to take into account the fact that another auditor who does not have prior work experience could get an idea of the work performed from them.
Working papers are the property of the auditor. If it is necessary to apply measures to maintain the confidentiality and secure storage of documents, as well as to preserve them for a period in accordance with practical, legal and professional requirements for the preservation of records. Along with this, excerpts from the auditor's working papers cannot replace accounting records.
Stage 4. Drawing up a report on the results of the audit is regulated by Regulation (standard) audit 5 "Auditor's report on financial statements".
The auditor's report is a document that reflects the degree to which the audit objective has been achieved, which is expressed in the auditor's opinion and the level of confidence regarding the reliability and objectivity of the elements of the financial statements.
The auditor's report includes the main elements, arranged in a certain order:
Mandatory statement that the audit provides a sufficient basis for expressing an opinion: audit history element order
The audit report is transferred to the head of the audited entity under the act of acceptance and transfer, which confirms the fulfillment of all the obligations of the auditor to the client and serves as the basis for the final settlement with him.
Auditing activity, audit - entrepreneurial activity on independent verification of accounting and financial (accounting) reporting of organizations and individual entrepreneurs.
The purpose of the audit is to express an opinion on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entities and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
Reliability is understood as the degree of accuracy of financial (accounting) reporting data, which allows the user of these reporting, based on its data, to draw correct conclusions about the results of economic activity, financial and property status of audited entities and make informed decisions based on these conclusions.
However, an audit does not replace state control the reliability of financial (accounting) statements carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation by authorized state authorities.
The main goal of the audit can be supplemented by other goals stipulated by the audit contract, for example, improving the financial condition of the audited entity (development of measures), optimizing costs and financial results, and others.
The objectives of the audit are:
1. assessment of the level of organization of accounting and internal control;
2. assessment of the correctness and legality of accounting records;
3. assisting the governing bodies of the organization by developing recommendations to eliminate shortcomings and violations;
4. orientation of the organization to future events that may affect economic activity(prospective analysis);
5. identification of reserves for the growth of the financial resources of the organization;
6. verification of compliance with the current legislation in the field of taxation;
7. confirmation of reliable reports or a statement of their unreliability.
To achieve the primary objective, the auditor should form an opinion on the following matters:
Auditing organizations and individual auditors are prohibited from engaging in any other business activity, except for auditing, but they can provide audit-related services.
Audit-related services include:
Statement, restoration and maintenance of accounting, preparation of financial (accounting) statements, accounting consulting;
Tax consulting;
Analysis of financial and economic activities of organizations and individual entrepreneurs, economic and financial consulting;
Management consulting, including those related to the restructuring of organizations;
Legal advice, as well as representation in court and tax authorities on tax and customs disputes;
Automation of accounting and introduction of information technologies;
Assessment of property value, assessment of enterprises as property complexes, as well as entrepreneurial risks;
Development and analysis of investment projects, preparation of business plans;
Carrying out marketing research;
Carrying out research and experimental work in the field related to auditing, and disseminating their results, including on paper and electronic media;
Training in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of the Russian Federation for specialists in areas related to auditing;
Provision of other services related to audit activities.
Source - Abakumova A.V. Fundamentals of audit. Tutorial. - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg GUITMO, 2009. - 56 p.
Fundamentals of audit: textbook / N. A. Bogdanova, M. A. Ryabova. - Ulyanovsk: UlGTU, 2009. - 229 p.
