The value of an audit. Goals and objectives of the audit and audit activities. The history of the audit

Until recently, internal audit in a company in many cases played the role of a “Cinderella”, which performs difficult and not always clean work and which, by and large, no one likes. But gradually this attitude miraculously changed. Today, internal audit is in vogue - many managers and owners would like to implement it in their companies, often not fully realizing how huge its potential is. Meanwhile, internal audit is faced with increasingly ambitious tasks, the requirements for it are increasing and, accordingly, the burden on internal auditors is growing. In some cases, internal audit is beginning to be treated as a lifesaver that can fix everything. What is internal audit and how can it be useful to a company? To answer these questions is the purpose of this article.

Why internal audit has attracted attention

Internal audit is not a new concept, but it attracted special attention only at the beginning of the third millennium. The growing interest in internal audit in the world is due, in our opinion, to a number of factors.

Firstly, internal audit is one of the few currently available and at the same time underestimated resources, the proper use of which can improve the efficiency of the company. Secondly, a series of high-profile corporate scandals that swept across the United States and Western Europe gave reason to believe that the institution of external audit can cause serious failures, as a result of which even the largest firms suffer bankruptcy. Thirdly, the presence of good corporate governance in the company, one of the integral parts of which is internal audit, is a positive signal for potential investors and creditors, which increases the investment attractiveness of the company.

In Russian conditions, a number of others are added to the above factors. First of all, this is the desire of owners and management to streamline the structure and organization of business processes, which can lead to significant savings for the company. In addition, the presence of internal audit becomes very relevant for owner-managers who are moving away from the direct conduct of business in the company, transferring the reins of government into the hands of professional managers. Finally, plans to enter the international capital markets in the short or medium term dictate the need for companies to create internal audit services. In particular, the rules of the largest stock exchanges provide for the presence of an internal audit in a company as a mandatory condition for the company's securities to be listed on the stock exchange.

The Institute of Internal Auditors (The IIA), established in 1941, is an international professional association of internal auditors with 93,000 members in 160 countries. The Russian Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) was registered in 2000. IIA members are representatives of large and medium-sized Russian and foreign companies.

The concept of internal audit

Here is a definition given to internal audit by the International Institute of Internal Auditors: “Internal audit is an activity to provide independent and objective guarantees and consultations aimed at improving the organization's activities. Internal audit helps an organization achieve its goals by using a systematic and consistent approach to assess and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and corporate governance processes.” Let us briefly dwell on the main characteristics of internal audit:

1. Independence and objectivity . Independence - in this case, the concept of organizational, which is largely determined by the level of subordination of the internal audit service in the company. Objectivity refers to the individual quality of an internal auditor - impartiality in assessments and conclusions.
2. Improving the activities of the organization. The purpose of internal audit, as follows from the definition, is to improve the performance of the organization. We emphasize: not to identify violations and errors for subsequent organizational conclusions and punish the perpetrators, not to write a report of several tens of pages with hundreds of hard-to-implement recommendations, but to see and assess the risks, weaknesses in the organization's work and give recommendations aimed at improving the efficiency of systems and processes.
3. Providing guarantees and consultations. The essence of the activity of internal audit is to provide guarantees (English assurance) and consultations (English consulting) to customers (clients) of internal audit. At the same time, the sphere of providing guarantees and consultations has significantly expanded in recent years and today includes the following areas: risk management, internal control, corporate governance.

The provision of guarantees in this case is an objective analysis of audit evidence in order to carry out an independent assessment and express an opinion on the reliability and efficiency of systems, processes, operations. The main difference between consulting and providing guarantees is that in the first case, the nature and scope of the auditor's work are determined by the client.

For the owners, represented by the board of directors, the activity of internal audit to provide guarantees is more important. From the point of view of line management, the greatest value of internal audit lies in the opportunity to receive advice on improving the efficiency of business processes for which line management is responsible. Senior management is interested in both internal audit assisting line management in the performance of its functions, and in helping to control the activities of line management.

Today there is intense discussion about the balance between the time that internal audit devotes to assurance activities and to advisory activities. Some members of the profession advocate "absolute purity", suggesting that the main value of internal audit lies precisely in providing objective assurance, and therefore consultations should take a minimum of time in the auditors' work schedule. After all, the more internal audit is engaged in consulting work, the greater (in general) the potential threat to the objectivity of internal audit: projects and areas where the internal auditor participated as a consultant today are subject to review by the internal auditor tomorrow. Proponents of another point of view argue that internal audit can be most useful for a company precisely at the stage of changing and / or implementing systems / procedures, since for a company the potential benefits from such involvement of internal auditors as consultants still exceed the risk of reducing the objectivity of the results of the work of internal auditors in future. Moreover, there are many ways to offset the negative impact on the objectivity of internal auditors.

Since the main task of internal audit, in our opinion, is to provide objective guarantees (which arise as a result of those very checks, although “check” is not the best word in the lexicon of an internal auditor), one should be extremely careful in increasing the relative share of consulting work, to avoid a negative impact on the subsequent objectivity of internal audit.

The practice of different companies in this regard is very different. In foreign companies, until recently, there has been a growing trend in the importance of the internal auditor as a consultant. At the moment, we can talk about an approximate ratio of 80/20, when 80% of the time allocated for audit assignments falls on assurance activities and 20% on consulting work. However, after high-profile corporate scandals of recent times, there is a growing conviction that the value of internal audit for a company lies precisely in providing objective guarantees.

The role of internal audit in a company

To what extent do business owners and managers need internal audit?

The decision on whether an internal audit is necessary in a company is made by the owners and the top executive management of the company. This decision is determined by many factors, which primarily include the separation of the function of owning and managing a business; size and structural branching of the company; the level of risks inherent in the company's activities.

In cases where the owners of the business are the managers of the company and have full control over all aspects of the business themselves, there may not be a need for an internal audit function. However, as the size of the company grows and the complexity of management processes increases, the owner-managers may develop an illusion of control, when it seems that the business is not changing much and all aspects of the company's activities are under control, but in fact the management no longer has the physical ability to control the situation. in its entirety. That's when internal audit will be very useful.

It should be noted that in Europe and the United States, the combination of the functions of owning and managing a business is typical for small and, to some extent, medium-sized businesses. In large and many medium-sized companies, there is a separation of these functions (this objective trend is beginning to be traced in Russian organizations), when the owners are engaged in determining the strategy and directions for the development of the company, without delving into the daily details of doing business, and professional managers are hired to manage the company. But no matter how professional the management is, the issue of control over the state of affairs in the company (“trust but verify”) becomes relevant for the owners. In this case, internal audit can become one of the effective control tools.

Internal audit is necessary not only for the owners, but also for the management of the company. The task of managers is to manage the business, achieving the set goals in the most effective way. The success of this task depends largely on two factors: 1) whether the manager has the information necessary to make the right management decisions; 2) whether there is an effective system for monitoring the implementation of decisions made.

Managers, for whom business management is part of their daily work, are not always able to objectively assess the situation. Even if the manager believes that he effectively controls all processes, he usually does not have the time and specific skills to collect and structure relevant information. Internal audit, in essence, has information on all aspects of the company's activities and tools for generalizing and analyzing data, so close interaction with internal audit increases the efficiency of decision-making by management. It is the internal audit that is an objective source of information that helps the manager to take a fresh look at things and assess the quality of the implementation of managerial decisions.

But the question arises: do the owners and management of the company need internal audit, or are the functions traditionally performed in Russian companies by internal control services (ICS) and control and audit departments (CRU) more useful? (Note that in the modern practice of Western companies, internal audit services are most widely used; ICS are much less common, and analogues of KRU are not at all common.)

How many control bodies it is necessary to have in the company and which ones, determines the needs of owners and management. A significant role in decision-making is played by the state of the control environment in the company and, more broadly, the level of development of corporate culture. If internal control and risk management systems are not built or work inefficiently, the field of activity for internal audit is very narrowed, since its task is to evaluate the effectiveness of these systems. In this case, the primary tasks of the company's management are the design and implementation of a control system - this is traditionally done by internal control services in Russian companies.

Since building an internal control system is a laborious and lengthy process, at a certain stage (until an effective control system is built) there is an objective need for a separate division in the company - the control and audit department. In this case, the CRU will focus on identifying errors and abuses, playing the role of a "pure" corporate police officer. But it should be remembered that the audit activity is inherently aimed at the retrospective, that is, at the events that have already occurred and their consequences. Internal audit is focused on the future, i.e., on the analysis of future events that may adversely affect the activities of individual departments and / or the company as a whole. In other words, the audit evaluates the consequences of already materialized risks, while the internal audit evaluates the opportunity and suggests ways to reduce the risks and / or negative effects of their impact. The presence of an audit department in the company does not in any way mean that internal audit is unnecessary - everything is determined by what stage of its development the company is at and in which direction, from the point of view of the internal corporate culture, it will move.

It should also be noted that the decision on the need for internal audit should not be determined by the presence of an external auditor in the company, since external and internal audits perform different functions.

First of all, An external audit is traditionally concerned with verifying the fairness of a company's financial statements and focuses on transactions and events that could have a material impact on a company's financial statements. Internal audit is aimed primarily at assessing the company's existing control and risk management systems and focuses on operations and events that prevent the company from effectively achieving its goals.

Secondly, external audit as part of the provision of audit services does not assess the economic feasibility of management decisions and the efficiency of the company's divisions, which is usually one of the tasks of an internal audit.

Thirdly, external audit serves primarily the interests of external stakeholders - potential investors, creditors, etc., while internal audit primarily serves the interests of the company's boards of directors and managers.

We emphasize that an effective internal audit can reduce the company's costs for external audit, but cannot eliminate the need for external audit for the company. It is also important to consider that it is not recommended to use the services of an external auditor of the company for internal audits, since such a combination may lead to a conflict of interest of the external auditor. In the legislation of some countries, such a combination is prohibited (for example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the USA).

Thus, the presence of an effective internal audit becomes critical for the successful development of a company in the face of rapid changes in the external environment, increasing the complexity of management processes, separating the functions of ownership and business management. How useful internal audit will be for the company in this case depends to a large extent on what tasks will be assigned to it.

What tasks does internal audit solve

Modern internal audit is able and must perform diverse and large-scale tasks. First, he evaluates the internal control system in terms of the reliability of information, compliance with the law, the safety of assets, the efficiency and effectiveness of the activities of individual operating and structural units. Secondly, it analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of the risk management system and suggests methods for reducing risks. Thirdly, it evaluates the compliance of the company's corporate governance system with the principles of corporate governance.

One of the most important activities of internal audit is the audit of information systems (information technology).

Internal audit can do a lot, but is not a universal solution to all company problems. For example, internal audit:

• cannot eliminate or identify all cases of human error or abuse, but can minimize their likelihood and increase the likelihood of their early detection through system/procedure audits;
• cannot audit every business process every year, but can optimize the selection of audited areas/divisions based on a preliminary risk analysis;
• should not develop procedures for divisions/departments of the company, as this negatively affects the independence of internal audit, but may review the procedures developed by other divisions/departments for their effectiveness within the company's internal control system.

In many cases, executive management is inclined to consider internal audit as a resource that solves managerial tasks in building a control system. This cannot but raise concerns about the objectivity of internal audit, since in this case, internal auditors will actually have to evaluate what they themselves develop and implement. We emphasize once again that building an internal control system is not included in the task of internal audit, being a direct task of management. Internal audit can provide consulting support during the development of systems/procedures and thus bring invaluable benefits to the company, but should not be responsible for the establishment and maintenance of the control system.

Today, internal audit is being transformed into a risk assessment tool, there is a shift in emphasis from assessing individual operations to assessing risks in the activities of the organization as a whole. What tasks does internal audit solve in the field of risk management?

First of all, internal auditors during various types of audits provide audit recommendations to prevent risk or reduce it to an acceptable level. Secondly, internal auditors evaluate the reliability and effectiveness of the risk management system. Thirdly, internal auditors, subject to certain conditions, can assist management in the development and implementation of a company's risk management system. However, here, as in the case of the internal control system, it should be borne in mind that risk analysis and management is the task of the company's management, in the solution of which internal audit assists management.

Conclusion

Summing up, we note that today there are favorable conditions for internal audit to demonstrate its wide capabilities and prove its necessity to both owners and management of companies. And the owners and management of companies may have a powerful tool to improve business efficiency.

Thanks to the development of market economic relations and the integration processes of introducing our business into the world economy, it became necessary to transfer the financial statements of enterprises interested in foreign economic activity to international standards (IFRS, GAAP, IAS). As you understand, not all companies can do this with the help of their accountants, so it is advisable to use the help of specialists. The preparation of such documents is within the competence of consulting institutions that have at their disposal a bureau for translating accounting documents into English and other foreign languages ​​in accordance with foreign standards. At the same time (if necessary), they make a certified translation of documents, which also contributes to the growth of confidence of international investors. It is quite easy to order accounting support in St. Petersburg or in another city of the country today - the main thing is to choose only those professionals who have a high reputation and have been working in this field for several years. So you save yourself from problems.

A competent audit requires the collection and subsequent analysis of information that is directly related to the activities of the enterprise in order to clearly understand not only the nuances of doing business, but also take into account the likely financial risks. To do this, the financial position of the business is studied and assessed, its diagnostics are made, accounting entries are checked, the correctness of reporting documentation and balance sheet preparation. Since the audit is primarily aimed at assisting in the proper organization of accounting (in accordance with the requirements of its legislation and international standards), such work is carried out in close cooperation with the client, and this, in turn, contributes to the fundamental improvement of its international financial - economic relations.

Such professional cooperation also allows avoiding financial problems in time and taking the right measures to prevent crises. However, it should be borne in mind that when carrying out an independent audit to bring reporting financial documentation in line with foreign standards, it is necessary to contact only reputable audit firms that have extensive experience in such work in the international market and are fully aware of international auditing standards. Indeed, as practice shows, domestic audit does not always correspond to the world-class status, which is trusted by all participants in the financial and economic relations of the international market.

1. Concept, purpose and main stages of the audit

2. Types of audit

3. Services related to the audit

4. Rights and obligations of the auditor and the audited economic entity

5. Professional ethics and independence of auditors

Chapter 2. Normative regulation of audit activity

1. Legislative regulation of audit in the Russian Federation

2. Federal rules (standards) of audit

3. Internal standards of audit organizations

4. The value of international standards in the world practice of audit. General characteristics of international standards

Chapter 1. The essence and significance of the audit

Concept, purpose and main stages of the audit

The concept of audit

Auditing has a long history. The first auditors appeared in the middle of the 19th century. in Europe. For example, in England for joint-stock companies the requirement for an audit has been provided for by law since 1844. The very first professional auditing organization - the Edinburgh Institute of Auditors - was established in January 1853 in Edinburgh, Scotland. At this early stage in the development of the audit, there were no specific methods for conducting an audit and no established requirements for an audit report.

Later, at the beginning of the 19th century, and especially after the economic crisis of the 1930s. audit began to develop more actively, which necessitated the standardization of audit techniques and the form of an audit report. The first official documents concerning audit standardization began to be published in the research bulletins of the American Institute of Accountants, starting in 1939. After the Second World War, in the context of the rapid transformation of audit into an integral element of financial control, generally accepted audit procedures were significantly supplemented. Improvement of audit rules continues now.

The term "audit" has now become widespread, replacing the concepts of "audit" and "control" that previously existed in some countries (France, Germany). Audit - this is a type of activity consisting in the collection and evaluation of information related to the functioning of an economic entity, carried out by a competent independent person who, based on established criteria, makes an opinion on the qualitative side of this functioning. In most countries, persons engaged in this type of activity are referred to as auditors, but in some countries their traditional name has been preserved: in Germany they are “economic controllers”, in France they are “account commissioners”.

Therefore, under audit is understood as an independent audit carried out by the auditor, the result of which is the expression of the auditor's opinion on the degree of reliability of the financial statements of the audited company.

Audit acts as an element of market infrastructure, the need for the existence of which is determined by a number of circumstances. Firstly, financial statements for decision-making are used by a large number of interested users (managers and owners of company property, existing and potential investors, employees, creditors, suppliers and buyers, authorities). Secondly, the company's operations are often numerous and complex, users cannot evaluate and interpret information about them on their own and need the services of specialists - auditors, professional accountants. Thirdly, the degree of reliability of financial statements cannot be independently assessed by the majority of interested users due to the difficulty of access to accounting and other information.

The auditor's opinion on the reliability of financial statements can contribute to greater confidence in these statements on the part of interested users. Thus, audit contributes to the reduction of business risk and can be seen as a process of reducing information risk to an acceptable level for users of financial statements.

Purpose of the audit

The main purpose of the audit of financial statements is to express the opinion of the audit organization on the reliability of the financial statements of the economic entity in all material respects.

This goal can be achieved if, during the audit of the financial statements, sufficient audit evidence is obtained that allows the auditor to draw conclusions with some certainty regarding the compliance of the audited organization's accounting with the requirements of regulations governing the accounting and preparation of financial statements.

At the same time, users of financial statements should not interpret the opinion of an audit organization as a full guarantee of the future viability of an economic entity or the effectiveness of its management, as well as a guarantee of the absence of any other (other than those set out in the audit report) circumstances affecting the financial statements of an economic entity.

Audit principles

The activities of audit organizations are based on several fundamental principles:

Independence;

honesty;

objectivity;

professional competence;

good faith;

privacy;

professional conduct.

Independence - the audit principle, which consists in the obligatory absence of the auditor, when forming his opinion, of financial, property, family or any other interest in the affairs of the audited economic entity, as well as any dependence on third parties. The requirements for the auditor in terms of ensuring independence and the criteria that the auditor is not dependent are regulated by regulatory documents on auditing, as well as codes of ethics for auditors. The independence of the auditor should be ensured both on formal grounds and in terms of actual circumstances.

Honesty - the principle of audit, which consists in the obligatory commitment of the auditor to professional duty, as well as following the general norms of morality.

Objectivity - the audit principle, which consists in the obligatory use by the auditor of an unbiased, impartial and independent, not due to any influence, approach to the consideration of any professional issues and the formation of judgments, conclusions, and conclusions.

Professional Competence - the principle of audit, which consists in the fact that the auditor must possess the necessary amount of knowledge and skills that allow him to provide qualified, high-quality, professional services that meet modern requirements. To ensure a qualified audit, an audit organization should involve trained, professionally competent specialists and monitor the quality of their work.

The audit organization should not provide services that go beyond the scope of professional competence and the limits of its authority in accordance with the existing licenses to carry out audit activities.

good faith - the principle of audit, which consists in the obligation of the auditor to provide professional services with due diligence, care, efficiency and proper use of his abilities. The principle of conscientiousness implies a diligent and responsible attitude of the auditor to his work, but should not be interpreted as a guarantee of error-free auditing.

Privacy - the audit principle that auditors and audit organizations are required to ensure the safety of documents received or compiled by them during the audit, and are not entitled to transfer these documents or their copies (whether in whole or in part) to any third parties or orally disclose the information contained in them without the consent of the owner (manager) of the economic entity, with the exception of cases provided for by legislative acts of the Russian Federation. The principle of confidentiality must be strictly observed, regardless of the fact that, according to the auditor, the disclosure or dissemination of information about an economic entity does not cause him material or other damage. Compliance with the principle of confidentiality is mandatory regardless of the continuation or termination of relations with the client and without time limits.

The audit organization is not entitled to use for its own benefit or in the interests of third parties confidential information about the affairs of clients, which became known to it in the performance of professional tasks.

Professional behavior - the principle of audit, which consists in respecting the priority of public interests, as well as in the fact that the auditor must maintain a high reputation of the profession and refrain from committing acts that are incompatible with the provision of audit services and that can undermine respect and trust in the audit profession, damage its public image. The audit organization is obliged to carry out professional activities related to the conduct of an audit, which provides for the preparation of an official audit report based on its results, in accordance with the federal rules (standards) of audit activity.

The audit organization is obliged at all stages of the audit to proceed from the position professional skepticism, taking into account the possibility that the obtained audit evidence and (or) information about the economic entity may be incorrect.

Scope and stages of the audit

Volume audit is determined on the basis of the auditor's professional judgment on the nature and scope of the work that is necessary to achieve the objectives of the audit, and is dictated by the circumstances of the audit: the requirements of regulatory documents, the provisions of the contract between the audit organization and the economic entity and the specific features of the audit, taking into account the knowledge gained about the activities of the economic entity .

The audit organization must and has the right to independently make decisions on the types, number and depth of audit procedures, the time spent, the number and composition of specialists required to carry out a full-fledged audit and prepare a reasonable audit report.

To the main audit stages relate:

Audit planning;

Obtaining audit evidence;

Using the work of other persons and contacts with the management of the economic entity, third parties;

Audit documentation;

Generalization of conclusions, formation and expression of an opinion on the financial statements of an economic entity.

Target planning is to organize an effective and cost-effective audit. At the planning stage, it is necessary to determine the strategy and tactics of the audit, the timing of its implementation, develop a general plan and audit program. The audit should be planned on the basis of the understanding reached by the audit organization of the activities of the economic entity.

Sufficient quantity of quality audit evidence should be obtained during the audit, as a rule, from several sources and by different methods, which can serve as the basis for forming an opinion of the audit organization on the reliability of the financial statements of an economic entity.

To achieve the objectives of the audit can be used work of others: auditor's assistants, involved experts, internal auditors, other audit organizations. In doing so, the audit firm should consider the results of their work in the context of the procedures performed by the auditors. The involvement of other persons in the audit does not relieve the audit organization of responsibility for the opinion expressed on the financial statements of the economic entity and does not reduce this responsibility.

The main aspects of the work carried out and the conclusions drawn should be documented. The working documentation of the audit should be sufficiently complete and convincing to serve as confirmation of the correctness of one or another opinion of the audit organization on the financial statements of the economic entity.

At the stage preparing an opinion on the reliability of the financial statements of an economic entity, the audit organization is obliged to summarize and evaluate the conclusions drawn on the basis of the data obtained. The auditor's report must contain a clearly expressed opinion on the degree of reliability of the financial statements of the economic entity. unconditionally positive the auditor's report indicates that the audit organization considers the financial statements of the economic entity to be reliable in all material respects. If drawn up qualified opinion or negative auditor's report or is issued disclaimer of opinion the reliability of the financial statements of the economic entity, then the circumstances that led to a particular decision should be indicated.

Factors limiting audit effectiveness

There are a number of factors that inevitably limit the effectiveness of the audit, which affects the confidence of the audit organization in the reliability of the expressed opinion on the reliability of financial statements:

Limited awareness of the audit organization about the activities of the audited economic entity within the scope of research;

The presence in the audit work of an inevitable element of subjectivity in the process of making decisions by the auditor based on his professional judgments;

Application during the audit of a selective approach;

The use by the auditor of audit evidence that is, by its nature, a combination of facts and opinions;

The susceptibility of accounting and internal control systems to their inherent flaws, the absence of insurmountable obstacles to fraudulent collusion to distort information;

The presence of uncertainty associated with the interpretation and evaluation of certain events of economic life.

The above factors limit the provision by the audit firm of assurances that there are no circumstances not discovered during the audit that affect the financial statements.

2. Types of audit

Auditing activities are quite diverse. The audit has undergone changes both in the process of its historical development and expanding the scope of its application.

Historically, the following stages of audit development are distinguished (which can also be considered as types of audit):

Confirmation audit. It consists in checking and confirming the accuracy of accounting documents;

System oriented audit. The audit is focused on the analysis of the internal control system of the enterprise. If the internal control system works effectively, then the scope of the audit can be significantly reduced;

Risk based audit. Audit expertise is concentrated in those areas where audit risk is higher, while reducing the time to check areas with low risks. Of great importance is the determination of the level of materiality in the audit and the calculation of the audit sample.

External and internal audit

External audit is carried out by an independent audit organization (auditor) on a contractual basis with an economic entity in order to confirm the reliability of financial statements, as well as to provide consulting services to management. Internal audit - it is an integral part of the management control of the enterprise. Internal audit is understood as a system of control over compliance with the established accounting procedure and the reliability of the functioning of various levels of management, organized by the economic entity itself, acting in the interests of its management and (or) owners and regulated by internal documents. The work of internal audit has informational and consulting value for the management and (or) owners of an economic entity; it is designed to contribute to the optimization of the activities of the economic entity and the fulfillment of the duties of its management.

As a rule, internal audit functions include checking accounting and internal control systems, developing recommendations for improving these systems, checking accounting and operational information, compliance with laws and other regulations, checking the activities of various levels of management, evaluating the effectiveness of the internal control mechanism, checking the availability, state and safety of the property of the enterprise, special investigations of individual cases, for example, suspicions of abuse, development of proposals to eliminate the identified shortcomings and recommendations for improving management efficiency. In table. 1.1. the main differences between internal and external audit are presented.

Initiative and statutory audit

An audit of an economic entity can be proactive or mandatory. Initiative (voluntary) audit usually carried out by decision of the management of the enterprise or its owners. His

the goal is to identify shortcomings in accounting, reporting, taxation, analysis of the financial condition of the enterprise, development of recommendations to improve performance. Mandatory audit regulated by the state. In the Federal Law "On Auditing" dated August 7, 2001 G. a list of criteria according to which organizations are subject to mandatory audit is given (Table 1.2). According to the law, a mandatory audit is carried out only by audit organizations, which improves the quality of its conduct. In addition, in accordance with the norms of the law, when conducting a mandatory audit in organizations in the authorized (reserve) capitals of which the share of 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 must be carried out based on the results of an open tender. The procedure for holding such competitions is approved by the Government of the Russian Federation.

Initial and agreed audit

There are also initial audit and agreed (continuing) audit. Initial audit is carried out by the auditor for the first time for this audited entity, which significantly increases the risk and complexity of the audit, since the auditors do not have information about the specifics of the client's activities, the level of internal control, etc.

Agreed audit carried out again. At the same time, planning and conducting an audit is based on knowledge of the specifics of the client's activities and the organization of accounting at the enterprise. Often, the audit firm also provides consulting services to the audited enterprise, which also reduces the risk of the audit and increases its reliability without increasing the size of the audit sample.

Classification of the audit by types of audited entities

From the point of view of the audited economic entities, the audit can be divided into the following types:

General audit (audit of enterprises and organizations, regardless of organizational and legal forms and types of ownership, institutions);

Banking audit (audit of banks and other credit organizations);

Audit of insurance companies;

Exchange audit;

Audit of off-budget funds;

Audit of investment funds.

Recently, such types of audit as tax audit, environmental audit, etc. have appeared:

Services related to the audit

The concept of audit-related services

The Federal Law "On Auditing" provides a list of audit-related services, which clarifies the list of data in the current Russian auditing standard "Characteristics of audit-related services and requirements for them." The law provides that audit firms and individual auditors are prohibited from engaging in any other business activities except for auditing and the provision of related services.

Under audit-related services refers to the provision by audit firms and individual auditors of the following services:

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 judicial and tax authorities in 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 audit activities, and dissemination of 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. The provision of services related to the audit requires the performers to observe independence in established cases, as well as professional competence in the areas of audit, accounting, taxation, business law, economic analysis and other sections of the economy.

Classification of audit-related services

Audit-related services can be classified as follows:

Services compatible with the conduct of a mandatory audit at the enterprise;

Services inconsistent with statutory auditing.

at the service, incompatible with conducting a mandatory audit at an economic entity, includes services for accounting, restoration of accounting, preparation of tax returns, preparation of financial statements. All other services related to the audit; are compatible with auditing the company

Services related to the audit are divided into:

Action Services;

Control services;

Information Services.

To action services include services for the creation of documents that were not previously created by an economic entity, the composition of which is established in an agreement with an economic entity. The actions accompanying the audit of the service are formalized by the contract, to which the assignment for the performance of work and the provision of services is attached. The assignment must contain:

The list of questions, the answers to which the economic entity wants to receive from the audit organization;

List of data sources (primary documents) provided to the audit organization for processing;

The list of documents that must be created by the audit organization as a result of processing data sources, indicating the data carrier (for example, paper, machine).

At the service of control services include verification of documents, control of accounting and reporting, accrual and payment of taxes and other obligatory payments, testing of the accounting personnel of the enterprise.

To information services include services for the preparation of oral and written consultations on various issues, training, seminars, information services.

To perform audit-related work and provide services, an audit organization must have:

Licenses for those types of activities (for the performance of works and services) that are subject to licensing under the law;

Material, technical and methodological possibilities for high-quality performance of work and provision of services.

The result of the provision of services related to the audit are documented results (for example, calculations, consultations, etc.) and documents (primary documents, accounting registers, reporting, certificates, etc.).

The audit organization may issue additional written information to the management and (or) the owner of the economic entity based on the results of the provision of services related to the audit.

4. Rights and obligations of the auditor and the audited economic entity

The rights and obligations of auditors, audited organizations and persons who have entered into an audit contract are defined by the Law “On Auditing” and the Russian Auditing Standard “Rights and Obligations of Auditing Organizations and Audited Economic Entities”.

Rights and obligations of auditors

When conducting an audit, audit organizations and individual auditors they have a right:

Independently determine the forms and methods of auditing;

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;

Obtain from officials of the audited entity clarifications in oral and written forms on issues that have arisen during the audit;

Refuse to conduct an audit or express your opinion on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements in the audit report in the cases, firstly, if the audited entity fails to provide all the necessary documentation and, secondly, when circumstances are identified during the audit that have or may have significant influence on the opinion of an audit organization or an individual auditor on the degree of reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity;

Exercise other rights 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.

To duties audit firms and individual auditors include the following:

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 comments and conclusions of the audit organization or individual auditor are based;

Within the period established by the contract for the provision of audit services, transfer the audit report to the audited entity and (or) the person who entered into the contract for the provision of audit services;

Ensure the safety of documents received and compiled during the audit, not to disclose their content without the consent of the audited entity and (or) the person who has entered into an agreement for the provision of audit services, with the exception of cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation;

Fulfill other obligations 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.

Rights and obligations of the audited subject

When conducting an audit, the audited entity and (or) the entity that has entered into an agreement for the provision of audit services, has the right:

receive from the audit organization or individual auditor information about the legislative and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation on which the conclusions of the audit organization or individual auditor are based;

Obtain an audit report from an audit organization or an individual auditor within the period specified in the contract for the provision of audit services;

Exercise other rights 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.

Responsibilities of the person being audited and (or) the person who has entered into an agreement for the provision of audit services, include the following:

Conclude contracts for a mandatory audit with audit organizations within the time limits established by the legislation of the Russian Federation;

To create conditions for the audit organization (individual auditor) to conduct an audit in a timely and complete manner, to assist audit organizations (individual auditors) in the timely and complete conduct of an audit, provide them with information and documentation necessary for the audit, give them upon an oral or written request of auditors or audit organizations exhaustive explanations and confirmations in oral and written forms, as well as request the information necessary for the audit from third parties;

Do 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 audit organizations (individual auditors) in accordance with the audit contract, 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 auditors for reasons beyond their control.

Professional ethics and independence of auditors

Standards of professional ethics of auditors

Carrying out verification of the reliability of financial statements, the auditor must comply with the norms of professional ethics. In Russia, the Code of Professional Ethics for Auditors of the Russian Federation has been developed and approved by the Audit Chamber.

The standards of professional conduct defined by this Code are based on the international ethical standards developed by the International Federation of Accountants (IFA).

Ethics of professional conduct auditors determines the moral, moral values ​​that the audit community asserts in its environment, ready to protect them from all possible violations and encroachments.

The Code contains certain requirements for the actions and personality of the auditor. These include, in particular, the need to respect the priority of public interests over personal ones, the auditor's objectivity and attentiveness, his independence, competence, and the need to maintain confidentiality. The Code also regulates the issues of tax consulting for a client, fees for professional services, relations between auditors and relations of employees with an audit firm, distribution of advertising, and some others.

When conducting an audit public interest should prevail over the interests of individuals: the external auditor is obliged to act in the interests of all users of financial statements, and not just the customer of audit services (client).

Defending the interests of the client in tax, judicial and other authorities, as well as in his relationship with other legal entities and individuals, the auditor must be convinced that the protected interests arose on legal and fair grounds. As soon as the auditor becomes aware that the protected interests of the client arose in violation of the law or justice, he is obliged to refuse to protect them.

The Code emphasizes the importance of an auditor having such qualities as objectivity and care. Only a sufficient amount of information can serve as an objective basis for the conclusions, recommendations and conclusions of the auditor. When providing any professional services, auditors are required to objectively consider all emerging situations and real facts, not to allow personal bias, prejudice or outside pressure to affect the objectivity of their judgments and conclusions. The auditor should avoid relationships with persons that could affect the objectivity of his judgments and conclusions. When performing professional services, auditors must be attentive and serious about their duties, comply with approved auditing standards, adequately plan and control work, and check subordinate specialists.

The auditor must refrain from providing professional services beyond his professional competence, and also not corresponding to his qualification certificate. The audit firm can attract competent professionals to assist the auditor in solving specific tasks. The auditor is obliged to constantly update his professional knowledge in the field of accounting, taxation, financial activities and civil law, organization and methods of auditing, legislation, Russian and international norms and standards of accounting and auditing.

The Code attaches great importance to compliance with confidentiality of information clients. The auditor is obliged to keep confidential information about the affairs of clients obtained in the course of providing professional services, indefinitely and regardless of the continuation or termination of direct relations with them. He must not use the confidential information of the client for his own benefit or for the benefit of any third party, as well as to the detriment of the interests of the client.

Of particular importance are the issues of professional services in the field of taxation. When providing professional tax services, the auditor is guided by the interests of the client. At the same time, he is obliged to comply with tax laws and should not contribute to falsifications in order to evade the client from paying taxes and deceive the tax service. Recommendations and advice in the field of taxation, the auditor is obliged to provide the client only

in writing. At the same time, he should not reassure the client that his recommendations exclude any problems with the tax authorities, and should also warn him that the responsibility for the preparation and content of tax returns and other tax reporting lies with the client himself.

Professional service fee the auditor meets the standards of professional ethics if it is paid depending on the volume and quality of the services provided. It may depend on the complexity of the services provided, qualifications, experience, professional authority and the degree of responsibility of the auditor. The auditor is obliged to agree in advance with the client and fix in writing the conditions and procedure for paying for his professional services. Doubts about the observance of professional ethics are caused by the situation when the payment of one client is all or most of the annual revenue of the auditor for the rendered professional services.

Relationships between auditors should be based on the principle of benevolence. Auditors should avoid unreasonable criticism and other deliberate actions that cause harm to colleagues in the profession. The auditor should refrain from disloyal actions towards colleagues when the client replaces the auditor, assist the newly appointed auditor in obtaining information about the client and the reasons for replacing the auditor. The newly invited auditor, if such an invitation is not based on the results of a tender held by the client, before agreeing to the offer, is obliged to request the previous auditor and make sure that there are no professional reasons for refusing him. The auditor has the right, in the interests of his client and with his consent, to invite other auditors and other specialists to provide professional services. Relations with other auditors (specialists) involved additionally must be businesslike and correct. Auditors (specialists), additionally involved in the provision of services, are obliged to refrain from discussing with the client's representatives the business and professional qualities of the main auditors, to show maximum loyalty to the colleagues who invited them.

The Code addresses and relationship between employees of the audit firm and the firm. Auditors are obliged to show loyalty to the company, by all their activities to contribute to strengthening the authority and further development of the company, to maintain business, friendly relations with managers and other employees of the company, managers and staff of clients. The relationship between employees and the audit firm should be based on mutual responsibility for the performance of professional duties, devotion and open-mindedness, continuous improvement of the organization of audit services, their professional content. A certified auditor who often changes auditing firms or suddenly leaves it and thereby causes some damage to the firm violates professional ethics Specialists who have moved to another audit firm must refrain from condemning or praising their former managers and colleagues, from discussing with anyone organization and methods of work in the former firm. The heads (employees) of an audit firm refrain from discussing with third parties the professional and personal qualities of their former employees and colleagues, except in cases where these former employees have caused significant damage to the profession and the legitimate interests of the firm by their actions.

Public information about auditors and advertising of audit services may be presented in the media, special editions of auditors, in address and telephone directories, in public speeches and other publications of auditors, managers and employees of audit firms. There are no restrictions regarding the place and frequency of advertising, the size and design of the advertisement.

However, advertisements and publications containing a direct indication or a hint that inspire unreasonable expectations (confidence) of clients in the favorable results of professional audit services are not allowed as contrary to the professional ethics of auditors; unfounded self-praise and comparisons with other auditors; recommendations, confirmations of clients and other third parties, praising the auditor and the professional merits of the services provided by him.

The auditor should not, concurrently with the main professional practice, engage in activities that affect or may affect his objectivity and independence, the observance of the priority of the public interest or the reputation of the profession as a whole and therefore is incompatible with the provision of professional audit services.

The principle of auditor independence

Issues of independence of the auditor are considered both for formal and actual circumstances. Auditors are required to refuse to provide professional services if there are reasonable doubts about their independence from the client organization and its officials in all respects. It should be emphasized that the conditions for the independence of the auditor are defined in the law "On Auditing". The Code of Professional Ethics lists the main circumstances detrimental to the auditor's independence. For individuals, these circumstances include upcoming or ongoing legal cases with the client organization, direct and indirect financial participation of the auditor in the affairs of the client organization in any form, family and personal friendships with the top management personnel of the client organization, excessive hospitality of the client, etc. The independence of an audit firm, in particular, is questionable if it participates in a financial-industrial or banking group and provides professional audit services to organizations included in this financial-industrial or banking group. According to the Law “On Auditing Activities”, an audit cannot be carried out:

Auditors who are founders (participants) of audited entities, their managers, accountants and other persons responsible for organizing and maintaining accounting records and drawing up financial (accounting) statements;

Auditors who are closely related to the founders (participants) of the audited entities, their officials, accountants and other persons responsible for the organization and maintenance of accounting and preparation of financial (accounting) statements (parents, spouses, brothers, sisters, children, as well as brothers, sisters, parents and children of spouses);

Auditing organizations, the heads and other officials of which are founders (participants) of the audited entities, their officials, accountants and other persons responsible for the organization and maintenance of accounting and preparation of financial (accounting) statements;

Auditing organizations, the heads and other officials of which are closely related (parents, spouses, brothers, sisters, children, as well as brothers, sisters, parents and children of spouses) with the founders (participants) of the audited entities, their officials, accountants and others persons responsible for the organization and maintenance of accounting and preparation of financial (accounting) statements;

Auditing organizations in relation to audited entities that are their founders (participants), in relation to audited entities for which these auditing organizations are founders (participants), in relation to subsidiaries, branches and representative offices of the said audited entities, as well as in relation to organizations having common with this audit organization of the founders (participants);

Audit organizations and individual auditors who, during the three years immediately preceding the audit, provided services for the restoration and maintenance of accounting, as well as for the preparation of financial (accounting) statements to individuals and legal entities, in relation to these persons.

The principle of independence of the auditor is supplemented by the provision formulated in the law "On Auditing" that the procedure for payment and the amount of remuneration to auditors for conducting an audit (including a mandatory audit) and providing related services are determined by contracts for the provision of audit services and cannot be made dependent on fulfillment of any requirements of the audited entities on the content of the conclusions that can be drawn as a result of the audit.

findings

1. An audit is understood as an independent audit carried out by an auditor, the result of which is the expression of the auditor's opinion on the degree of reliability of the financial statements of the audited company. An audit can be seen as a process of reducing information risk to an acceptable level for users of financial statements.

2. The main purpose of the audit of financial statements is to express the opinion of the audit organization on the reliability of the financial statements of an economic entity in all material respects.

3. The main stages of the audit include planning the audit, obtaining audit evidence, using the work of other persons and contacts with the management of the economic entity, third parties, documenting the audit, summarizing the findings, forming and expressing an opinion on the financial statements of the economic entity.

4. There are the following types of audit: confirmatory, system-oriented audit and risk-based audit; external and internal audit; mandatory and voluntary (initiative) audit; initial and agreed (ongoing) audit; general audit, banking audit, audit of insurance organizations, audit of stock exchanges, audit of off-budget funds and audit of investment funds.

5. Audit-related services are understood as the provision by audit organizations and individual auditors of such services as setting up, restoring and maintaining accounting records, preparing financial statements, accounting and tax consulting, financial analysis, management and legal consulting, property valuation, valuation of enterprises as property complexes, development and analysis of investment projects, preparation of business plans, training of specialists in areas related to auditing, etc.

6. Services that are not compatible with the conduct of a statutory audit at an economic entity include services for maintaining accounting records, restoring accounting records, compiling tax returns, and compiling financial statements. All other services related to the audit are compatible with the auditing of the enterprise.

7. The ethics of professional behavior of auditors determines the moral, moral values ​​that the audit community asserts in its environment, ready to protect them from all possible violations and encroachments. The requirements for the personality of the auditor by the Code of Professional Ethics of Auditors of the Russian Federation include the need to respect the priority of public interests over personal ones, the auditor's objectivity and attentiveness, his independence, competence, and the need to maintain confidentiality.

Sooner or later, every enterprise and every entrepreneur is faced with the need to conduct audit operations in their area of ​​business. But not everyone knows what an audit is.

The birthplace of audit is considered to be England, where in the XIII-XIV century the basic principles of audit were formulated: honesty, competence, prudence.

Audit control is widely used in world practice. It is based on the mutual interest of the state, the administration of enterprises and their owners in the reliability of accounting and reporting. Under the conditions of a planned, centrally controlled economy, there was no need for independent financial control in the Russian Federation. It was completely replaced by a system of departmental and non-departmental control, aimed at identifying violations and abuses in the financial and economic activities of enterprises, errors and deviations in reporting, finding and punishing those responsible. The development of market relations necessitates the adoption of a large number of new regulatory documents regulating new issues in the activities of enterprises; accounting and reporting; taxation and the procedure for the formation of the cost of production. In this regard, the first violations (sometimes unintentional) appeared in compliance with the requirements of regulatory documents related to the economic activity of the enterprise. The bodies, which were charged with the responsibility of assisting enterprises in the correct application of certain legislative acts, themselves, due to their small number and overwork, were not ready for such work. In this regard, there is a need to create a new form of control over the activities of enterprises, which would include consulting on the organization and maintenance of accounting, the correct calculation of taxes, legal position and other types of services. Owners and, above all, collective owners, as well as creditors, are deprived of the opportunity to independently verify that all the numerous operations of the enterprise, often very complex, are legal and correctly reflected in the accounts. Because usually they do not have access to accounts, relevant experience, and therefore need the services of auditors. Independent confirmation of information about the results of enterprises and their compliance with the law is necessary for the state to make decisions in the field of economics and taxation.

Audit checks are necessary for state bodies, courts, prosecutors and investigators to confirm the financial statements they are interested in.

The word "audit" comes from the Latin "audio", which means "he hears", "listener". This emphasizes the special trust in the relationship of auditors with their clients, attentiveness, goodwill, compassion, interest in the affairs of the client who applied for the services of the auditor. The task of the auditor is to check the state of the financial and economic activities of the enterprise for a certain period, formulate objective conclusions, and give the necessary recommendations.

The concept of audit is much broader than audits or other forms of control, because includes not only verification of the reliability of financial indicators, but also the development of assumptions for improving the economic activity of enterprises in order to rationalize costs and optimize taxes.

Auditing activity - audit - is an entrepreneurial activity of auditors (audit firms) to carry out independent non-departmental audits of accounting or financial statements, payment and settlement documentation of individual business transactions, tax returns and other types of financial obligations and requirements of economic entities on a contractual basis.

The concept of audit Ugolnikov in the article "History of Audit": "Audit is the process of checking the maintenance of accounting records and institutions in terms of its reliability and fairness."

“An audit is a systematic process of obtaining and evaluating evidence of the reliability of data about economic activities and events, determining the degree to which this data meets established criteria, and communicating the results to interested users.”

“Audit is a systematic process conducted by a person or group of persons independent of external factors, based on the results of control and their opinion. Based on established criteria and standards regarding the information that the audit unit provides to third parties in its activities and its prospects.

The Auditing Standards on Auditing give the following definition:

“Audit is an independent examination of the financial statements of an enterprise based on verification of compliance with the accounting procedure, compliance of business and financial operations with the legislation of the Russian Federation, completeness and accuracy of the reflection of the enterprise's activities in the financial statements. The examination ends with the preparation of an auditor's report.

Despite some differences in the definition of audit, almost all authors emphasize one or another of its features:

• 4. independence;
• 5. payment;
• 6. privacy.

Sometimes it is considered too narrowly and limited only to checking the accounts of non-state actors. In other cases, it is extremely broad, identifying with any accounting activity. Such a scatter in the understanding of audit is also due to the fact that this concept is adopted from Western literature.

In countries with developed market economies, where audit has been around for a long time, the concept of audit is interpreted in a very diverse way. In England, an audit is understood as an independent review and expression of an opinion on the financial statements of an enterprise. At the same time, the term "audit" is used not only when auditing enterprises that fall under the law "On Companies" or the law on industrial or other societies, but also when drawing up an audit of government agencies and local authorities, as well as when providing audit services to clients under an agreement .

Jack Roberton noted that an audit is the process of reducing to an acceptable level of information risk (ie the likelihood that financial statements contain false or inaccurate information) for users of financial statements.

An independent auditor performs verification of the reliability of the company's reporting, compliance with current legislation and the preparation of an audit opinion on this issue.

An audit is a type of activity consisting in the collection and evaluation of facts relating to the functioning and position of an economic entity, carried out by a competent independent person. It aims to reduce to an acceptable level information risk, that is, the likelihood that financial statements contain false and inaccurate information for their users. At the same time, the audit provides not only verification of the reliability of financial indicators, but also the development of recommendations for improving the efficiency of the economic activity of an economic entity. Therefore, audit is often defined as a kind of business expertise.

Audit- This is an independent audit of the activities of a single organization in order to study the reliability of the company's financial statements. This procedure is also subject to all processes taking place within the company, manufactured products, as well as ongoing projects.

An audit is not an identification of a control check. The goals pursued by these procedures are not identical. The main task of an audit is to identify errors and assist in their elimination.

Description of the audit in simple words

An audit is similar to a revision, only it differs in some things. An audit is a voluntary audit of an organization, which is most often needed in order to improve financial performance. Revision is a compulsory procedure. And it is needed in order to find shortcomings, eradicate them and punish the guilty.

Information from Wikipedia

Types of audit

There are several variations of this type of check. We are talking about mandatory, external, internal, as well as initiative audit. Each of them has its own differences and pursues certain goals and objectives.

Mandatory audit

In order to check the maintenance of financial statements of a single enterprise. Such checks can be organized exclusively by audit companies. They are held at least once a year. This procedure is regulated by the established acts of legislation. At the end of the audit, a decision is made regarding the confirmation or refutation of the reliability of the company's financial statements.

External audit

It is not a mandatory procedure, but it takes place with the involvement of third-party specialists in order to obtain the most objective result. It is carried out at the discretion of the governing bodies and can help in resolving the issue of optimizing the entire workflow. The advantage of such a check is the complete disinterest of controlling persons.

Internal audit

A procedure that is carried out exclusively by the own forces of a single company. Internal audit is designed to protect the interests of investors and managers by monitoring how the company's employees comply with professional standards. This allows to ensure an appropriate level of reliability, as well as to minimize possible risks in the course of the organization's activities.

Initiative audit

This type of review is carried out solely at the discretion of management. The main goals pursued in this case are the identification of shortcomings that may appear in the conduct of accounting. Also, an initiative audit allows you to identify shortcomings in reporting or taxation.

Some types of audits have something in common with certification. At the same time, this procedure can help not only in normalizing the work of regulatory authorities, but also in an objective assessment of the financial and economic activities of a single organization. The high frequency of inspections allows to increase the level of confidence in the financial statements on the part of investors. An audit allows you to identify possible errors and minimize the company's tax risks. At the same time, recommendations are developed to optimize the workflow.

The head of the company is primarily interested in conducting an audit. It allows you to determine the quality of work and improve the skills of all employees. During the audit, the correctness of the declarations is checked, the preparation and maintenance of financial statements, and the calculation of taxes. All available constituent documents of the company, labor agreements are analyzed for the fact of their compliance with the law, and the entire accounting policy of the organization is checked.

Audit directions

Types of audit can also be divided into areas.

HR audit

The efficiency of each enterprise is in the hands of the staff. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with the management and evaluation of the activities of employees. To do this, you need to use the personnel analysis procedure. It consists of the stages of assessing the management of personnel and analyzing the potential of the firm.

The main task is to increase the efficiency of the staff. To do this, auditors develop a list of conditions:

1. Analysis and finding "bottlenecks" in the activities of personnel.
2. Development of personnel interest procedures.
3. Coordination of the given methods and models to the legislative basis.
4. Coordination of methods of interaction of personnel services with the personnel of the enterprise.
5. Reducing the cost of motivation and staff management.

The method of applying the audit to the activities of the personnel leads to the fact that the control system of the company is strengthened. This process provides materials for the analysis of the current situation in the firm. After that, methods and systems for increasing the functionality of the personnel activities are developed. Thus, employees form an efficient and strong company.

In order for the company to function properly, it is necessary to take into account the stages of the audit:

1. During the reorganization of the company.
2. If it is necessary to optimize the number of employees.
3. To increase the functioning of branches or individual parts of the company.
4. To determine the personnel potential of the company.
5. To attract investment funds.
6. Before the release of a new product or service.
7. With the expansion of production.

After the audit, the enterprises will receive the following results:

1. Identification of "bottlenecks" in the work of personnel.
2. Optimization of personnel costs.
3. Assess the functional diagram of personnel in the enterprise.
4. Risks in the activities of personnel.
5. Evaluation of the functional capabilities of personnel to implement the mission of the enterprise.
6. Risks and threats, personnel work.
7. Ways to overcome conflict situations.
8. Recommendations for optimizing the work of employees.

Thus, after conducting a personnel audit, it is possible to build a strong and efficient company. This firm will be ready for various crisis situations both within the company and in the external environment.

Tax audit

A tax audit is an examination that a customer, a business owner, can voluntarily order, and a performer, a professional audit firm, can conduct. In the course of such an audit, the correctness of determining the taxable base and calculating payments is assessed, and an analysis of financial statements is also carried out.

It is important to emphasize that tax audit or tax expertise is a preventive measure, not a mandatory procedure. It is necessary if the company's management decides to determine possible tax losses and liabilities.

In fact, a voluntary tax audit is a comprehensive audit, similar to the one with which the tax office comes. However, "feedback" in case the company has financial and economic inconsistencies, will be received not in the form of a fine, but in the form of an expert opinion.

Issue price

By the way, tax audit is a paid service: the cost of work starts from 30 thousand rubles. Many business owners are willing to pay even more, because they see an economic effect in this procedure - the transparency of the accounting department allows you to optimize many items of expenditure.

It makes sense to conduct a tax examination even if the company has undergone structural changes (for example, a change of ownership); tax expertise will not be superfluous if in the future it is planned to expand the business with the involvement of investors.

A complex approach

There is no generally accepted standard for conducting tax audits. Many firms offering audit services have their own original developments and methods in this area. However, tax audit is based on an integrated approach consisting of 3 stages.

• The first is preparatory, during which a preliminary assessment of the taxation system used is carried out in order to determine its “weak points”;
• As part of the second - intermediate stage, tax documentation is checked, compliance with the payment deadlines, the accuracy of the calculation of the tax base, the validity of the use of tax benefits;
• The third - the final stage - obtaining an audit opinion. In this document, experts give their assessment of the reliability of financial statements, the legality of financial and business transactions and recommendations for finalizing the shortcomings identified during the audit.

Fire audit

This is an independent fire risk assessment conducted by an expert organization that has passed a special accreditation.

The concept of a fire safety audit and its main requirements are approved in the Technical Regulations (Federal Law No. 123-FZ of July 22, 2008 "Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements"), as well as in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 7, 2009 No. 304 (as amended on 15.08. 2014) "On Approval of the Rules for Assessing the Conformity of Protected Objects (Products) with the Established Fire Safety Requirements by Independent Fire Risk Assessment".

Fire audit is divided into mandatory and voluntary.

Mandatory fire audit is carried out once every 3 years. A fire audit is subject to be carried out to conduct a study of facilities where there are deviations from the requirements of the Technical Regulations. The initial stage of this procedure is the conclusion of an agreement with an accredited organization included in the Register of accredited organizations for conducting a fire safety audit.

The above organization cannot conduct an independent fire risk assessment in relation to the object of protection if it conducts or conducted other types of services in the field of fire safety, and also if it is owned (possession, use, disposal on other legal grounds).

Fire audit includes the following mandatory steps:

• analysis of documentation related to the fire safety of the facility;
• fire-technical inspection of an enterprise or other object of fire safety;
• carrying out examinations, tests and calculations;
• formation of results on the fulfillment of the conditions for the compliance of the object of protection with the requirements of the Technical Regulations or, in case of their non-fulfillment, the development of measures to eliminate them.

At the end of the fire audit, a conclusion is formed that contains all the key conclusions about the fire risk assessment of the object under study. The conclusion can be drawn up and sent both in writing and electronically. Within 5 working days after the approval of the above conclusion, the data of the results of an independent fire risk assessment are sent to the territorial bodies of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

In case of violations, a special plan is developed to eliminate them and sent along with a conclusion on the fire condition of the facility. Control over the implementation of this plan is carried out by the organization that carried out the fire audit.

• The advantages of a fire audit are that it can reduce the cost of mandatory property insurance against fire.
• The disadvantages include the fact that inspections of the object by the Ministry of Emergency Situations cannot be avoided. A fire audit can only help to delay these checks, since in the event of a fire audit, the Ministry of Emergency Situations does not have the right to supervise the facility in question.

Environmental audit

- this is a part of management that provides a 100% environmental verification of documentation based on expertise, as well as economic activities and analysis of the reporting of an economic entity by authorized legal entities and individuals, which makes it possible to identify environmental problems at a particular enterprise.

Eco audit features allow:

• control the information provided by the customer,
• compliance with the environmental requirements of the facility, its standards, regulations, certificates,
• assess the management system that does not threaten the ecological environment to the health of the employee,
• assess the risk of impacts on the environment by regulated and non-regulated entities.

An environmental audit can be:

1. At the request of the enterprise (Voluntary),
2. By decision of state authorities (Mandatory).

Eco-audit is divided into three types:

1. internal (check a specific enterprise),
2. sectoral (activities of a separate industry),
3. territorial (examine a specific area).

An environmental audit is carried out if the customer or government authorities decide:

• substantiate the strategy of the enterprise's environmental policy;
• evaluate the current activities of the enterprise from the point of view of ecology;
• determine the further development of ecology and its priorities at the enterprise;
• identify for the implementation of the priorities of the enterprise for its existence;
• check the nature protected by law, on compliance with the activities of the economy;
• enhance the activities of the enterprise with the ecological environment;
• reduce the risk of unforeseen situations.

In terms of conducting an environmental audit, the procedure for conducting is required, i.e. to determine the source of funding, determine what the position, directions of the audit are, conclude an agreement in the field of environmental audit.