What is audit activity audit. General information about the work of auditors in Russia

An audit is a rather complicated process. Much depends on what procedures, to what extent and in what sequence the auditor applies: whether the results of the audit will be sufficiently objective or not, whether the audit will be more or less time-consuming, more or less risky, etc.

The audit organization and the individual auditor must plan their work so that the audit is carried out effectively. Audit planning involves the development of an overall strategy and a detailed approach to the expected nature, timing and extent of the audit procedures.

An auditor who embarks on an audit is always faced with the so-called optimization problem - that is, the problem of choosing from a set possible solutions(options) the best for some reason.

The question of which criterion should be chosen as the "objective function" (optimization parameter) is in the competence of the audit firm conducting the audit. For example, labor costs can be chosen as the "target function" (then the optimization problem is reduced to finding conditions that ensure the minimum labor costs at an acceptable risk), or audit risk(ensuring the minimum risk with acceptable labor costs), or some other criterion, including a combined one. The choice of such criterion (or criteria) is the subject of an appropriate in-house auditing standard. This is established by the all-Russian standard "Audit planning".

To get closer to the best option holding audit it must be properly planned. Based on the above, the purpose of planning is to ensure that the audit is carried out in the best (optimal) way in terms of the selected criterion.

Audit planning is a set of actions for choosing an option that allows this goal to be achieved, i.e. choosing a strategy and tactics for conducting an audit, choosing the types, volumes and sequence of audit procedures.

For an empirical approximation to the optimal version of the check, the following tasks are solved during planning:

collection of information about a potential client, in particular about his business, organization accounting and internal control at his enterprise;

assessment of the level of materiality (acceptable error) and audit risk;

identification of accounting areas with increased internal risk (areas in which “key risk” documents are concentrated);

formation of a strategy for conducting an audit, an assessment of labor costs, timing, cost.

The results of the planning process in accordance with the procedure established by the all-Russian standard "Audit Planning" are documented in two documents: an audit plan and an audit program. In accordance with the data obtained during planning (cost and duration of the check), a contract is drawn up and concluded.

The established practice identifies a number of main stages in the planning process, performed in a certain sequence:

• 1) preliminary study of the economic entity and its business (preliminary planning);
• 2) registration of relations with an economic entity (drawing up and providing the client with a letter of commitment, concluding an agreement);
• 3) assessment of the reliability of the internal control system of an economic entity;
• 4) assessment of the components of audit risk;
• 5) assessment of the level of materiality (permissible error);
• 6) identification of areas of accounting that are significant for audit (areas with increased internal risk);
• 7) formation of an audit strategy (selection of the type, volume and sequence of audit procedures);
• 8) documenting planning results (drawing up an audit plan and program).

During the first stage (preliminary study of the economic entity), the auditor assesses the possibility of conducting an audit, prepares information base for subsequent planning stages, makes a preliminary assessment of the possible scope and cost of the check. It is expected that the information obtained by the auditor during the preliminary planning phase will enable him to determine essential conditions inspection agreement (duration, cost).

The subsequent stages of planning (assessment of the reliability of the internal control system, etc., up to the drawing up of a plan and program) are carried out according to this scheme after the conclusion of the contract and are, as indicated by the all-Russian standard, preparatory to the actual audit.

The letter of commitment contains the terms of the audit, the obligations of the audit organization, the obligations of the economic entity. The letter of commitment must include links to legislative acts and regulatory documents on the basis of which the audit is carried out.

Obtaining information about the activities of the audited entity is an important part of work planning, it helps the auditor to identify events, transactions and other features that may have a significant impact on the financial (accounting) statements.

The auditor has the right to discuss certain sections of the general audit plan and certain audit procedures with employees, as well as with members of the board of directors and members of the audit commission of the audited entity in order to improve the effectiveness of the audit and coordinate audit procedures with the work of the audited entity's personnel.

The auditor needs to draw up and document the overall audit plan, describing the expected scope and procedure for the audit. The overall audit plan should be detailed enough to guide the development of the audit program. At the same time, the form and content of the general audit plan may vary depending on the scale and specifics of the auditee's activities, the complexity of the audit and the specific techniques used by the auditor.

In developing the overall audit plan, the auditor should consider:

a) the activities of the audited entity, including:

general economic forces and industry conditions affecting the audited entity's activities;

features of the audited entity, its activities, financial condition, requirements for its financial (accounting) or other reporting, including changes that have occurred since the date of the previous audit;

general level of management competence;

• b) accounting and internal control systems, including:
  • - the accounting policy adopted by the audited entity and its changes;
  • - the impact of new regulatory legal acts in the field of accounting on the reflection in the financial (accounting) statements of the results of the financial and economic activities of the audited entity;
  • - plans for the use of tests of controls and substantive procedures in the audit;
• c) risk and materiality, including:

expected assessments of inherent risk and risk of controls, identification of the most important areas for audit;

establishing levels of materiality for the audit;

the possibility (including based on past audits) of material misstatement or fraudulent activity;

identification of complex areas of accounting, including those where the result depends on the subjective judgment of the accountant, for example, when preparing estimates;

d) the nature, time frame and scope of the procedures, including:

the relative importance of the various sections of accounting for the audit;

impact on audit availability computer system keeping records and its specific features;

the existence of the internal audit unit of the audited entity and its possible influence on the external audit procedures;

• e) coordination and direction of work, monitoring and verification of the work performed, including:
  • - involvement of other audit organizations in the audit of branches, divisions, subsidiaries the audited entity;
  • - involvement of experts;
  • - the number of geographically separate subdivisions of one audited entity and their spatial distance from each other;
  • - the number and qualifications of specialists required to work with this audited entity;
• f) other aspects, including:

the possibility that the going concern assumption of the audited entity may be questioned;

circumstances requiring special attention, for example, the existence of affiliates;

features of the contract for the provision of audit services and legal requirements;

the period of work of the auditor's staff and their participation in the provision of related services to the audited entity;

the form and terms of preparation and submission to the audited entity of conclusions and other reports in accordance with the legislation, rules (standards) of auditing and the terms of a specific audit assignment.

The auditor needs to establish and document an audit program that defines the nature, timing and extent of the planned audit procedures required to implement the overall audit plan. An audit program is a set of instructions for the auditor performing an audit and a means of monitoring and verifying that the work is being done properly. The audit program can also include verifiable prerequisites for the preparation of financial (accounting) statements for each of the audit areas and the time planned for different areas or audit procedures.

The overall audit plan and audit program should be updated and revised as necessary during the audit. The auditor's planning of his work is carried out continuously throughout the entire duration of the audit engagement in connection with changing circumstances or unexpected results obtained in the course of performing audit procedures. The reasons for making significant changes to the overall audit plan and program should be documented.

The general list of objects of inspection (planned types of work) when drawing up a general audit plan covers such items as:

constituent and other general documents enterprises (charter, licenses by type of activity, orders, orders, memos, staffing table, etc.);

accounting policy of the enterprise (for accounting purposes and for tax purposes);

fixed assets; intangible assets; productive reserves;

payroll calculations; production costs;

finished products, goods and sales;

cash; calculations;

financial results and use of profit;

capital and reserves; loans and financing;

accounting for off-balance sheet accounts; financial statements.

Developing an audit program includes steps similar to developing a general audit plan. The program is a development of the general audit plan and is a detailed list of audit procedures necessary for the practical implementation of the audit plan. She serves detailed instructions to the auditor's assistants and at the same time - a means of controlling the timing of work for the leaders of the audit organization and the audit group.

The auditor should document the audit program, assign a number (code) to each audit procedure carried out so that in the process of work it is possible to make references to them in working documents.

An audit program is made either in the form of a program of tests of controls or in the form of a program of substantive audit procedures.

The program of tests of controls is a list of a set of actions designed to collect information on the functioning of the internal control and accounting system. The purpose of tests of controls is to help identify significant deficiencies in an entity's controls.

Audit procedures essentially include a detailed check of the accuracy of the accounting of turnovers and account balances. The program of audit procedures, in essence, is a list of auditor's actions for such detailed specific checks. For substantive procedures, the auditor should determine which sections of accounting he will audit, and draw up an audit program for each section.

Depending on changes in the conditions of the audit and the results of audit procedures, the audit program may be revised. The reasons and results of the changes should be documented.

Introduction

The theme of my term paper not chosen by chance. The life of a modern person is inextricably linked with various enterprises and organizations. They produce, buy, sell, provide that very modern person with services in all conceivable and inconceivable directions. However, for all their differences, organizations must comply with the same laws and standards. This is where the time comes to mention the audit, the main task of which is to identify violations of the law and deviations from accepted standards.

However, you should not treat auditors as "vultures" looking for errors and inconsistencies in the organization's activities as painfully as possible. They will not only point out shortcomings in the work, but also help to correct them, as well as to bring the activities of the enterprise into the order established by Russian laws. There is no doubt that the reliability of the information used in the work can improve the efficiency of the organization. So, the audit, in essence, is aimed precisely at ensuring that information (in particular financial) is not distorted in the course of the company's activities. Competent organization of control over financial information helps to strengthen contractual and accounting discipline, reduce debts (accounts receivable and payable), accelerate turnover working capital, and, as a result, improvement financial condition enterprises. So, I came to the relevance of the topic of my work. Detailed coverage of the essence of audit and audit activities will clarify the tasks and objectives of audits of financial activities of organizations, differentiate the types of these audits and increase the level of knowledge in the field of audit fundamentals in enterprises.

The object of my research is auditing, and the subject, respectively, is the essence of audit.

As my tasks in this work, I chose the study of the essence, goals and types of audit, analysis of the legislation of the Russian Federation on auditing, consideration of the audit program, as well as the analysis of audit procedures. The coursework consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I will define audit and analyze the history of its origin. The second chapter will consist of concepts describing the types of audit. In the third chapter, I will describe the stages of audits.

1. Definition of aud ita and the history of its origin

The exact definition of audit (auditing) is given by the Federal Law "On Auditing" dated 07.08.01 No. 119-FZ: "This is an entrepreneurial activity for the independent verification of accounting and financial (accounting) statements of organizations and individual entrepreneurs."

Currently, the Auditing Practice Board is responsible for setting audit standards and guidelines, defining audit in a slightly different way: “it is an independent review financial statements enterprises and expressing an opinion about them in compliance with the rules, established by law". Auditing activities are carried out by an auditor who is a firm or a private person. Sometimes the “auditor” refers to audit personnel with delegated authority.

An audit is essentially the process of collecting and evaluating evidence of an organization's economic activities and aims to determine the extent to which these activities and their consequences comply with applicable laws and regulations. Upon completion of the audit, its results are made available to interested users. It should be noted here that the assessment must be objective (independent of the influence of various factors). The auditor does not confirm the absolute accuracy of the presented data, but expresses his opinion about their accuracy and validity. Inspection, as a rule, is carried out in the interests of individuals, opinions and expectations of the results of the inspection can differ dramatically, therefore the criteria for verification are strictly regulated (in the international financial statements these are generally accepted accounting principles).

However, to date, unfortunately, it has not been worked out. unified system financial control and the principles of its construction have not been determined, which indicates the need for the development and adoption of the Law "On financial control in the RF ".

The emergence of audit is associated with the differentiation of interests of managers and investors of the enterprise. Investors, investing in the activities and development of the organization, did not want (and could not) trust that financial information that the control segment provided them. Risk financial investments was very great.

Investors needed confidence that the financial statements presented adequately and accurately reflected the financial position of the organization. It was to check the accuracy of the reports and the accuracy of financial information that auditors were hired that investors could trust.

The first mention of audit dates back to 1844, when laws first appeared in England, according to which the management of companies is obliged to hire a special person to check accounts and reports to shareholders, moreover, at least once every one year. In Russia, audit (like many other European innovations) appeared during the reign of Peter I. Auditors were called "sworn accountants" and were charged with the responsibility of simultaneously working as clerks and prosecutors. By the mid 40s of the nineteenth century, at the end of economic crisis, the requirements for the quality of audits have become much more stringent. They have become mandatory for all organizations. The profession of an auditor is becoming very prestigious, requiring several years of study and, of course, practice.

Summing up, I will point out that the need for auditor services arose in connection with a number of circumstances, such as: the huge dependence of the consequences of decisions made by the company's management on the quality of the information provided, the possibility of biased informing investors by company managers, the need special knowledge, training, qualifications and experience to verify information.

2. Audit types

In practice, a fairly large number of types of audit are distinguished. It is advisable to give their characteristics in the table.

Table # 1. Characteristics of audit types

Note that environmental audit in some sources, they are divided into external and internal. External carried out by a third-party audit organization. It is carried out in the interests of investors and financial institutions to assess environmental risks and implement environmental management systems. When conducting this type of audit on the initiative of financial institutions, its results are used when making a decision on the allocation of a loan or investment in a project.

Interior environmental audit carried out by specially trained personnel at the initiative of the organization to assess the measures taken to eliminate previously identified violations of environmental legislation. The results of such a check can be used as a conformity assessment general requirements environmental legislation and special assessments(waste management, air protection, etc.).

I would like to dwell on the topic of external and, especially, internal audit in more detail. it is more often used in enterprises, and its theoretical aspects must be owned by every manager. Internal and external audits tend to complement each other. When solving many problems, external and internal auditors can use the same methods - the difference lies only in the degree of detail in the application of these methods. Table 2 shows the main features and differences between external and internal audits.

Table 2. Features of external and internal audit

Internal audit is a system of control over compliance with the established accounting and the reliability of the functioning of internal control, organized in an economic entity in the interests of its owners and regulated by its internal documents. The need for such an audit arises due to the fact that the leaders of the organization do not control the daily activities of its structures. Internal audit confirms managers' reports and provides an overview of their daily activities in general. The main objects of internal audit are the solution of individual management problems and the development (or verification) of enterprise information systems. Internal audit functions are most often performed by accounting teams and subordinates of the CFO. To these functions include:

Checking financial (accounting) accounting systems and developing recommendations for their improvement;

Study of individual accounting items, detailed verification of transactions and account balances;

Investigation of cases of suspected abuse;

Verification of compliance with laws and other regulations, accounting policy requirements, instructions, decisions;

Verification of the activities of various levels of management;

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control mechanism and the study of control checks in the branches of the organization;

An assessment of the software used by the organization;

Development and submission of proposals to eliminate the identified deficiencies and recommendations to improve management efficiency.

Internal audit decides the following tasks :

Control over the condition of assets and avoidance of losses;

Confirmation of the implementation of intrasystem control procedures;

Analysis of the efficiency of the internal control system and information processing;

Assessment of the quality of information issued by the management information system.

If the client has an internal audit department, it is imperative that the external auditor decide whether he can rely on the results of his work before the audit. For this, the qualifications of the staff (work experience, education, etc.) are checked, the results of their previous checks are evaluated.

The internal audit system is considered according to the following positions :

The number, qualifications and work experience of the specialists of the internal audit department;

The degree of independence of the auditor from the management of the organization;

Scope and objectives of internal audit;

Methodological framework for internal audit activities;

The characteristics of the controls provided to the auditor;

Checking the most risky areas;

Periodic control of the work of the internal audit department by managers;

Compliance of the programs and scope of work of the internal audit with the goals of the external one;

Quality of internal audit reports.

To familiarize yourself with the internal audit system, you must obtain the documents , the absence of which will indicate that there is no effectively functioning internal audit system at the enterprise, namely:

Documents confirming the creation and functioning of the internal audit system (order to create an internal audit system, staffing with the position of an auditor or audit department, etc.);

Confirmation of the activities of the audit department (plans, minutes, reports).

External auditors should keep in mind that they should not rely entirely on the work of internal auditors, and should periodically review their work, because regardless of whether the data of external or internal audit was used in the verification, responsibility for the accuracy audit report borne by the external auditor. Based on the results of familiarization with the internal audit system, the external auditor expresses his opinion on the effectiveness of its functioning, and whether it is possible to rely on the results provided when choosing the verification methods.

In this chapter, I would like to mention with accompanying NS audit NS services Oh since currently audit activity includes not only audit, but also Additional services, which can only be fully provided by employees of audit organizations with the highest qualifications in the field of accounting, law, taxation and analysis of economic activities.

In accordance with the federal law "On Auditing" services related to audit are: setting up, restoration and maintenance of accounting records, preparation of financial statements, accounting and tax consulting, analysis of the financial and economic activities of organizations and individual entrepreneurs, economic, financial, legal and management consulting, representation in litigation and tax authorities on tax and customs disputes, automation of accounting and IT implementation, property valuation, valuation of enterprises as property complexes, assessment of entrepreneurial risks, development and analysis of investment projects, preparation of business plans, marketing research, research and experimental work in areas related to audit activities, training of specialists in areas related to audit activities and other services.

In accordance with the standard "Characteristics of audit-related services and the requirements for them", these services can be classified according to the principles of their compatibility with various types of audit and according to their content . This classification is presented in Appendix B.

As we can see, the audit is very versatile, and, pursuing various goals, enterprises can carry out various types of checks, as well as resort to related audit services.

3. Audit process and its stages

Auditing firms work on a contractual basis. Organizations independently choose a company and conclude an agreement with it, which specifies the directions and features of the audit. The contract contains not only the time of the inspection, types of services and the amount of payment, but also the rights and obligations of both parties.

As for the stages of verification, there is no single approach to determining their number and names. However, as a rule, the initial (organizational), research and final stages are distinguished.

Organizational stage comprises choiceaobject of audit and his organizarationally- methodicallyOhpreparationand... Based on the type of activity of the organization, they find out which specialists need to be involved in the audit. Then an order or order of the head of the company is issued, which indicates the type of audit, the period and timing of the audit, and also lists all members of the audit commission, indicating their positions. Organizational and methodological training audit begins with determining the economic condition of the organization. Even before leaving for the audited organization, the audit commission studies the plans of the financial, economic and production activities enterprises, as well as their implementation. To do this, check the business plan, accounting and statistical reporting, acts of previous inspections and other documents. At the stage of checking financial statements, analytical procedures are used, such as:

Comparison of financial indicators (actual with planned or actual with similar for previous years);

Comparison of indicators with corresponding indicators of similar enterprises;

Determination of deviations.

After that, the head of the audit commission develops an audit program, which is approved by the head of the enterprise. The program specifies the object of control, the sequence of the check, etc. Then the audit method is selected and an audit schedule is drawn up, which indicates the time period for checking each section and the executors conducting the audit. This is how they organize internal audit... The preparation of an external audit differs only in the range of issues posed by the customer.

Research stage carried out by auditors in the organization itself. This stage is divided into two stages: pre-research and exploratory.

Pre-investigative stage involves certain actions aimed at creating necessary conditions to conduct an audit. And here andinvestigative stage represents directly the implementation of control and audit procedures.

Final stage the control and audit process is a generalization of the results of the audit. With it, the identified shortcomings and violations are summarized and set out in the auditor's report together with measures to prevent shortcomings in the future.

At the final stage of the audit process, there are three stages:

Evaluation and analysis of results;

Drawing up a report, preparing proposals and familiarizing customers with them;

Writing a conclusion and signing an act of completion. At the stage of evaluating the analysis of the results, the head of the audit committee assesses whether the collected evidence is sufficient to confirm the reliability of the financial statements. Controversial issues agreed with the head of the audited enterprise. Then the auditor draws up an opinion, which indicates the strengths and weaknesses of the company's activities. It also reflects proposals aimed at improving the business of the organization - the client and improving the internal control system. The form and content of the auditor's report is regulated by the standard "Auditor's report on financial (accounting) statements" (Appendix B).

After drawing up the conclusion, the auditor and the customer sign the act of performance, which is the final stage of the audit process. In addition, audit firms perform various services: analysis of financial statements, consultations on economic and legal issues, taxation, etc. The nature of the services depends not only on the methodology and procedure of the audit, but also on the stages of their implementation.

Thus, speaking about the stages of an audit, it is worth mentioning that audit firms work on a contractual basis. There is no single approach to determining the number and names of verification stages. However, as a rule, the initial (organizational), research and final stages are distinguished. The result of the audit is summarized in the auditor's report, the form and content of which is regulated by the standard "Auditor's report on financial (accounting) statements".

Conclusion

Summing up my term paper, I would like to return to its main points.

So, the need for the services of auditors arose in connection with a number of circumstances, such as: the huge dependence of the consequences of decisions made by the company's management on the quality of the information provided, the possibility of biased informing of investors by company managers, the need for special knowledge, training, qualifications and experience to verify information.

The audit is very versatile. There are such types of it as: obligatory, proactive, external, internal, audit of small enterprises, intrabank, audit of financial statements, audit for compliance, tax, operational, regular (agreed), environmental, as well as audit-related services. This diversity is due to different purposes, which are persecuted by an organization that has decided to conduct an audit of its activities.

Auditing firms work on a contractual basis. There is no single approach to determining the number and names of verification stages. However, as a rule, the initial (organizational), research and final stages are distinguished. The result of the audit is summarized in the auditor's report, the form and content of which is regulated by the standard "Auditor's report on financial (accounting) statements".

Audits are aimed at verifying the accuracy of information used in the work of organizations, which undoubtedly improves the efficiency of their work and minimizes possible business risks. Competent organization of control over financial information helps to strengthen contractual and accounting discipline, reduce debts (accounts receivable and payable), accelerate the turnover of working capital, and, as a result, improve the financial condition of the enterprise.

Detailed coverage of the essence of audit and audit activity, carried out in this work, made it possible to clarify the tasks and goals of audits of financial activities of organizations, differentiate the types of these audits and increase the level of knowledge in the field of audit fundamentals at enterprises.

List of sources used

1. Federal Law "On Auditing" dated 07.08.01 No. 119-FZ

2. Federal Law "On Licensing Certain Types of Activities" dated 08.08.2001 No. 128-FZ

3. Federal Law "On Auditing" dated 07.08.2001. No. 119-FZ

4. Federal Law "On accounting"Dated 21.11.96 No. 129-FZ

5. Regulation on accounting and accounting statements in the Russian Federation of 07/29/98 No. 34-n.

6. Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation "On issues state regulation audit activity in the Russian Federation "dated 06.02.2002 №80.

7. Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation "On licensing certain types of activities" dated 11.02.2002 No. 135.

8. Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation "On approval of the form of the auditor's qualification certificate" dated 25.04.2002 No. 34.

9. Belukha N.T. Audit. Textbook. // "Knowledge" KOO., 2000 - 157p.

10. Podolsky V.I. Audit. Textbook for universities. // M., 1997 - 210 p.

11. Sheremet A.D., Suyts V.P. Audit. Textbook. // M., 2000 - 138 p.

12. Shishkin A.K., Mikryukov V.A. Accounting and analysis at the enterprise. // Publishing Association "UNITI", 2002 - 208 p.

13. Korotkov A.P. Crisis management. Textbook for universities. // M., 2000 - 312 p.

14. Savin A.A. Audit. // "ACADEMIA", 2002 - 202 p.

15. Podolskaya L.V. Fundamentals of audit. // M., 2004 - 312 p.

statutory audit documentation assessment

In accordance with the Federal Law "On Auditing" (Article 1), auditing, audit is entrepreneurial activity for independent verification of accounting and financial (accounting) statements of organizations and individual entrepreneurs... In addition, audit firms and individual auditors can provide audit-related services.

The Federal Law "On Auditing" determines legal basis regulation of audit activities in the Russian Federation. On the basis of and in pursuance of the said 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 activities.

The Law "On Auditing" defines the scope of audit - checking accounting and financial (accounting) statements of organizations and individual entrepreneurs, as well as its purpose.

In the domestic theory and practice of audit, it is recognized next system its classification.

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 statements of an economic entity.

Internal audit is an independent activity within an organization to review and evaluate its performance for the benefit of managers. The purpose of internal audit is to help people in an organization perform their functions effectively. Internal audit is carried out by auditors working directly in the organization. Small organizations may not have in-house auditors. In this case, the internal audit can be entrusted to the audit commission or audit firm on a contractual basis.

Initiative audit is an audit that is carried out by decision of the management of an enterprise or its founders. The main goal of an initiative audit is to identify shortcomings in accounting, reporting, taxation, analyze the financial condition of an economic entity and help it in organizing accounting and reporting.

A statutory audit is an audit that is subject to 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 reasons and certain consequences both for auditors conducting audits, which are mandatory for economic entities, and for these economic entities.

Reasons for the need for statutory audit.

• 1. Subjects of statutory audit, as a rule, work with in cash individuals and / or legal entities are banks, insurance organizations, non-state pension funds, open joint stock companies. Employees of these organizations do not always know how to competently read financial statements, analyze financial indicators, 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 the economic entity interested in the activities of the economic entity, but not fully qualified user of financial statements.
• 2. Establishing the obligation to confirm the reporting of enterprises with a large volume of proceeds from sales, the size of the 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, there are three audit functions: 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 generating profit, auditors should apply such methods that would minimize the time spent on the audit, without compromising quality.

System-Oriented - Provides for the observation of the systems that control the operations. This function allows auditors to carry out due diligence based on internal control. If the internal control system works well, it will be easier to carry out external audits.

Risk-based audit is an audit where verification can be performed selectively, mainly - bottlenecks (critical points) in the operation of the enterprise. By focusing audit work in areas where risk is higher, you can reduce the time it takes to audit 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 audit of financial statements) involves assessing the reliability of financial information. Generally accepted accounting principles are usually used as assessment criteria. Financial audits are carried out primarily by independent auditors, whose work results in an opinion on the financial statements. In terms of form and content, a financial audit is closest to an audit carried out in Russia.

Compliance audits are designed to verify that an enterprise complies with specific rules, regulations, laws, regulations, contractual obligations that affect the results of transactions or reports. In the process of checking for compliance, it is established whether the activity of the enterprise complies with its charter, whether the funds for labor remuneration are correctly accrued, whether the accrual and payment of taxes is justified, etc.

Compliance checks require the establishment of appropriate criteria for evaluating the financial statements.

Operational audit is used to test the procedures and methods of the enterprise to assess performance and efficiency. It can be effectively used to check the implementation of business plans, estimates, various target programs, staff work, etc. Sometimes such an audit is called an audit of the efficiency of the enterprise or the activities of the administration.

Depending on the intended goals, the operational audit is carried out: at the intersectoral, sectoral, intrafarm levels; external or internal auditors; in the interests of external or internal users.

According to the frequency of implementation of audits, an initial audit and a periodic audit are distinguished. An initial audit is an audit that is first conducted at this enterprise(organizations).

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 inspections, 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 determine new types and directions of audit activities.

Based on the above classification, it is advisable to consider the goals and objectives of audit activities. The primacy in this respect belongs to the external audit, the purpose and main tasks of which are formulated in the Federal Law "On Auditing" and Russian rules (standards) of auditing.

Goals and objectives of the audit

In clause 3 of article 1 of the Federal Law "On Auditing" it is noted that 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 Russian Federation.

In accordance with this goal and on the basis of clause 7 of article 9 of the Law: "Auditing organizations and individual auditors, in accordance with the requirements of legislative and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation and federal rules (standards) of auditing, have the right to independently choose the techniques and methods of their work. , with the exception of planning and documenting the audit, drafting working documentation auditor, auditor's report, which are carried out in accordance with federal regulations(standards) of auditing activity. "The following local tasks can be formulated when conducting a statutory audit.

• 1. Formulation of principles for preparing an audit plan and program.
• 2. Organization of preparation and preparation of the audit plan and program.
• 3. Formulation of audit documentation principles.
• 4. Formulation of requirements for the form and content of the working documentation of the audit.
• 5. Determination of the order of preparation and storage of working documentation.
• 6. Determination of types, sources and methods of obtaining audit evidence.
• 7. Based on the results of the audit, express an opinion on the reliability of the entity's reporting in the form of an unconditionally positive, conditionally positive or negative auditor's report, or refuse to express his opinion in the auditor's report.
• 8. Other tasks.

Audit does not replace state control over the reliability of financial (accounting) statements, carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation authorized bodies state power.

In accordance with the Law "On Auditing", audit organizations and entrepreneurs operating without forming a legal entity (individual auditors) can provide services related to the audit.

An audit organization is commercial organization performing audits and providing audit-related services. An audit organization carries out its activities to conduct an audit after obtaining a license. It can be created in any organizational - legal form except for open joint stock company... At the same time, at least 50% of the staff of the audit organization must be citizens of the Russian Federation permanently residing in the territory of the Russian Federation, and if the head of the audit organization is foreign citizen, - not less than 75%. The staff of the audit organization must consist of at least five auditors.

The auditor is individual answering qualification requirements, established by the authorized federal body, and having an auditor's qualification certificate. The auditor has the right to carry out audit activities either as an employee of an audit organization or as a person engaged by an audit organization to work on the basis of a civil legal contract, or as an individual entrepreneur carrying out his activities without forming a legal entity.

During the audit, the correctness of the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, the reliability of the data is established explanatory note... This determines:

• - whether all assets and liabilities are reflected in the report;
• - whether all documents are used in the report;
• - how much the actual methodology for assessing property deviates from that adopted in determining accounting policies enterprises.

The auditor checks the profit and loss statement to establish the correctness of the calculation of balance sheet and taxable profit.

The auditor should check:

• - completeness of implementation of decisions of the owners of the enterprise on changing the volume authorized capital;
• - identity of synthetic data and analytical accounting on asset and liability accounts of the balance;
• - completeness of reflection in the reporting of receivables and payables.

In the process of preparing the auditor's report, the following are checked:

• - compliance with the accounting policy adopted at the enterprise for the reflection of certain business transactions and property appraisal;
• - the correctness of the attribution of income and expenses to the reporting periods;
• - differentiation in the accounting of current production costs (distribution costs) and capital investments;
• - ensuring the identity of analytical accounting data with turnovers and balances of analytical accounting accounts on the 1st day of each month.

To achieve the main objective and provide an opinion, the auditor should form an opinion on the following issues:

• 1) the general acceptability of reporting (whether the reporting as a whole meets all the requirements for it, and does not contain conflicting information);
• 2) reasonableness (whether there are grounds for including the amounts indicated therein in the reporting);
• 3) completeness (whether all appropriate amounts are included in the reporting, in particular, whether all assets and liabilities belong to the company);
• 4) assessment (whether all categories are correctly assessed and accurately calculated);
• 5) classification (is there any reason to transfer the amount to the account to which it is recorded);
• 6) separation (whether transactions carried out shortly before the date of the balance sheet or immediately after it are referred to the period in which they were carried out);
• 7) accuracy (whether the amounts of individual transactions correspond to the data given in the books and journals of analytical accounting, whether they are correctly summed up, whether the total amounts correspond to the data given in the General Ledger);
• 8) disclosure (whether all categories are included in the financial statements and are correctly reflected in the reports and annexes to them).

As noted earlier, auditors (audit firms) in the course of their activities also solve a number of tasks related to the provision of audit-related services.

Types of audit-related services

In accordance with the Law "On Auditing" (Article 1), audit organizations and auditors - entrepreneurs operating without forming a legal entity (hereinafter referred to as individual auditors) can provide the following related audit services:

• 1) setting up, restoration and maintenance of accounting records, preparation of financial (accounting) statements, accounting consulting;
• 2) tax consulting;
• 3) analysis of financial and economic activities of organizations and individual entrepreneurs, economic and financial consulting;
• 4) management consulting, including those related to the restructuring of organizations;
• 5) legal advice, as well as representation in court and tax authorities on tax and customs disputes;
• 6) automation of accounting and implementation of information technologies;
• 7) appraisal of the value of property, appraisal of enterprises as property complexes, as well as entrepreneurial risks;
• 8) development and analysis of investment projects, drawing up business plans;
• 9) conducting marketing research;
• 10) carrying out research and experimental work in the field related to audit activities, and disseminating their results, including on paper and electronic media;
• 11) training, in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of the Russian Federation, of specialists in areas related to audit activities;
• 12) provision of other services related to audit activities.

Currently, audit-related services are starting to take more and more specific gravity by the number, types and volumes of sales in audit organizations. And this is no coincidence. It is in audit firms that the most qualified specialists in the field of accounting, law, taxation, and finance work. Therefore, the Russian Standard "Characteristics of services related to the audit and the requirements for them", which has no analogue in international auditing standards, was created.

The purpose of the Rule (standard) "Characteristics of audit-related services and the requirements for them" is to establish the types of services that auditors can provide to economic entities, except for audits with the issuance of an audit report in accordance with the Rule (standard) of auditing activities "Procedure for drawing up an auditor's report on accounting reports ".

To achieve this main goal, the following tasks must be solved:

• - related audit services are identified and classified;
• - describes the general nature of the work and services associated with the audit;
• - the specifics of the provision by audit organizations of accompanying audit work, services and their design have been determined;
• - the features of the distribution of responsibility between the audit organization and the economic entity in the provision of services have been identified.

The development of standards requires certain definitions from the developers. According to the standard, the provision of audit-related services is understood as business activities carried out by auditors and audit organizations in addition to the statutory audit. Thus, a clear distinction is made between the services of organizations called consulting (providing similar audit services) and the services of audit organizations. This difference is determined by the presence of a license for the right to engage in auditing activities.

The performance of services related to the audit requires professional competence from the performers in the field of audit, accounting and economic analysis, taxation, commercial law, economics.

Services related to the audit can be classified according to the principle of their compatibility with various types of audit as follows.

Services compatible with the conduct of a mandatory audit by an economic entity on behalf of state bodies, in particular, include services for:

• - assessment of assets and liabilities, economic and investment projects, economic security, accounting systems and internal control of an economic entity;
• - testing the accounting personnel of an economic entity;
• - testing of the personnel of audit firms.

Services that are compatible with conducting a mandatory audit of an economic entity based on the criteria (system of indicators) of the activities of economic entities, in particular, include services for:

• - conducting an initiative audit;
• - setting up accounting;
• - improvement of accounting and reporting, control of accounting and reporting;
• - control over the calculation and payment of taxes and other mandatory payments;
• - analysis of economic activities; assessment of assets and liabilities, economic and investment projects, economic security, accounting systems and internal control of an economic entity;
• - representing the interests of an economic entity by power of attorney to third parties;
• - holding seminars, advanced training and training of personnel of economic entities, in particular audit organizations; scientific development, publication of methodological manuals and recommendations on accounting, taxation, analysis of economic activity, audit, business law, etc .;
• - computerization of accounting, reporting, tax calculations, analysis of economic activities, audit, etc .;
• - issues of financial, tax, banking and other economic legislation, investment activities, management, marketing, tax optimization, registration, reorganization and liquidation of enterprises; information service; consulting services;
• - expert service;
• - selection and testing of accounting personnel of an economic entity;
• - selection and testing of personnel of audit organizations, etc.

Services that are incompatible with the conduct of a mandatory audit by an economic entity based on the criteria (system of indicators) of the activities of economic entities (see also Article 12 of the Law "On Auditing") include services for:

• - maintaining accounting records;
• - restoration of accounting;
• - preparation of tax returns;
• - preparation of financial statements.

Services related to the audit can be conditionally subdivided into services of actions, control services and information services according to their content.

Action services are services for the creation of documents, the composition of which is established in an agreement with an economic entity that was not previously created by an economic entity. Control services are services for checking documents for their compliance with the criteria agreed by the audit organization with the economic entity; initiative audit; control over accounting and reporting; control over the calculation and payment of taxes and other mandatory payments; testing of accounting personnel of an economic entity and personnel of audit firms. Information services - services for the preparation of oral and written consultations on various issues; conducting training, seminars, " round tables"; information service; publication guidelines etc.

Auditing organizations and individual auditors are prohibited from engaging in any other entrepreneurial activity, except for conducting an audit and providing related services.

Audit is called an independent review of the condition and maintenance of accounting records, in order to ensure that the financial statements are sound and in accordance with regulations.

Auditor - an individual certified by the Qualification Commission for Attestation of Candidates for Auditors, who has received a certificate of qualification conferring the qualification “auditor”.

An audit should be viewed as:

a) the process of protecting the interests of owners, the overwhelming majority of whom do not prepare financial statements, but for whom it is extremely important that they do not contain material distortions, and even more so abuses by the administration they have hired;

b) the process of reducing to an acceptable level of information risk for other users of such reports published by various organizations. (Complete elimination of information risk by means of audit is impossible).

The objective of an audit of financial statements is to enable the auditor to express an opinion on whether the financial statements are prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with an established financial reporting framework.

The purpose of the audit can be supplemented depending on the services provided for by the contract with the client: identifying reserves for the best use of the company's existing assets; analysis of the correctness of the calculation of taxes; development of measures to improve financial situation enterprises; optimization of costs and results of activities, income and expenses, etc.

To achieve the audit objective, the auditors are faced with the following tasks :

1. Ensuring the reliability of the company's financial statements;

2. Gathering and evaluating a sufficient amount of competent information to create a logical basis for decision-making;

3. Systematic and comprehensive analysis of the economy of the organization or its specific type of activity;

4. Checking the compliance of activities with its Charter, the validity of the drawn up business plan.

5. Control over compliance with the legislation governing the economic activities of the enterprise, accounting, reporting.

6. Verification of primary documents.

7. Provision of consulting assistance to clients in terms of the correct organization and maintenance of accounting records, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. regulations, as well as on other issues of interest to clients;

8. Promoting the strengthening and growth of the client's property, since the audit primarily protects the interests of the client. The auditor points out the identified shortcomings to the administrator and gives recommendations on how to increase the property of the enterprise.

The main task of the audit is to verify the reliability of the financial statements and to express an opinion on them to the customer.

Auditing activities- entrepreneurial activity to audit financial statements and other information related to financial reporting, and to provide services according to the profile of the activity.

Auditing organizations licensed to carry out audit activities have the right to engage in auditing activities.

Auditing organizations, in addition to auditing, can also provide the following services in the profile of their activities:

1) related services in the profile of their activities in accordance with audit standards;

2) restoration and maintenance of accounting records, preparation of financial statements;

3) internal audit;

4) advising on the application of legislation on taxes and other obligatory payments to the budget and maintaining tax accounting;

5) formation of primary statistical data;

6) analysis of financial and economic activities and financial planning, economic, financial and management consulting;

7) advising on accounting and financial reporting;

8) training in accounting and financial reporting, taxation, audit and analysis of financial and economic activities and financial planning;

10) development of methodological manuals and recommendations for accounting and financial reporting, audit, analysis of financial and economic activities and financial planning, for the provision of related services in the profile of their activities in accordance with audit standards;

11) legal services related to audit activities;

Auditing organizations are prohibited from engaging in other types of entrepreneurial activity.

Auditing (as opposed to auditing) also provides for various audit services. Services related to the audit are divided into:

action services(services but the creation of documents, the composition of which is established in an agreement with an economic entity and previously not created by an economic entity);

control services(services for checking documents for their compliance with the criteria agreed by the audit organization with the economic entity; control of accounting and reporting; control of the calculation and payment of taxes and other obligatory payments; testing of the accounting personnel of an economic entity);

information Services(services for the preparation of oral and written advice on various issues; conducting training, seminars, "round tables"; information services; publication of guidelines).

The audit organization can develop in-house standards related works and services for each of their types.

A systematic approach paved the way for the development of high-quality audit services, that is, audit structures began to engage more in consulting activities than auditing itself.

Auditing and auditing activities also differ in terms of results. The result of the audit can be conclusions about the state of the reporting (primarily financial), its reliability and legality. The result of audit services is the possible state of objects in the future, i.e., forecast economic indicators, quality characteristics organizational structure management, accounting and control systems.

Auditing activities are entrepreneurial activities to conduct an audit itself and provide related consulting work and services.

Audit is a type of commercial activity - unlike consulting, it ensures its commercial success by exceptionally strict adherence to the principles of auditing. Historically, professional audit began to take shape as a result of the development of consulting services. The consultants take into account the standards, regulations, methods, guidelines, norms and rules, and the auditors strictly adhere to them.

Consulting - it is “any form of assistance in relation to the content, process or structure of a task or series of tasks in which the consultant is not himself responsible for the task, but assists those who are responsible for it”. Counseling refers to any external attempt to "change or improve the situation" in the absence of direct management her. “Most full-time employees in essence, they are consultants, even if they do not officially call themselves consultants. "

Management consulting - it is “a contracted advisory service that provides services to organizations with the help of specially trained and qualified individuals who help the client organization identify management problems, analyze them, advise on how to solve these problems and assist in implementing solutions, if necessary”.

If the auditor is a person certified in accordance with the established procedure, then in the field of consulting Russia is taking only the first steps towards certification of consulting activities.

The main criterion the success and effectiveness of the consultant's work - the level of satisfaction of the client's needs in the implementation of any management decision within the framework of his organization. For such a decision to take place, the consultant's recommendations must be of high quality and at least not harm your client. These and other standards of the consultant's activity are fixed in the Professional Code.

International Organization on standardization (ISO) in 1987 developed quality system standards ISO 9000, TSO 9001: 94, allowing to certify the work of consulting companies. So far the only Russian consulting company Business Consulting Group (BCG) has received such an international certificate.

Now in Russia there is only one document certifying the qualifications of a consultant - a diploma from the School of Management Consultants (SCU) of the Academy of National Economy (ANH) under the Government of the Russian Federation. This diploma will be issued for life, and certification requires confirmation in 3-4 years. This means that the issue of the expertise of management consulting has matured and the resolution of this problem has been entrusted to the Association of Consultants for Management and Organizational Development (AKUOR).

Since its inception, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has devoted considerable attention to the development of management consulting services and the dissemination of experience effective delivery consulting services in the participating countries. Through technical cooperation projects, the ILO has assisted many member countries in organizing local advisory services for various sectors of the economy and in the training of teachers and management consultants.

Russia has assumed international obligations in the field of labor relations regulation (government - entrepreneurs - workers); Russia intends to join other agreements. By 1999, out of 181 ILO conventions, Russia had ratified 55 conventions, of which 48 are in force.

Audit and Consulting - Related Areas professional activity... Dealing with the issues of improving the investigated activity, the auditors perform advisory work. Consulting work strictly following professional audit standards, in fact, can be called an audit.

Audit and revision.

There are both similarities and differences between them. The similarity is due to the testing technique. The main differences lie in the objectives, methods and users of the results obtained.

The auditor comes to the organization with the installation: to determine the legality of business transactions; identify those that go beyond the requirements of current regulations. The task of the auditor is to determine how accurate the reporting data is in terms of their compliance with the actions and events that took place in the past and, having identified errors or abuse, to bring information about them to interested users, to suggest ways of possible escape from them in the future.

According to the audit data, actions that violate the law presuppose the imposition of a penalty. The auditor, having identified such facts, only informs the owners of the client about them.

The auditor requires maximum publicity, while the auditor must maintain confidentiality.

The client does not choose an auditor whose actions fall under administrative law expressing vertical communication. The client chooses the auditor himself; their relationship is governed by civil law, which expresses horizontal ties.

Thus, control (audit) has always existed; audit is the development of control and does not cancel, but supplements the audit.

Audit has the greatest potential in the implementation of management efforts within the framework of the implementation test work, as a necessary element of the management work system. Based on what was said, audit can also be called a form of control as a management function.

Control is “one of the management functions, which is a system for monitoring and checking the functioning of a managed object in order to assess the validity and effectiveness of the management decisions taken, to identify the degree of their implementation, the presence of deviations and unfavorable situations, about which it is advisable to promptly inform the competent authorities that are able to take measures to improve the state of affairs ”. Among the types of control are administrative, technical, economic, financial, economic, environmental.

Formation of audit in Russia

Audit is possible only in countries with developed market economy... If there is none, there is no audit. Instead, various types of control prevail. In Russia, the need to create an institute of professional independent control arose under the influence of the development of entrepreneurship and the capital market, the desire of growing organizations to self-regulation and the need to create conditions that ensure economic stability, guarantees to owners and creditors of the safety of their investments.

V different periods In the history of Russia, attempts were made to legitimize the complete independence of the auditor from the auditee and to reorganize control on the basis of bringing it closer to the type of control institutions in constitutional countries (for example, the publication of the Decree of April 14, 1906, which explained that “the auditing activity of state control in what relation is not subject to the competence of the Council of Ministers ").

In 1917, workers' control existed under the Provisional Government. In 1918, the Soviet government created the People's Commissariat for State Control with accounting and control boards in all provinces and regions. They were entrusted with checking the reports of institutions, their current and sudden revision. Since 1920, this commissariat has been repeatedly reorganized: 1920 - People's Commissariat of the Workers 'and Peasants' Inspection (RKI), 1934 - Commission for Soviet Control, 1940 - People's Commissariat of State Control, 1946 - Ministry of People's Control of the USSR, 1965 - the Committee of People's Control of the USSR and the Committee of Party Control under the Central Committee of the CPSU, KRU of the Ministry of Finance of the USSR. The staff of the regulatory bodies grew rapidly, and the more controllers became, the more those who would check the correctness of their work were required.

The government has made attempts from time to time to coordinate and improve audit work. But only the ongoing restructuring in the country significantly changed the tasks and structure of control.

After the emergence of enterprises and organizations that are not owned by the state, the question arose of who should check them financial activities... At that time, only the KRU of the USSR Ministry of Finance had this right. In the Regulations on this department it is written that it carries out an audit of state, cooperative and public enterprises and organizations. However, there was no mention of joint ventures.

Such services were provided by the self-supporting financial and economic center of the Research financial institution, cooperatives "ORKON" at the Leningrad Association household services"Nevskie Zori", "Accounting" under the Moscow City Executive Committee, etc. The peculiarity of these firms is that they were created under various government structures.

In 1987, the first audit firm, Inaudit, was established in the country. And from that time on, the movement began to create an audit - an independent control. Strictly speaking, Inaudit could not be considered independent - its founders were the USSR Ministry of Finance (55% of the authorized capital), the USSR Ministry of Trade (10%) and other organizations.

The year 1990 can be considered the time of creating a true audit in our country, when the adoption of the relevant laws made it possible to create audit firms in the form of a limited liability partnership (LLP), which made it possible to reduce the size of the authorized capital, the number of members of the partnership, to conduct certain types works at home.

At this time, the audit firms "Contact", "Rufaudit" were registered. Their constituent documents provided for audits of the financial and economic activities of enterprises of any organizational and legal forms and types of ownership in order to confirm the reliability and reality of their financial statements, as well as consulting services on financial, legal, economic and commercial activities.

At the same time, the “big six” of Western audit firms appeared on the Russian audit market. In January 1990, the Erist & Young Vneshaudit joint venture was formed. But experts began to conduct inspections at joint ventures and in other firms at their request, depending on their location or affiliation.

By the end of 1991, drafts of regulatory documents on audit began to be actively developed, certification of persons wishing to engage in auditing began.

This approach has yielded positive results: a system for training auditors has been created, teaching aids, special departments have been opened. Audit as a method of making managerial decisions began to be effectively used in the implementation of strategic and operational management, in the performance of all management functions, in the conduct of technical work on personnel management. but operating system audit activity has, especially in practice, significant shortcomings, associated mainly with the lack of preparation for the perception of the concept of audit of the company as a whole, managers, managers and accountants.

On August 7, 2001, the President of Russia signed the Federal Law “On Auditing”, according to which it is planned to create a single federal body to regulate the activities of audit and consulting groups, and stipulate the conditions for the activities of an audit organization on the territory of the Russian Federation. Non-state regulation of audit activities will be carried out by professional audit associations, whose competence will also include checking the quality of work of individual auditors and audit organizations.

In the first half of 2001, the revenues of the 100 largest Russian audit and consulting companies increased by 64.7% compared to the same period in 2000, and the average hourly rate of auditors and consultants, weighted by rank, doubled, respectively.

The current structure of the market of audit and consulting services is characterized by the data in Table. 1.4.

The public need for audit services is due to the need for objective and professional information when making management decisions.

Table 1.4

Audit and consulting services market structure, %