If by law the organization does not fall into the category of companies required to engage an external auditor, then an internal audit of the enterprise can be started independently.

Internal audit mechanism

To conduct an audit yourself, you need to understand its mechanism. Internal control of the company’s activities includes:

1. Evaluation economic strategy enterprises: how profitable is cooperation with certain business partners, whether the right objects for doing business are chosen.
2. Assessing the management policy of the organization: how favorable are the relations between management and the team, what conditions are created for employees, why does staff turnover occur.
3. Identification of errors in the work of the Board of Directors: what decisions could undermine the authority of the enterprise or lead to losses.
4. Identification of the number of inspections from government agencies (Federal Tax Service, labor inspectorate, etc.) and their reasons.
5. Double-checking the availability and correctness of accounting and legal documents (“primary” documents, contracts, declarations, etc.).

It is recommended to audit the company's activities quarterly, before submitting financial statements. If shortcomings are identified, it is necessary to immediately, during the implementation of the activity, simultaneously draw up a report.

How to prepare for an audit?

To conduct a comprehensive independent audit, you will have to “raise” a large number of documents:

• company charter, minutes general meetings(the correctness of filling is checked);
• licenses to conduct a certain type of business, patents (it is checked whether they are valid);
• if the organization participated in the arbitration process, then you need to re-familiarize yourself with court decisions (were the obligations assigned by the court fulfilled, are there any debtors to the enterprise);
• all internal local documents for a certain period (accounting policies, management orders, collective agreements, labor contracts, working time schedule);
• acts from government bodies (have errors been eliminated, have responsive explanations been written);
• all commercial agreements with counterparties, annexes thereto;
• accounting documents (both “primary” and reporting).

If the company’s documentation is still not in order, then during the audit it is advisable to create a register with explanations of what needs to be done to eliminate errors in the organization’s activities.

Who can conduct an audit?

The following can identify inaccuracies in documents and factual errors in the strategy and management policies of a company:

• founders of the company or its immediate management;
• accountants for financial documents and lawyers for legal obligations;
• a specially created audit department.

Audit principles

When conducting an independent audit, you should not hide existing problems, but solve them. Therefore, authorized officials should not be pressured by management to maintain their honesty and objectivity. Performance assessment is carried out in good faith, absolutely everything is checked!

And while internal audits help avoid problems with government oversight and the law in general, they can be biased. Only independent experts can conduct an honest audit. In other cases, there is a possibility that company employees will try to hide corruption fraud. The Auditorka company is ready to objectively evaluate all activities and documentation of the enterprise in a short time and provide an expert report.

How to prepare for an upcoming audit, be it a statutory or proactive audit.

This article provides short, universal instructions for an audit. So, if your company is suddenly faced with the need conducting an audit, and you, as they say, “neither dream nor spirit” and have “never seen an auditor before”, then the main thing is not to panic, take this article and consider each of its points honestly and impartially, compare what you have , and what is missing without giving yourself any concessions.

Accounting policy

One of the first documents that the auditor will ask you for is your organization's properly executed accounting policies. We remind you that the need to formulate an accounting policy and the basic requirements for its content and disclosure are enshrined in Article 8 of Federal Law 402-FZ “On Accounting”, as well as in PBU 1/2008 “Accounting Policy of the Organization”.

Key considerations regarding accounting policies generally include the following:

• The accounting policies are not properly drawn up or are out of date.

  What does this mean? The accountant brings the accounting policy without a signature, just printed sheets with text, sometimes still warm from the printer. Or the other extreme: the accounting policy was properly approved, but it was so long ago that even the sheets have turned yellow, not to mention the fact that the content of such an accounting policy has long been outdated.

• The accounting policies do not fully reflect the accounting methods used.

  This means that you forgot to include in your accounting policies some of the actually used accounting methods. To avoid this, when preparing for the audit, check your accounting policies again for compliance with paragraph 4 of PBU 1/2008 “Accounting Policies of the Organization.” Your document must state:

  • working chart of accounts containing synthetic and analytical accounts necessary for maintaining accounting records in accordance with the requirements of timeliness and completeness of accounting and reporting
  • forms of primary accounting documents, accounting registers, as well as documents for internal accounting reporting
  • procedure for conducting an inventory of the organization's assets and liabilities
  • methods for assessing assets and liabilities
  • document flow rules and accounting information processing technology
  • procedure for monitoring business transactions
  • other solutions necessary for organizing accounting

Financial statements

At this step, you need to check the completeness of your reporting, the consistency of accounting and reporting data, as well as the quality of completion. The fact is that some required fields or lines are not filled in automatically in 1C or in another accounting program, and we are all too accustomed to the fact that it is enough to click the “Fill” button. For example, in the balance sheet and income statement, the “Explanations” column must be filled out independently.

In addition, please note that if you are subject to a statutory audit, the reporting set must contain all forms, including attachments, and not be limited to a set of simplified financial statements. This norm is enshrined in paragraph 5 of Article 6 of Federal Law 402-FZ “On Accounting”. As a rule, a small business, encountering a mandatory audit for the first time, mistakenly provides an incomplete set, acting in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 6 of the above-mentioned law, which allows small businesses to use simplified accounting methods, including simplified financial statements.

Reconciliation reports for counterparties

In paragraphs 73 and 74 of the Regulations on accounting and financial reporting in Russian Federation stated:

• settlements with debtors and creditors are reflected by each party in its financial statements in amounts arising from the accounting records and recognized by it as correct
• The amounts reflected in the financial statements for settlements with banks and the budget must be agreed upon with the relevant organizations and identical. Leaving unresolved amounts for these settlements on the balance sheet is not permitted.

Thus, the law does not establish mandatory reconciliations with counterparties when conducting an inventory of receivables and payables, with the exception of reconciliations with the bank and the budget.

In practice, the auditor, on a selective or continuous basis, will ask you for signed reconciliation reports with counterparties. The fact is that in his activities the auditor is obliged to be guided by auditing standards, which, in particular, indicate that audit evidence obtained from an independent source external to the audited entity (third-party confirmation) is more reliable. Therefore, when preparing for an audit, it is very important to check in advance, if not for all, then for the main counterparties, especially since accounting errors may be identified during the reconciliation process.

Inventory

In accordance with paragraphs 26 and 27 of the Regulations on maintaining accounting and financial reporting in the Russian Federation, in order to ensure the reliability of accounting data and financial reporting, organizations are required to conduct an inventory of property and liabilities, during which their presence, condition and assessment are checked and documented, In particular, it is mandatory to do this before drawing up annual financial statements. Therefore, when preparing for an audit, make sure that your organization has carried out an inventory and its results are documented, since such a procedure as an inventory, due to its mandatory nature, cannot be ignored by the auditor. In addition, the inventory carried out in terms of receivables and payables allows us to identify doubtful or bad debts for which it is necessary to create a reserve.

Reserves

At this stage, it is necessary to check whether a reserve for doubtful debts and to what extent the formed reserve corresponds to the inventory results as of December 31. The most common mistake in this matter is completely ignoring the obligation to form a reserve for doubtful debts, despite the clear requirement of the law for its formation in accordance with paragraph 70 of the Regulations on Accounting and Financial Reporting in the Russian Federation.

Also make sure that your company has created a reserve to pay for vacations of the organization’s employees, which is an estimated liability. In accordance with paragraph 3 of PBU 8/2010 “Estimated liabilities, contingent liabilities and contingent assets,” all organizations are required to reflect estimated liabilities, with the exception of those who have the right to use simplified accounting methods. I repeat once again that if your organization is a small business, but is subject to mandatory audit, then you cannot use simplified accounting methods.

Source documents

Of course, you won’t be able to eliminate the auditor’s possible comments regarding the primary documents in one day; this is exactly the case when it is better to do everything correctly right away, namely, keep under control not only the timeliness of receipt of original documents, but also the “quality” of your primary documentation. You will be surprised, but for the most part, auditors’ comments on primary documents refer to paragraph 2 of Article 9 of Federal Law 402-FZ “On Accounting,” which lists the mandatory details of the primary document, or to paragraph 1 of the same article, which states that Each fact of economic life is subject to registration with a primary accounting document. Thus, typical comments regarding primary documentation boil down to the following:

• the primary document was drawn up in violation of current legislation
• primary document missing

Typically, based on the results audit There are always comments on primary documents, so it would be useful to pay special attention to this issue when preparing, and it is better to start preparing a year before the J inspection.

Activities of any enterprises is mandatory audit, which is a verification of the reliability of the organization’s financial statements and its compliance with accounting legislation. The audit also consists of monitoring the activities of the company, as a result of which clarifications and clarifications regarding the work can be obtained enterprises.

Instructions

1. Audits can be mandatory or proactive. In the first case, they are held annually and are regulated by Russian legislation. Under mandatory audit include joint stock companies, credit organizations, insurance companies, commodity and stock exchanges, investment funds.
2. An initiative audit is a check of the accounting and reporting of a company under an agreement with an audit company. At the same time, the scope of the audit may vary from the entire accounting and reporting system to its individual part. The most important goal of a proactive audit for a company is the ability to predict bankruptcy.
3. The basic principle of conducting an audit is to determine the relationship between costs and results. It is necessary to agree in advance with the company on the scope of work, the timing of the inspection, as well as the method of providing information about the company’s activities. In some cases, auditors go directly to the enterprise, sometimes the company independently submits data.
4. The audit begins with a review of the statements enterprises, preparation for the audit. In this case, the cost of costs is calculated, as well as an assessment of the auditor’s risk during the audit.
5. Next, audit procedures are carried out directly, with the help of which the compliance of the company’s internal control system with the required standards is determined. After which an audit report is drawn up, and then it is transferred to the head of the company. At the same time, violations identified during the inspection are indicated and the level of reliability of the submitted reports is calculated.

The goal of any audit should be the extent to which the audit is needed. This may be the objective state of financial activity, economic strategy and internal control of a particular structural form. Improving the company's performance should be a top priority in the audit.

Typically, a mandatory audit is carried out before the annual report is submitted. If an audit is carried out in several stages, the company can achieve a number of advantages, namely:

• Rates quoted at the end of the calendar year are usually higher because this is when most firms conduct audits.
• Your company will not need to change data in accounting and tax accounting just before submitting annual reports
• Limited time will definitely lead to errors in correction

It is advisable to conduct an audit distributed over several periods. For example, six months and the subsequent third quarter. In this situation, the accounting department will have enough time to correct various shortcomings. At the end of the year, all that remains is to check the corrections based on the comments made earlier. The last quarter will not be so busy. Thus, the burden on the finance department becomes minimal, and the cost of the audit is reduced through a phased audit.

The service, which is carried out when there is a change of owner, chief accountant, or during reorganization, is called a proactive audit. The main thing in such an audit is to assess the efficiency of the enterprise and the state of accounting. With this form of audit, the manager can check any departments where cost calculations were made and the correctness of taxation. As a result, your company will be able to pass all tax audits.

Express audit is carried out in cases brief analysis. This may be a reporting period of a certain time associated with a change in the chief accountant or various personnel changes in departments.

The expert auditor's recommendation usually contains a number of explanations for the analysis of the client's financial activities. Based on any results of the audit, the auditor must issue documents to the customer-client with a detailed report on the work done and a conclusion that determines the correctness of the financial statements.

IN Lately the services of audit firms are becoming widely used. Right now, many enterprises, even those for which annual inspections are not mandatory, are asking for inspections more and more often. Responsible selection of auditors and the goals set by the company are the key to a competent commercial strategy.

Internal audit is carried out in order to obtain truthful information about the financial and material condition of the organization. It evaluates the methods and procedures of the business system for their productivity and effectiveness.

Instructions

1. Before conducting an internal audit, you need to decide on the purpose and objectives that you would like to see as a result of the auditors’ work. The creation of your own audit may be negatively accepted by the employees of the enterprise, which may negatively affect the work of the organization. Therefore, it is necessary to convey to all services and departments of the enterprise that the audit is intended to control not employees, but the work process, identifying shortcomings and deviations in work, thereby helping to achieve better results.
2. At the board of directors or at a meeting of founders, a decision is made to create an internal audit; such a decision is recorded in the relevant documents.
3. The rules and powers of internal audit are formalized in a written document, which is signed by the board of directors or founders of the company.
4. Before conducting an audit, auditors write a plan that specifies the method of carrying out procedures and the scope of work. The plan is signed by the head of the organization. If necessary, the manager gives written explanations about the work of the enterprise.
5. If, when auditing a production process or similar operation, a specialist with specific knowledge is needed, then an outside professional is hired for such an audit and an appropriate agreement is signed with him.
6. After conducting its own audit, the department issues a report in which the responsible auditor expresses an opinion on all material relationships and makes detailed recommendations. When expressing an opinion, the auditor is guided by the standards in accordance with the professional code of ethics for auditors.
7. The audit department must conduct an internal audit on one assigned task until all errors and deviations are corrected.
8. Remember that the auditor is independent of the company's management. This is the only way to ensure the reliability of the data provided in the auditor’s final report.

A financial assessment of a company involves an analysis of its financial position. It includes: calculation of a number of basic indicators that reflect the system of formation of working capital of a legal entity, the directions for their most competent use.

Instructions

1. Calculate data characterizing different aspects of the company’s activities related to the use and formation of all its funds. Determine the liquidity ratio. It characterizes the company's ability to satisfy its short-term debt obligations. In turn, it is necessary to find the absolute liquidity ratio, which determines how much short-term debt obligations can be returned not in cash, but with the help of securities or deposits. This coefficient is determined as the ratio of the quantity Money and financial short-term investments to the available amount of current liabilities.
2. Calculate the quick liquidity ratio. It is calculated as the ratio of the most liquid share of working capital (financial short-term investments, accounts receivable and cash) and the amount of short-term liabilities.
3. Determine the value of the current liquidity ratio. It is calculated as the quotient of the ratio of the amount of working capital and short-term debt obligations. This ratio reflects whether the company has enough funds that can be used to pay off short-term obligations.
4. Calculate profitability ratios. They will help you assess how profitable the business is. The return on sales indicator will be able to show the part of the net profit received from the volume of all sales of the organization. You can determine it from the ratio of net profit to net sales volume multiplied by 100%.
5. Find the sum of the return on equity ratio. This indicator determines the efficiency of using equity capital contributed by the owners of the enterprise. You can calculate it using the following formula: divide the net profit by the value of your own cash investments, and then multiply the resulting value by 100%.
6. Compare the data obtained with standard and planned indicators. Draw conclusions from a financial assessment of the company.

Based on materials: ac-g.ru, kakprosto.ru

1. Rights, duties and responsibilities of the auditor.

2. Ethical standards of auditing activities.

3. Certification of audit personnel and licensing of audit activities.

1. When conducting an audit, audit organizations and individual auditors have the right to:

1. independently determine the forms and methods of conducting an audit,

2. check in full the documentation related to the financial and economic activities of the audited entity, as well as the actual availability of property recorded in this documentation,

3. obtain from officials of the audited entity oral and written explanations on issues that arose during the audit,

4. refuse to conduct an audit or express one’s opinion on the reliability of financial (accounting) statements in the auditor’s report in the following cases:

a) failure by the audited entity to provide all necessary documentation,

b) identification during the audit of circumstances that have, or may have a significant impact on the audit organization’s opinion on the degree of reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity,

When conducting an audit, audit organizations and individual auditors are required to:

1. carry out an audit in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

2. provide, at the request of the audited entity, the necessary information about the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation relating to the conduct of an audit, as well as about the regulatory acts of the Russian Federation on which the comments and conclusions of the audit organization or individual auditor are based.

3. within the period established by the contract of provision audit services, transfer the audit report to the audited entity or the entity that has entered into an agreement for the provision of audit services.

4. ensure the safety of documents received and compiled during the audit, do not disclose their contents without the consent of the audited entity or the entity that entered into an agreement for the provision of audit services, except for cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The liability of audit organizations arises in the event of a violation of the obligations assumed under the audit agreement.

A person who fails to fulfill an obligation or fulfills it improperly is liable if there is guilt (intention or negligence). The absence of guilt is proven by the person who violated the obligation.

For unqualified performance of an audit that led to losses for the state or for an economic entity, the audit organization may be subject to penalties based on a court decision or arbitration court according to the claim brought by the body that issued the license: losses incurred in full, costs of re-inspection, a fine in the amount of 100 to 500 times the minimum wage established by law.

For violation of ethical standards of auditing activities, licenses to carry out auditing activities may be revoked.

Implementation legal entity audit activity without a license entails the collection from these persons on the basis of a court decision on claims brought by the prosecutor, federal treasury authorities, and federal tax authorities of a fine from 500 to 1000 times the minimum wage.

Auditors bear criminal, administrative and civil liability for violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation on auditing.

2. One of the most important tasks in the development of the auditing profession in our country is the development of ethical standards for auditing activities. Such norms, which have developed in auditing practice over many years, are enshrined in ethical codes of auditing. Violation of ethical standards entails condemnation from colleagues, as well as from specially created courts at the audit chambers. In some cases, penalties may be applied to offenders, such as a fine and suspension from work temporarily or permanently.

If we compare the profession of an auditor with the profession of a doctor, then the object of the beneficial influence of the auditor is the enterprise, and the object of the beneficial influence of the doctor is the person. The auditor kindly gets acquainted with the state of affairs of the client, identifies gaps and vulnerabilities in financial activities, in the organization of accounting and makes recommendations on how to improve accounting and eliminate shortcomings and errors. The main rule of the auditor is not to harm the client.

One of the ethical norms is compliance with generally accepted moral norms and principles in one’s actions and decisions, living and working according to conscience, truthfulness and honesty, independence and objectivity in judgments and conclusions, intransigence towards injustice, moral and moral violations, as well as legal norms in all their manifestations.

Auditors must take their

responsibilities, comply with audit rules (standards).

The ethical standards of auditing provide for the independence of judgments and conclusions of auditors, the objectivity and honesty of their conclusions. The independence of the auditor is ensured by the fact that he is not in the public service and is not full-time employee non-audit organizations and therefore must fulfill their duties. Auditors should not have a material interest in the activities of the company being audited, i.e. neither they themselves nor their close relatives can be owners, shareholders or shareholders of the inspected enterprises.

To achieve professional goals, the auditor must adhere to the following fundamental principles:

Honesty. When providing professional services, the auditor must act openly and honestly.

Independence. When providing professional services, the auditor must be independent of the audited entities and third parties.

Objectivity. The auditor must be fair; his objectivity must not be influenced by prejudices, biases, conflicts of interest, other persons, or other factors.

Professional competence and due care. The auditor provides professional services with due care, competence and diligence. His responsibilities include constant maintenance of professional knowledge and skills at high level so that audited entities can benefit from competent professional services based on the latest developments in the field of practice, legislation.

Confidentiality. The auditor must maintain the confidentiality of information obtained in the process of providing professional services and must not use or disclose such information without the consent of the owner of the economic entity, except in cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Professional conduct. The auditor must act in a manner consistent with the good reputation of the profession and must refrain from any conduct that could bring it into disrepute.

3. Certification for the right to carry out auditing activities is a qualification test individuals who wish to engage in auditing activities. Certification is carried out in the form of a qualifying exam. Persons who successfully pass the exam are issued an auditor qualification certificate with no limitation on its validity period. Mandatory requirements for applicants for obtaining a qualification certificate of an auditor are: availability of a document on higher economic or legal education, experience

work in an economic or legal specialty for at least three years. Each auditor who has a qualification certificate is required to undergo training in advanced training programs every year.

Auditing organizations and individual auditors without a license to carry out auditing activities do not have the right to engage in auditing activities in the Russian Federation. Licensing of audit activities, including the procedure for issuing, suspending and canceling a license, is carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on licensing of certain types of activities. The date of receipt of the license is the date of the decision to issue the license by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.

To obtain a license for the first time to engage in auditing activities in the Russian Federation, the following requirements are established:

1) the audit organization cannot have the form of an open joint-stock company.

2) the authorized capital stated in the constituent documents must be at least 100 times the minimum wage established by law.

3) in the authorized capital of the audit organization, the share owned by certified auditors and licensed audit organizations must be at least 51%.

4) the staff of the audit organization must consist of at least two auditors who have auditor qualification certificates.

The issuance of a license to an individual entrepreneur receiving it for the first time is carried out if he has a qualification certificate of an auditor.

Licenses are issued separately for the following types of auditing activities: audit of insurance organizations and companies, audit of exchanges, extra-budgetary funds and investment institutions, general audit.

Licenses are issued upon application of the license applicant for three, two or one year. Upon expiration of the license, upon application of the license applicant, a new license may be issued.

To obtain a license, the following documents are submitted to the licensing authority:

1) an application indicating the type of activity, location of the organization, name of the bank and bank account number.

2) copies of constituent documents, certificates of state registration certified by a notary.

3) certificate of registration with the tax authority.

4) a document confirming payment of the fee for consideration of the application.

5) information about the heads of the audit organization, their deputies and working certified auditors.

Tests to control knowledge in section 1 “Fundamentals of auditing”

1. Give the concept of audit and auditing activities.

2. Name other types of audit services.

3. Give the concept of audit rules (standards).

4. What are the requirements for obtaining for the first time a license to engage in auditing activities in the Russian Federation for an audit organization.

5. What is the purpose of the audit?

6. Give the concept of an audit on behalf of government agencies.

7. Give the concept of “audit organization” and its legal status.

8. Give the concept of the auditor’s ethical standard - “objectivity”.

9. What is the reason for the emergence of the audit service?

10.Give the concept of external audit.

11.Give the concept of “auditor” and its legal status.

12.Name the documents that must be submitted to the audit organization to obtain a license.

13. History of the development of auditing in England.

14. Give the concept of mandatory audit.

15. Name the rights of auditors.

16. What is the procedure for certification for the right to carry out auditing activities?

17. History of the development of auditing in France.

18. Give the concept of internal audit.

19. Name the functions of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation for auditing activities.

20. Give the concept of the auditor’s ethical standard - “confidentiality”.

21. History of the development of auditing in Russia.

22. The importance of auditing in a market economy.

23. Name the responsibilities of auditors.

24. Give the concept of the auditor’s ethical standard - “independence”.

Every year, accountants face a difficult period of preparing annual reports, and most of them wonder, “Do we need auditing? If the answer to the question is positive, a decision is made to engage professionals to conduct an audit. Another part of accountants asks the question “Why are auditors needed in principle? How can they help us?

1. No matter how competent an accountant is, he may not physically have enough time to check the correctness of reporting. And an audit just means thorough analysis of accounting (financial) statements.
2. As a rule, accounting specialists are forced to perform a huge amount of routine work, as a result of which there is a risk of missing last changes in legislation. And given the constantly changing Russian legislation, it is very difficult to keep track of the changes! Therefore, in this situation it will be very useful information, which auditors have.
We would like to draw your attention to the fact that, based on many years of practice, the auditors of AKG “Ural Union”, as part of the audit, provide professional advice on issues of accounting and tax accounting. The information obtained during consultations will allow the accountant to defend his point of view before regulatory authorities.
3. The audit will identify risky business transactions, and thus will help to avoid penalties provided for by the Tax, Administrative, and Criminal Codes of the Russian Federation.

draw your attention to that in addition to the above, our independent audit will reveal hidden reserves to improve the efficiency of the entire enterprise!
To sum up the above, we recommend that all accountants treat auditors not as a regulatory body that will suddenly appear (like a tax audit), but solely as an ally. And it’s up to you to decide whether you need such an assistant or not.

But if you still decide to involve an audit, then you need to prepare certain documents for the arrival of auditors.

Documents for audit

The list of documents that auditors use in their work is given below:

1. Constituent documents, orders of the founders;
2. Documents for obtaining licenses, patents and other types of intellectual property;
3. Materials of court proceedings and decisions of judicial, higher and local authorities;
4. Documents and reports on the receipt and use of budget funds;
5. Industry norms, rules, guidelines;
6. In-house instructions and regulations;
7. Staffing. Collective agreement. Remuneration regulations;
8. Business agreements (rent, supply, commission, etc.) and other commercial agreements for all types of activities;
9. Production and personnel orders;
10. Planned and actual calculations. Estimates. Projects. Calculations and justifications for the approval of regulated tariffs, etc.;
11. Production and other internal reports;
12. Planned and actual estimates for the use of the Enterprise’s own funds. Estimate of entertainment expenses. Documents defining the distribution of profits;
13. Order on accounting policies. Working chart of accounts (sub-accounts). Document flow schedule;
14. Documents for tax registration with tax authorities and extra-budgetary funds, Notification of assignment of codes in territorial administration Goskomstat of the Russian Federation and other registration documents;
15. Reconciliation reports on taxes and fees by tax authorities. Acts of inspection of the enterprise by tax authorities;
16. Annual reporting with appendices and explanations thereto;
17. Written information and audit reports based on the results of audits for at least 2 previous financial years.
18. Tax registers, calculations and declarations, certificates of calculations (for all taxes). Documents justifying tax benefits;
19. General ledger, working balance;
20. Quarterly and annual accounting and statistical reporting in full;
21. Book of purchases and sales. Journal of registration of incoming and outgoing invoices;
22. Order journals, transcripts (analytical accounting) for accounting on all balance sheet accounts. Information, analytical accounting for conducting transactions on off-balance sheet accounts;
23. Acts of inventory of inventory, fixed assets, intangible assets, cash, debt settlements and other balance sheet items;
24. All primary documents confirming accounting data recorded in order journals, statements, machine diagrams;
25. Invoices, purchasing acts, acceptance acts, liquidation, writings, and other documents confirming the movement of inventory items. Material and commodity reports;
26. Acts of acceptance and transfer, commissioning, liquidation, sale, revaluation, cards, etc., confirming the movement of fixed assets. Inventory of fixed assets;
27. Primary documentation for accounting and storage of inventories;
28. Agreements with financially responsible persons. A log of issued powers of attorney and other documents at the request of the auditor;
29. Cash book of the enterprise, certificate of establishing a cash balance limit. Cash documents (receipts, expenditure orders with all attachments);
30. Advance reports of accountable persons with attachments;
31. Acts of offsets: assignment agreements and other documents on the repayment of obligations. Acts of acceptance and transfer of bills. Acts of reconciliation of settlements by counterparties;
32. Results of the latest and previous inventory;
33. Bank documents (statements with attachments). Bank account, loan, credit agreements. Pledge agreements;
34. Documents for the acquisition and disposal of securities. Book of securities accounting;
35. Calculations by wages employees by attaching all documents - grounds for calculation: time sheets, sick leave, calculation of vacation pay; documents justifying the use of income tax benefits, employment agreements, work contracts, applications, personal accounts, tax cards, any other documents related to payroll calculations and calculations income tax. Depositor ledger. Loan agreements and others;

In order for the work of the enterprise to always have positive dynamics, it is necessary to periodically check how effectively it is managed and whether internal resources and funds are distributed correctly. One of the most popular ways to collect information and analyze disparate data about the work of an organization is to conduct an audit.

With the help of regular audits, you can realistically assess the economic activity of a company and properly control it.

Audit control in an organization allows you to check the compliance of the accounting department with current legislative acts and monitor compliance with the rules, which are reflected in a variety of economic and legal documentation.

What is an audit?

As a rule, audits are carried out by independent firms or private external auditors and contain a number of mandatory steps, including the collection, evaluation and analysis of the information obtained. Analysis of the collected data helps improve the company's performance and stabilize its financial position.

The purpose of the audit is to obtain conclusions about whether the organization maintains its accounting records correctly and how well the financial statements correspond to the real state of affairs.

An audit of an individual entrepreneur, a joint stock company or any other company by external auditors also involves collecting information about how well the company complies with tax laws, whether there are any violations of the law in the course of business activities, and what the financial position of the organization is.

Why is a company audit needed, what are its main goals?

1. Checking the accuracy of the information specified in the accounting documentation of the enterprise;
2. Checking the rest of the company’s documentation, on the basis of which conclusions can be drawn about how well the organization functions;
3. Identification of violations of economic activity and their immediate elimination (or issuance of recommendations for elimination).

Important! Based on the results of the audit, the organization is issued official document— conclusion (if the audit was mandatory) or a report on the inspections carried out with the conclusions and recommendations of specialists regarding the improvement of the organization’s activities (in case of a voluntary audit).

Types of audits

There are several ways to classify an audit, for different reasons. If we talk about general categories, we distinguish between independent audit (conducted by an independent organization under a contract), state audit (customer - official public services) and internal audit, which is done by the company itself. There is a division of audits according to the profile of activity - general, banking, tax, insurance, audit of extra-budgetary funds, and so on.

However, the main division is made according to the nature of the order. In this context, a distinction is made between mandatory and voluntary audits, as well as audits based on an agreed assignment.

Mandatory checks

An audit is mandatory for those organizations that meet the criteria set out in detail in Article 5 of Federal Law No. 307-FZ “On Auditing Activities” dated December 30, 2008. If a company meets these criteria, it must arrange an independent audit every year to review its financial and accounting records.

As a result of such an audit, the company receives a conclusion and detailed written information about the violations identified. Sometimes a statutory audit is not carried out according to requirements Russian legislation, but by decision of the company's owners.

Important! If a company is required to conduct annual audits, then it does not have the right to use a simplified method of maintaining accounting (financial) reporting.

Voluntary audit

A voluntary audit is practically no different from a mandatory audit, but is carried out solely by the good will of the organization’s management or its owners. This allows you to ensure that your accounting and tax documentation is maintained correctly.

At the end of such an audit, management is provided with an audit report and additional written information to which close attention should be paid. Following the recommendations received will help you avoid significant tax penalties and large fines in the future.

Audit according to the agreed assignment

This type of audit is necessary when the management of the enterprise knows exactly what kind of audit needs to be emphasized. As a result, the auditor will provide a specific answer to the question posed to him. The task for a coordinated audit must be set very clearly; the number of procedures that the auditor will be required to carry out depends on this. The result of the inspection will be a report describing the work performed and a list of specific recommendations in accordance with the task.

How is an audit carried out?

An audit of any company, regardless of its organizational and legal form, involves passing through 4 mandatory stages of verification, including:

1. Preparatory stage. General acquaintance with the organization, study of its constituent documents, assessment of risks associated with the company’s industry profile, its financial situation, staff turnover, the level of qualifications of the accounting department employees and the growth rate of production capacity. The audit itself begins only if the auditor is satisfied with all the working conditions he has studied. Initiates the verification by a letter of consent, which is sent to the management of the enterprise;
2. Planning stage. Planning begins with the conclusion of an agreement between the auditor and the organization, which stipulates in detail the timing of the future audit, its cost, and the composition of the audit team. Then it is agreed upon overall plan, including audit strategies and methods, level of materiality and other important parameters. The planning stage ends with the preparation of an audit program, which determines how deeply various sections of the reporting will be worked out;
3. Main stage. At the main stage of the audit according to the stated standards, a number of mandatory procedures are carried out - collecting and reviewing the organization’s primary documentation and information on financial activities, assessing the sample and studying the reporting data, as well as assessing the level of materiality and audit risks, determining the compliance of the accounting (financial) documentation with legal requirements, collection of evidence;
4. Analysis of evidence and drawing up a conclusion. Based on the results of the activities carried out, a final analysis of the data is carried out, all collected information is summarized, a report is generated on the status of the accounting documentation, and a written conclusion or report on the inspections carried out is issued to the company management.

Audit Methods

Each audit firm independently chooses the procedure for conducting an audit and the methods it will use when auditing a particular organization. Quite often, auditors focus on selective methods and testing, but there are other work strategies and special approaches. All of them are subsequently reflected in the working documents of the audit company:

• Full check implies a detailed, detailed study of all primary accounting documentation, accounting (financial) reports and registers of analytical and synthetic accounting. Due to its high labor intensity, such a check is used relatively rarely. For example, when auditing banks, it is very difficult to check and compare thousands of customer accounts and identify the correctness of transactions on them in financial documents;
• Custom scan allows you to draw a conclusion about the state of affairs of the enterprise based on studying a relatively small part of it. Document verification is not carried out in a continuous stream, but selectively. This can be random selection based on a special criterion (using a table of random numbers), or systematic selection (checking documents at a given interval), or combined selection (a combination of the two previous methods).

In practice, during an audit, a combination of continuous and random inspection methods is used. There is also a distinction between a desk (documentary) audit, which does not require visiting the site and interviewing the organization’s personnel, and an actual audit, which involves visiting the audited facility.