How to prepare for an audit: step-by-step instructions. What is an audit of an enterprise? An audit can be carried out

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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:

Assessing the economic strategy of the enterprise: how profitable is cooperation with certain business partners, whether the right objects for doing business are chosen.
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.
Identification of errors in the work of the Board of Directors: what decisions could undermine the authority of the enterprise or lead to losses.
Identification of the number of checks from government agencies(Federal Tax Service, labor inspection, etc.) and their reasons.
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 deficiencies are identified, it is necessary to immediately, during the implementation of the event, 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 of general meetings (checked for correct completion);
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 what's coming audit, whether mandatory or proactive audit.

This article provides short, universal instructions for an audit. So, if your company is suddenly faced with the need to conduct 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 it every point honestly and impartially, compare what you have and what you lack, 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 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 accounting, 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 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 has been formed in the accounting records and how well 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

As a rule, based on the results of an audit, there are always comments on primary documents, so it would be useful to devote attention to this issue Special attention in preparation, and it is better to start preparing a year before the J test.

Activities of any enterprises is mandatory audit, which is a verification of the reliability of the financial statements of the organization, its compliance with legislation in the field of accounting. 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

Audits can be mandatory or proactive. In the first case, they are held annually and are regulated by Russian legislation. Joint-stock companies, credit organizations, insurance companies, commodity and stock exchanges, and investment funds are subject to mandatory audit.
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.
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.
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.
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 verification of control of one or another 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. IN end result, your company will be able to pass all tax audits.

Express audit is carried out in cases of 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.

Recently, the services of audit firms have become 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 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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The audit department must conduct an internal audit on one assigned task until all errors and deviations are corrected.
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

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.
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.
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.
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%.
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 net profit by the value of your own cash investments, and then multiply the resulting value by 100%.
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

proactive (voluntary), which is carried out by decision of the owners or management of the organization. Such a check can take place, for example, when the owners (manager) need to obtain information about the state of accounting when changing the chief accountant or when receiving a bank loan.

Situation: Can one of the founders (participants, shareholders) initiate an audit of the organization?

The answer to this question depends on the legal form of the organization.

In LLC general rule the decision to conduct an audit, select an auditor and determine the amount of payment for his services is made by the general meeting of participants (i.e. the decision must be made by a majority vote) (subclause 10, clause 2, article 33 of the Law of February 8, 1998 No. 14-FZ ). However, an individual participant also has the right to initiate an audit if he is ready to pay for audit services at his own expense (Part 2 of Article 48 of the Law of February 8, 1998 No. 14-FZ). In this case, a decision of the general meeting is not required (Resolution of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated May 13, 2008 No. 17869/07).

IN joint stock companies the decision to select an auditor is made by the general meeting of shareholders, and the determination of the amount of payment for his services is considered by the board of directors (supervisory board) of the organization (clause 2 of article 86 of the Law of December 26, 1995 No. 208-FZ). An individual shareholder may request an audit if he owns 10 percent or more of the voting shares (Clause 3 of Article 85 of the Law of December 26, 1995 No. 208-FZ).

Who can conduct an audit

An audit (both mandatory and initiative) can be carried out by both audit organizations and individual auditors (Part 2, Article 1, Articles 3, 4 of the Law of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ). An exception is provided only for organizations listed in Part 3 of Article 5 of the Law of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ. Only audit organizations have the right to conduct mandatory audits. For more information, seeIn what cases is an audit mandatory? .

Requirements for audit organizations (auditors)

An audit organization (individual auditor) has the right to conduct audits and provide audit-related services if it is a member of a self-regulatory organization of auditors. These are the requirements of Part 1 of Article 3, Part 1 of Article 4, Part 2 of Article 23 of the Law of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ.

Auditors (auditing organizations, individual auditors) are not entitled to conduct an audit if:

the auditor (his director or officials) is the founder (participants, shareholders) of the organization being audited;

the auditor (his manager or officials) holds a position responsible for organizing and maintaining accounting and reporting in the audited organization (for example, manager, accountant);

the auditor (his manager or officials) is closely related to the officials responsible for organizing and maintaining accounting and reporting in the audited organization (for example, a manager, an accountant);

the organization being audited is the founder (participant, shareholder) of the auditor;

the organization being audited is a subsidiary of the founder (participant, shareholder) of the auditor;

the audited organization and the auditor have common founders (participants, shareholders);

during the three years preceding the audit, the auditor maintained (restored) accounting in the audited organization or prepared its financial (accounting) statements;

the audited organization is an insurance company with which the auditor has entered into a liability insurance agreement.

Audit principles

The basic principles of conducting an audit are established by the Rules (standards) approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated September 23, 2002 No. 696, as well as FSAD 1/2010, 2/2010 and 3/2010, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n . They are mandatory for all auditors (clause 3, part 1, article 7 of the Law of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ).

Also, when checking accounting (financial) statements, auditors are guided by the recommendations of the financial department. These clarifications regarding the audit of financial statements for 2015 are set out in the Recommendations from the appendix to the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 22, 2016 No. 07-04-09/2355. In particular, auditors are advised to pay particular attention to the following issues:

creating a reserve for doubtful debts on loans;

reflection in accounting of financial risk hedging transactions;

recognition of expenses for paying bonuses to employees of the organization based on the results of work for the year;

determining the degree of completion of works, services, products with a long manufacturing cycle;

disclosure of information on financial investments, the value of which is expressed in foreign currency;

accounting for the organization’s contribution to the compensation fund;

disclosure of information about federal loan bonds with indexed par value;

accounting for the presence and movement of production waste;

reflection in accounting of the costs of forming a safety stock of assets;

disclosure by the audited entity of information about issued independent guarantees;

reflection of sales tax amounts in accounting;

reflection of insurance contributions to state extra-budgetary funds in the cash flow statement;

storage of accounting documents;

preparation of consolidated financial statements.

The terms of the audit are specified in a written agreement (audit letter). The rules for their preparation are specified in Rule (standard) No. 12, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 23, 2002 No. 696.

Audit report

The results of the audit must be presented in the auditor's report. It is an official document that is intended for users of accounting (financial) statements (Part 1, Article 6 of the Law of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ). In conclusion, the auditor assesses the reliability of the accounting (financial) reporting indicators (Part 2, Article 6 of Law No. 307-FZ dated December 30, 2008, clause 2 FSAD 1/2010, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n).

The auditor's report may express an unmodified or modified opinion on the reliability of the accounting (financial) statements (clause 14 of FSAD 1/2010, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n).

If the auditor concludes that the financial statements present fairly the financial position of the entity, he expresses an unmodified opinion.

The auditor expresses a modified opinion in the following cases:

Based on the audit evidence obtained, it has been established that the financial statements contain material misstatements;

The auditor is unable to obtain sufficient evidence that the financial statements, taken as a whole, are free of material misstatement.

This procedure is provided for in paragraphs 15, 17 of FSAD 1/2010, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n.

A modified opinion can be expressed in the following forms:

qualified opinion;

refusal to express an opinion;

negative opinion.

This is stated in paragraph 1 of FSAD 2/2010, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n.

The auditor should express a qualified opinion if:

sufficient evidence has been obtained that the effect of the misstatements, considered individually or in the aggregate, is significant, but does not affect most of the significant elements of the accounting (financial) statements;

The auditor is unable to obtain sufficient audit evidence on which to base his opinion. In this case, the auditor may conclude that the impact of undetected misstatements is significant, but does not affect most of the significant elements of the accounting (financial) statements.

This is stated in paragraph 13 of FSAD 2/2010, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n.

The auditor should disclaim an opinion when it is not possible for him to obtain sufficient evidence on which to base his opinion. At the same time, he comes to the conclusion that the impact of undetected distortions is significant and affects most of the significant elements of the accounting (financial) statements (clause 16 of FSAD 2/2010, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n).

The auditor must express a negative opinion upon receipt of sufficient evidence that the detected misstatements can significantly affect the state of the accounting (financial) statements and most of its significant elements (clause 15 of FSAD 2/2010, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n ).

Situation: Should an audit organization check the correctness of tax calculations and reflect the results of such a check in the audit report?

The answer to this question depends on the purpose of the audit (as reflected in the contract).

As a rule, the auditor checks the procedure for preparing accounting (financial) statements (Part 3 of Article 1 of Law No. 307-FZ of December 30, 2008). At the same time, the auditor can also check issues related to the calculation of taxes. This must be done as part of checking the correctness of the reflection of transactions in account 68 “Calculations for taxes and fees” and account 69 “Calculations for social insurance and security”. However, in this case, the auditor only selectively checks the essential aspects of tax calculation (FSAD 1/2010, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n).

If an organization needs to conduct a full tax audit, this must be explicitly stated in the contract. The procedure for conducting a tax audit is established in the Methodology of Auditing Activities “ Tax audit and other related services on tax issues. Communication with tax authorities" (approved by the Commission on Auditing Activities under the President of the Russian Federation on July 11, 2000, Protocol No. 1).

Based on the results of the audit, errors and violations of the law may be identified. Before drawing up an audit report, auditors must inform the organization's management about this. This is stated in paragraph 52 of Rule (standard) No. 13, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 23, 2002 No. 696. They can describe the reason for violations of accounting and reporting in a document drawn up in any form (for example, in the form of a report) . After studying this document, employees of the organization must correct errors. If the organization refuses to correct the violations, the auditors will not be able to express an unmodified opinion in their report. This conclusion follows from paragraph 15 of FSAD 1/2010, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 20, 2010 No. 46n.

Situation: Is it possible to hold an audit organization accountable if, as a result of a tax audit of the area inspected by the auditor, violations were identified and fines and penalties were assessed?

Yes, you can.

However, in practice, it is quite difficult to prove that the accrual of fines and penalties occurred precisely because of an auditor’s error.

The contract for the provision of audit services is paid (Article 779 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, clause 3, part 2, article 14, part 2, article 8 of the Law of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ). For improper performance of a service, an organization may demand compensation for damages from the audit company (even if this is not specified in the contract). This follows from paragraph 1 of Article 393 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. If, as a result of a tax audit, violations are revealed and additional taxes, penalties and fines are assessed, then you can try to collect fines from the audit organization. As for additional taxes and penalties, they cannot be regarded as a loss to the organization. This follows from the resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of December 17, 1996 No. 20-P.

However, in arbitration practice there are cases where penalties should not be considered a loss, since there is no connection between the quality of the auditor’s work and the fine. For example, resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Ural District dated August 29, 2006 No. F09-7480/06-S4.

Advice: To avoid disputes with the audit company, include a clear provision in the service agreement regarding the responsibility of the audit organization.

Conditions such as “The audit company is liable in accordance with current legislation” or “The Contractor is financially liable for damage caused to the customer in the event of an unqualified audit” do not provide a guarantee of compensation for losses. The auditor is not responsible for the fact that distortions in the accounting (financial) statements were not detected if this could not affect the auditor’s opinion regarding the reliability of the accounting (financial) statements as a whole. This conclusion is confirmed by arbitration practice (see, for example, the resolution of the FAS of the Volga-Vyatka District dated September 6, 2006 No. A39-8206/2005-120/17).

Most the best option is an indication that if, as a result of a tax audit of a site approved by the auditor, violations were identified, then the audit company must pay a penalty. In this case, the audited organization is not obliged to prove losses caused to it due to poor quality work of the auditor (clause 1 of Article 330 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition, an audit company can insure its professional liability for violation of the terms of the contract (clause 4.1, part 1, article 13 of the Law of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ). In this case, losses from the fine will be paid Insurance Company. Study the insurance rules for these risks established by the insurer. Disputes and disagreements will most likely be avoided if the insurance rules directly state: “The insurer compensates for the risks associated with sanctions that the tax inspectorate imposes on the consumer of audit and related services.”

To assess how accurately and correctly your company's accounting is maintained, you should conduct regular audits. It is this procedure that allows you to determine how correctly you conduct business and accounting in order to avoid sanctions from inspection authorities. In this article we will look at what an audit is, why it is carried out and how it is regulated.

Standard audit can be compared to diagnostics vehicle or examining a person to identify hidden diseases or make a diagnosis. There are different types of verification. They can be divided into categories: independent, that is, when the procedure is carried out by an organization or commission that is not interested in the result; public, that is, one that takes place with the involvement of civil servants or official representatives; internal, that is, one that is carried out by company employees on the basis of orders or internal regulations. The main task of internal audit is to determine whether records are being maintained correctly.

The audit can also be divided according to the direction of the company’s work: insurance, banking, general, for non-profit organizations or budgetary funds. If we talk about the type of inspection, then it can be mandatory, which is carried out every year according to regulations or internal orders, as well as voluntary, which is carried out in the organization either at the request of the director, or due to the detection of some violation (or suspicion of it).

Attention: if the audit is carried out voluntarily, then its scope and start-end dates are set by the head of the company, depending on the goals set for the audit.

How is audit regulated?

Now that we have figured out what types of audits exist, let's look at what laws govern this procedure. The main one is Federal Law 307, which is called “on auditing activities,” adopted in 2008. In addition to it, there are various rules that regulate the inspection and establish standards for it, that is, in fact, they give it a single standard. Standardization is considered extremely important, since it prescribes exactly how the procedure is carried out, how a conclusion about the result is drawn up, what principles auditors should use, etc. Standards also make it possible to understand to what extent an audit should be carried out, by what methods, etc. They were developed by the International Federation of Accountants in order to unify the system and set of documents, as well as formulate common points for conducting audits.

Attention: standardization of the audit allows it to be brought to common standards and a correct understanding of the procedure by all participants. Standardization also helps resolve disputes in arbitration courts.

Who carries out the checks

Audits must be carried out either by private auditors or professional organizations with appropriate rights. Both the first and second must be part of an accredited SRO and have the appropriate permits. Let's consider what requirements are put forward for private auditors:

They must have completed legal or economic education.
Work experience as an assistant inspector or chief accountant for at least three years.
Passing the qualifying exam.

After a candidate auditor successfully passes the exam, he receives the appropriate certificate, which gives him the right to work in the industry. Companies also have special requirements. First, it must be a commercial organization that is headed by a certified auditor. Secondly, the company must have at least three specialized inspectors. Thirdly, 51 percent of the company's authorized capital must belong to either certified auditors or existing audit companies.

What exactly is being checked?

What will be checked during the audit depends on the purposes for which it is carried out, as well as at what enterprise it is carried out. Why is an audit needed in commercial and non-profit organizations and what exactly is being audited? First of all, the audit concerns financial and accounting statements. At the same time, company employees are obliged to provide inspectors with all the information they require. If the auditor is not given access to documents or electronic databases, he has the right to refuse to carry out the necessary actions. If some documents have been lost or it is currently impossible to access them for one reason or another, then the specialist makes a decision about their importance for the process.

If the audit is initiated but not completed, then the relevant authorities and counterparties will understand that the company is hiding its reporting and manipulating it. If the inspection is carried out voluntarily, it affects only those areas specified in the contract. For example, a company can order an audit of current and intangible assets, as well as fixed assets, order an audit of cash discipline and tax payments. Accordingly, the auditor will need to provide all documents that are related to this area.

Attention: During the audit, the auditor may request documents that are not accounting or financial, but at the same time they can provide the necessary information and affect the business of the company.

When to carry out

Ordinary entrepreneurs and small LLCs do not have to carry out inspections. In fact, the process takes place only at medium and large enterprises that work with budgetary or public finances. The verification is carried out in order to prevent manipulation, verify the intended use of funds, and protect clients or ordinary citizens from fraudulent activities. According to the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, an audit is carried out every year in the following organizations:

In any joint stock companies.
In companies that list their securities on the stock exchange.
The company belongs to the category of non-state funds and works with public money.
The company decides to publish its financial statements or present them accordingly, with the exception of state-owned companies that are required to publish financial statements).
If the company received revenue of 400 million rubles or more during the previous reporting period.
If the active part of the balance at the end of the year exceeds 60 million rubles.

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” of 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 mandatory audit is carried out not according to the requirements of Russian legislation, but by decision of the company’s owners.

Audit Objectives

Main objectives of the audit:

Study accounting reports for the basic parameters.
Assessing the compliance of the provided documents with legal standards established by authorities.
Checking the status of constituent contracts and charters.

Types of audit

Mandatory

An annual audit conducted in accordance with Article 5 of the Federal Law “On Auditing Activities”. It is carried out by organizations:

Open joint stock companies.
State funds; banks; insurance organizations; stock and commodity exchanges.
Entities that have at least one of the following indicators: profit for the year is more than 500 thousand rubles; the minimum wage at the end of the year exceeds 200 thousand established by the state.
Municipal enterprises that have the above indicators.

Verification can only be carried out by audit organizations. If the capital of the organization consists of at least 25% state. property – the contract is concluded based on the results of an open competition.

If the organization’s documentation contains information that contains state secrets, then the audit cannot be carried out by audit institutions that have a share of foreign investment.

To conduct a statutory audit, an economic entity is required to enter into an agreement with the audit. organization, pay for the service and provide the necessary documentation on time.

Initiative

The initiator is the organization. The audit concerns exclusively financial and business activities. At the discretion of management, auditors can check any specific activity without covering all of the institution's documentation.

This type of audit is important for the enterprise itself, since as a result management gets the opportunity to improve accounting reporting and improve its performance indicators.

Key audit steps

Organization and planning

Comprises:

Public offer of an economic entity to the audience. organization about the desire to carry out an audit.

Familiarization of the auditor with the activities of the enterprise (assessment of audit risk, study of factors that may influence audit activities).

Joint agreement on the audit plan.

Registration, and then signing of the contract.

Collection of audit evidence

Auditors work in the following areas:

“Aud. evidence” (collection and monitoring of evidence);
“Aud. sampling" (evaluation of the sample and comparison of the results for a given population);
“Analytical research” (search for unusual discrepancies in financial statements);
“Primary audit” (analysis of data reliability);
“The work of an expert”;
“Documentation of the audit”;
“Checking that the requirements described in regulations RF";

Based on the norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, namely Chapter No. 39 “Contract for paid services”, the contract is based on the following aspects:

Subject of the agreement.
Terms of service.
Rights and responsibilities of the auditor.

Rights:

Determine the form and method of the audit.
Have access to the necessary documentation of the facility and receive auxiliary information that will be useful for the quality provision of services.
Refuse the inspection or conclusion if the enterprise fails to comply with its obligations.

Responsibilities:

Comply with the requirements of the legislative norms of the Russian Federation regarding auditing.
Conduct an audit at the proper level. verification and not to disclose trade secrets.
Ensure the safety of received documentation.

Rights and obligations of an organization or enterprise

The subject is obliged:

Create the necessary conditions.
Provide the auditor with all necessary documentation.
Provide access to computer processing of materials.
At the request of the auditor, explain issues of concern to him, orally or in writing.
If there are violations in the accounting procedure, eliminate them quickly.

Cost of audit services

This section states:

Price.
Payment terms, payment procedure.

Level of responsibility of the parties and conflict resolution procedure

Includes the following conditions:

A measure of punishment for failure to comply with assigned obligations.
Possible circumstances that exclude liability for deviation from the basic provisions of the contract.
Resolving possible conflicts through negotiations or in court.

The agreement also indicates the duration of its validity and the legal addresses of the subjects.

Audit methods

Complete check. Covers all financial documents that relate to the accounting of banking transactions, securities, etc.
Custom scan. This method allows you to check documents against a specific sample. If serious violations are found in the reports, it is replaced with a full inspection.
Combined check. It has recently become widespread. Used in large enterprises with complex production processes. In the process, a large number of audit specialists are involved.
Documentary check. Includes checking documents and transaction records. They use methods: mathematical, logical and formal.
Factual check. Allows checking the availability of funds and material resources for comparison with the data indicated in the reports.

Basic approaches to developing audit methodology

Before starting an audit, it is important to choose the right methodology that will allow a short time carry out a quality check. The auditor keeps secret the methods by which he studies the documentation, because the methodology is influenced by his experience and qualifications.

There are four approaches to developing methods:

Accounting approach. Eat traditional. To check accounting sections. accounting. In auditing, this is called the method of checking turnover in accounting accounts.
Legal approach. Review documents for their compliance with legal acts and their impact on industrial operations. According to the standard, it is called the control system verification method.
Industry approach. Takes into account the industry characteristics of audit clients. It is divided into such methods as: insurance, construction, banking, trade enterprises, etc.
Special approach. It is developed if groups of entities have aggregate indicators - capital structure, tax regulations, number of employees, etc.

Why do organizations conduct audits?

Apart from mandatory audits, heads of organizations often use the services of auditors. There are many reasons for this:

Checking the documentation will allow you to avoid possible penalties after the tax audit.
Check the quality of employee work.
A positive audit can attract investors.
The productivity of the organization increases when possible documentation problems are eliminated in a timely manner.

How to choose an audit organization

In a joint-stock company, the auditor is selected by voting at the meeting of shareholders. As mentioned earlier, if a company’s capital consists of more than a quarter of state capital. property - then the audit organization is selected through a competition.

If you are a director of a company and you want to find a good auditing firm, pay attention to two main characteristics: professional and formal.

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Professional characteristics consist of three main points:

A good control system that allows you to clearly and correctly perform your own functions.
The presence of certain verification standards.
Qualified personnel. The formal characteristic concerns the compliance of the organization’s activities with established legislation. The audit firm must follow him.
Not to be a public joint stock company.
Have 50% of employees are citizens of the Russian Federation who permanently reside in Russia.
Provided that the director of the organization is a foreigner, then at least 75%.
The company must have at least 5 professional auditors.
Have a license.
Must be insured against the risk of breach of contract.

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