Exhibiting professional skepticism means that. Audit principles

1) the auditor critically evaluates the weight of the audit evidence obtained;

2) the auditor questions the reliability of documents or statements of the audited entity;

3) when planning and conducting an audit, the auditor assumes that the management of the audited entity is dishonest;

4) carefully examines audit evidence that contradicts any documents or statements of management or calls into question the reliability of such documents or statements.

8. Mandatory audit is:

1) monthly audit of accounting and financial (accounting) reporting of an organization or individual entrepreneur;

2) an audit conducted at the initiative of an organization or individual entrepreneur;

3) annual mandatory audit of the organization’s accounting and financial (accounting) reporting; 4) quarterly audit, necessarily carried out on the initiative

government agency.

9. Mandatory audit is carried out in the following cases:

1) the amount of revenue of an organization or individual entrepreneur from the sale of products (performance of work, provision of services) for one year does not exceed 400 million rubles;

2) the organization is a credit, insurance, commodity or stock exchange;

3) the organization is a state unitary enterprise, a municipal unitary enterprise based on the right of economic management

4) the organization has the organizational and legal form of a closed joint stock company.

10. To which main link of the financial control organization system does auditing activity belong:

1) state financial control; 2) public financial control;

3) independent, non-departmental financial control; 4) departmental financial control.

11. When performing his professional duties, the auditor must be guided by the following ethical principles:

1) continuity, independence, honesty, objectivity; professional competence and integrity,

confidentiality and professional conduct;

2) independence, frequency, objectivity, professional competence and integrity, confidentiality and professional conduct;

3) independence, honesty, objectivity, openness and integrity, confidentiality and conduct;

4) independence, honesty, objectivity, openness and integrity, collegiality and behavior.

professional professional

12. What is the principle of professional behavior of an auditor:

;

13. What is the principle of auditor independence: 1) honest dealing and truthfulness ;

2) eliminating the influence of bias and conflict of interest on the objectivity of the auditor’s professional judgments;

3) in the absence of any financial or property interest of the auditor in the audited company;

4) in compliance with relevant laws and regulations and avoiding any actions that discredit or may discredit the auditing profession?

14. What is the principle of auditor objectivity:

1) honest dealing and truthfulness ;

2) eliminating the influence of bias and conflict of interest on the objectivity of the auditor’s professional judgments;

3) in the absence of any financial or property interest of the auditor in the audited company;

4) in compliance with relevant laws and regulations and avoiding any actions that discredit or may discredit the auditing profession?

15. The auditor is:

1) an individual with a higher professional education in the field of accounting and auditing;

2) an individual who meets the qualification requirements established by the authorized federal body and has an auditor qualification certificate;

3) an individual with experience in the field of accounting and auditing;

4) an individual who received qualification certificate auditor and is a member of one of the self-regulatory organizations of auditors.

16. An audit organization is:

1) a commercial organization that is a member of one of the self-regulatory organizations of auditors;

2) a non-profit organization that is a member of one of the self-regulatory organizations of auditors;

3) a commercial organization licensed to conduct auditing activities;

4) a non-profit organization licensed to conduct auditing activities.

17. Other services related to auditing activities include:

1) development and analysis of investment projects, drawing up business plans;

2) management consulting, including those related to

reorganization of organizations or their privatization, agreed upon

procedures;

3) conducting research and experimental work in areas related to auditing activities and disseminating their results, including on paper and electronic media, review checks;

4) automation of accounting and implementation of information technologies, .

18. Audit, being a method of exercising financial control: 1) in some cases replaces state financial control; 2) does not replace state financial control;

3) can completely replace state control;

4) as a rule, replaces state financial control.

19. Types of quality control of the work of audit organizations and auditors:

1) discontinuous and continuous;

2) obligatory and proactive; 3) internal and external;

4) long-term and short-term.

20. The term “audit scope” refers to audit procedures:

1) which are considered acceptable to achieve the purpose of the audit in all circumstances;

2) which are considered necessary to achieve the purpose of the audit under the circumstances;

3) which are considered appropriate to achieve the audit objective under the circumstances;

4) which are considered necessary to achieve the purpose of the audit under all circumstances.

21. In what case is an individual recognized as an auditor:

1) from the date of making an entry about it in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities;

2) from the date of entering information about it into the register of auditors and audit organizations of a self-regulatory organization of auditors;

3) from the date of receipt of a license to conduct auditing activities; 4) from the date of receipt of the auditor’s qualification certificate?

22. Based on the type of performance of audit services, the audit is divided into: 1) audit of annual financial statements and special audit;

2) initial and repeating; 3) external and internal;

23. Based on the frequency of implementation, the audit is divided into: 1) audit of annual financial statements and special audit; 2) initial and repeating;

3) external and internal;

4) obligatory and proactive.

24. Select the functions performed by self-regulatory organizations of auditors:

1) independent verification of the accounting (financial) statements of the audited entity in order to express an opinion on the reliability of such statements;

2) tax consulting, establishment, restoration and maintenance of tax records, preparation of tax calculations and declarations;

3) maintaining a register of auditors and audit organizations, improving the qualifications of auditors and monitoring the quality of work of auditors and audit organizations that are members of self-regulatory organizations;

4) review checks, compilation of financial information, automation of accounting and implementation of information technologies in the activities of self-regulatory organizations.

Workshop No. 2

The general principles governing the audit of financial statements are defined both by the International Standard on Auditing ISA 200 and the Russian Federal Rule (Standard) of Auditing No. I “The Purpose and Basic Principles of the Audit of Financial (Accounting) Statements.”

Audit organizations, in the course of their activities, are required to comply with and use the following professional ethical principles as the basis for making any professional decisions:

• independence;
• honesty;
• objectivity;
• professional competence;
• integrity;
• confidentiality;
• professional behavior.

Independence- this is the requirement that the auditor, when forming his opinion, have no financial, property, related or any other interest in the affairs of the economic entity being audited, exceeding the relationship under the contract for the provision of audit services, as well as any dependence on third parties. Requirements for the auditor in terms of ensuring independence and the criteria that the auditor is not dependent are regulated by regulatory documents on auditing activities, as well as ethical codes of auditors. The independence of the auditor must be ensured both on formal grounds and in terms of actual circumstances. Independence is the key to public trust.

Honesty- this is the auditor’s mandatory commitment to professional duty and adherence to general moral standards. Objectivity is the obligation to be unbiased, impartial and not subject to any influence when considering any professional issues and forming judgments, conclusions and conclusions.

Professional competence- this is the requirement to possess the necessary amount of knowledge and skills that allows the auditor to provide professional services in a qualified and high-quality manner. The audit organization must attract trained, professionally competent specialists and monitor the quality of their work to ensure a qualified audit.

The audit organization should not provide services that go beyond the scope of professional competence and the limits of its powers in accordance with existing licenses for auditing activities.

Integrity- this is the obligation of the auditor to provide professional services with due care, attentiveness, efficiency and proper use of his abilities. The principle of integrity implies the diligent and responsible attitude of the auditor to his work, but should not be interpreted as a guarantee of error-free auditing activities.

Confidentiality- this is the obligation of auditors and audit organizations to ensure the safety of documents received or compiled by them during the audit, not to transfer these documents or their copies (either in whole or in part) to any third parties and not to disclose the information contained in them without consent owner (manager) of an economic entity, except for cases provided for by legislative acts of the Russian Federation. The principle of confidentiality must be strictly observed, despite the fact that the disclosure or dissemination of information about an economic entity cannot, according to the auditor, cause material or other damage to it. Compliance with the principle of confidentiality is mandatory regardless of the continuation or termination of the relationship with the client and has no time limits.

Professional Conduct- this is observance of the priority of public interests and the obligation of the auditor to maintain the high reputation of his profession, refraining from committing actions that are incompatible with the provision of audit services and that can reduce respect and trust in the audit profession and damage its public image.

If an audit organization (an auditor as an individual) is a member of a professional association, it (he) should comply (along with the above ethical principles) with the rules of ethics provided for in documents adopted on a voluntary basis by this professional association. The auditor, during the planning and conduct of the audit, must exercise professional skepticism and understand that circumstances may exist that entail a material misstatement of the financial (accounting) statements.

The exercise of professional skepticism means that the auditor critically evaluates the strength of the audit evidence obtained and carefully considers audit evidence that contradicts any documents or statements of management or calls into question the reliability of such documents or statements. Professional skepticism should be exercised during the audit to, among other things, avoid overlooking suspicious circumstances, making unwarranted generalizations in drawing conclusions, or using erroneous assumptions in determining the nature, timing and scope of audit procedures or in evaluating their results.

When planning and conducting an audit, the auditor should not assume that the management of the entity being audited is dishonest, but should not assume that management is completely honest. Oral and written statements by management are not a substitute for the auditor's need to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to form reasonable conclusions on which to base the audit opinion.

2.1 Principles for implementing external quality control of an organization and conducting an audit

The general principles governing the audit of financial statements are defined by both the International Standard on Auditing ISA 200 and the Russian Federal Auditing Rule No. I “The purpose and basic principles of the audit of financial statements.” Audit organizations, in the course of their activities, are required to observe and use the following professional ethical principles as the basis for making any professional decisions: independence; honesty; objectivity; professional competence; integrity; confidentiality; professional behavior. Independence is the requirement that the auditor, when forming his opinion, have no financial, property, related or any other interest in the affairs of the economic entity being audited, exceeding the relationship under the contract for the provision of audit services, as well as any dependence on third parties. Requirements for the auditor in terms of ensuring independence and the criteria that the auditor is not dependent are regulated by regulatory documents on auditing activities, as well as ethical codes of auditors. Independence is the key to public trust.

Honesty is the auditor's mandatory commitment to professional duty and adherence to general moral standards.

Objectivity is the obligation to be unbiased, impartial and not subject to any influence when considering any professional issues and forming judgments, conclusions and conclusions.

Professional competence is the requirement to possess the necessary amount of knowledge and skills that allows the auditor to provide professional services in a qualified and high-quality manner. The audit organization must attract trained, professionally competent specialists and monitor the quality of their work to ensure a qualified audit.

Integrity is the obligation of the auditor to provide professional services with due care, attentiveness, efficiency and proper use of his abilities. The principle of integrity implies the diligent and responsible attitude of the auditor to his work, but should not be interpreted as a guarantee of error-free auditing activities.

Confidentiality is the obligation of auditors and audit organizations to ensure the safety of documents received or compiled by them during the audit, not to transfer these documents or copies thereof (either in whole or in part) to any third parties and not to disclose the information contained in them without consent of the owner (manager) of the economic entity, except for cases provided for by legislative acts of the Russian Federation. Compliance with the principle of confidentiality is mandatory regardless of the continuation or termination of the relationship with the client and has no time limits.

Professional conduct is the observance of the priority of public interests and the responsibility of the auditor to maintain the high reputation of his profession, refraining from committing acts that are incompatible with the provision of audit services and that could reduce respect and trust in the auditing profession and damage its public image.

The auditor, during the planning and conduct of the audit, must exercise professional skepticism and understand that circumstances may exist that entail a material misstatement of the financial (accounting) statements. The exercise of professional skepticism means that the auditor critically evaluates the strength of the audit evidence obtained and carefully considers audit evidence that contradicts any documents or statements of management or calls into question the reliability of such documents or statements. When planning and conducting an audit, the auditor should not assume that the management of the entity being audited is dishonest, but should not assume that management is completely honest. Oral and written statements by management are not a substitute for the auditor's need to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to form reasonable conclusions on which to base the audit opinion. The basic principles of external quality control of the work of audit organizations and individual auditors are:

a) implementation of external control of the quality of work of audit organizations in relation to all audit organizations and individual auditors;

b) independence of external quality control of audit organizations;

c) provision of financial, material and labor resources;

d) the appropriate level of professional competence of employees carrying out external quality control of the work of audit organizations;

e) transparency of the procedure for appointing controllers to conduct an external audit of the quality of work of the object of external quality control of the work of audit organizations;

f) reporting on the status and results of external quality control of audit organizations;

g) publicity of the results of external quality control of audit organizations;

h) ensuring that the audited object of external quality control of the work of audit organizations eliminates violations and shortcomings identified as a result of the external audit;

i) accountability of the activities of subjects of external quality control of the work of audit organizations for the implementation of external control of the quality of work of audit organizations to the audit council created in accordance with Article 16 of the Federal Law “On Auditing Activities”.

Audit principles can be divided into two groups:

1) the basic principles governing the audit - ethical and professional standards that determine the relationship between the auditor (audit firm) and the client;

2) basic principles of conducting an audit, i.e. rules defining the stages and elements of an audit.

The principles governing the audit are defined in clause 3 of the Federal Rule (Standard) of Auditing No. 1 “The purpose and basic principles of the audit of financial (accounting) statements” approved. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 23, 2002 No. 696 (as amended by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 7, 2004 N 532). When performing his professional duties, the auditor must be guided by the standards established by the professional audit associations of which he is a member (professional standards), as well as the ethical principles presented in Table. 1.

Table 1 Fundamental audit principles

Principles	Characteristic
Independence auditor	The auditor must be free from influence, pressure, control from both the audited entity and any third parties. Auditor independence is the absence of any financial or property interest of the auditor in the audited company. An auditor cannot audit a company of which he is one of the owners; cannot participate in the audit if he is related to senior officials of the client.
Auditor Integrity	The auditor must be committed to professional duty
Auditor objectivity	The auditor must be dispassionate when considering any professional issues, forming judgments, conclusions and conclusions.
Auditor Competence	The auditor must have the necessary amount of knowledge and skills, and skillfully apply this knowledge when considering specific situations.
Auditor integrity	The auditor has a responsibility to provide professional services with due care, care, promptness and appropriate use of his or her abilities.
Professional conduct of the auditor	The auditor must maintain the high reputation of the profession and refrain from engaging in conduct that could undermine respect and confidence in the auditing profession.
Confidentiality of information	Auditors (audit organizations) are obliged to ensure the safety of documents received or compiled by them in the course of auditing activities, and do not have the right to transfer these documents to any third parties or disclose information contained in them orally without the consent of the audited entity.
Professional skepticism	The auditor should critically evaluate the strength of the audit evidence obtained and carefully consider audit evidence that contradicts any documents or statements of management or calls into question the reliability of such documents or statements.

One of the principles of auditing is its independence, which is expressed in the absence of any interest in the affairs of the person being audited by the auditor when forming his opinion, as well as in the absence of dependence on third parties. Current legislation establishes a number of measures to ensure the independence of the audit. Thus, the audit organization is independent in choosing methods and procedures.

Thus, we can say that audit as a form of financial control is an independent verification of the financial statements of an organization, carried out by a special entity (firm), in accordance with the legislation on auditing on a commercial basis. During an audit, specific forms and methods of planning, conducting, and documenting the audit are used, the general requirements for which are established by the Auditing Rules.

2.2 Stages of an audit

Audits are carried out in accordance with Federal Law No. 307 of December 30, 2008 “On Auditing”, federal rules (standards) of auditing, approved by Decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation, Code of Ethics for Auditors of Russia, adopted by the Council on Auditing under the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (Minutes No. 16 dated August 28, 2003), internal auditing standards and other regulatory documents. The audit procedure includes four stages:

I - familiarization with the economic entity;

II - planning;

III - carrying out substantive procedures;

IV - generation of test results.

At the first stage, familiarization with the economic entity is carried out. It includes collecting information about the activities of an economic entity before sending a letter of consent to conduct an audit and concluding an agreement for the provision of audit services. Before conducting an audit, it is necessary to obtain preliminary information about the economic entity through communication between auditors and the management of the audited entity on issues of interest, as can be seen in the following Figure 1:

state audit planning

Rice. 1. Communication with the management of the economic entity

In accordance with the Rule (standard) of auditing “Understanding the activities of an economic entity”, as well as with the international Rule “Knowledge of business”, the auditor needs to analyze information about the activities of an economic entity in order to rationally plan the audit. The collected information is grouped into the audit company's Client File.

Fig.2. Collecting information about the audited entity and creating a company client profile

Part of the information received is entered into the preliminary examination card. Based on the results of the analysis, the audit organization sends a letter of consent to the audit to the management of the economic entity. In the absence of disagreements between the audit organization and the management of the economic entity, an agreement for the provision of audit services is concluded.

According to Auditing Standard No. 15, the auditor must, before concluding an agreement for the provision of audit services and before commencing an audit, obtain information about the activities of an economic entity in an amount sufficient to identify and understand events, business transactions and methods of work that, in accordance with the professional judgment of the auditor, may have a significant impact on the financial (accounting) statements and the nature of the auditor's report. Obtaining information about the activities of an economic entity before concluding a contract is one of the necessary conditions for conducting a quality audit.

The auditing firm "Audit+" mainly builds its work according to federal auditing standards and also at the initial stage collects information about the audited entity and compiles a company client dossier. Understanding the activities and proper use of information about the activities of the audited entity of the auditing firm "Audit+" helps auditors:

correctly assess risks and identify problem areas;

plan and conduct audits effectively;

evaluate audit evidence;

ensure high audit quality and validity of conclusions.

To form an opinion on the activities of an economic entity, the auditor of the auditing firm "Audit+" uses the following information:

1. General economic factors:

The general level of economic development (for example, recession or growth);

Interest rates and availability of financial resources;

Inflation, devaluation or revaluation of the national currency;

Policy of the Government of the Russian Federation or executive authorities of a foreign state in whose territory the audited entity, its branches and representative offices operate (monetary, tax, tariff policies, trade restrictions, government assistance programs);

Foreign exchange rates and exchange control mechanisms.

Features of the industry affecting the activities of the audited entity:

market and competition in the industry;

cyclical or seasonal activity;

changes in production technology;

commercial risk (for example, new technology used in the production of products, easy access to the market for new competitors);

reduction or expansion of activities;

unfavorable operating conditions (for example, decreased demand, unused production capacity, severe price competition);

economic indicators in the industry;

industry problems and industry features of accounting;

environmental requirements and issues;

requirements of regulatory legal acts, including those regulating the scope of activity of the audited entity;

features of the activity (for example, in relation to employment contracts, financing procedures, accounting procedures).

3. Management and ownership structure of the audited entity:

corporate and organizational structure (including any recent or planned changes);

shareholders and their affiliates (their business reputation and experience);

capital structure (including any recent or planned changes);

goals, principles, strategic plans of management;

acquisitions of organizations, reorganization of the audited entity or liquidation of certain types of activities (planned or recently completed);

sources and methods of financing (current, initial);

board of directors (composition, business reputation and professional experience of individual members, independence, frequency of meetings, presence of an audit committee and the scope of its activities, facts of replacement of external consultants, for example lawyers);

managers (work experience and business reputation, staff turnover, key financial personnel and their status in the organization, staffing of the accounting department, incentive or bonus plans as elements of remuneration, for example, depending on the profit received, the use of forecasts and estimates, work style, course support shares of the audited entity, availability and quality of management information systems);

availability and quality of work of the internal audit unit;

the attitude of the management of the audited entity to the internal control system.

4. Products, markets, suppliers, expenses, production activities of the audited entity:

nature of the activity (for example, manufacturing activities, trade, financial services, import/export);

location of production premises, warehouses, office premises;

characteristics of personnel (for example, by location, salary level, features of the activities of trade unions, features of social security);

markets for products or services (for example, main customers and contracts, payment terms, profit margins, market share, competitors, exports, pricing policy, product reputation, guarantees, order book, development trends, marketing strategy, production processes);

suppliers of goods and services (for example, long-term contracts, stability of supply, payment terms, imports, delivery methods);

inventory (eg location, quantity);

licenses, patents;

main types of expenses;

research and development;

assets, liabilities and transactions in foreign currency - by type of currency;

operating information systems;

features of the loans received.

5. Factors related to the financial position of the audited entity, including key financial indicators and trends in their changes.

6. The conditions under which the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity are prepared, including external factors that influence management in the process of preparing financial (accounting) statements.

7. Features of legislation:

requirements of regulatory legal acts applied in the course of activities of the audited entity, including in the field of taxation;

information disclosure requirements specific to this type of activity;

requirements for the audit report;

possible users of financial (accounting) statements.

At the introductory stage (before concluding an agreement for the provision of audit services), the auditor does not always have the opportunity to obtain all the information about the activities of an economic entity, which is due to a number of reasons.

Firstly, not every economic entity will provide the auditor with information in full (on all issues of interest) before concluding a contract.

Secondly, the nature, quantity and quality of the collected information depend not only on the desire of the economic entity to cooperate with the audit company, but also on the objective ability of the audit company itself to collect and analyze the available information in full. Thus, a small audit firm is not able to conduct such collection and analysis of information before concluding a contract, since it does not have a large staff of auditors. Of course, this circumstance does not exempt auditors from conducting analysis. In any case, such an analysis is carried out, since it is on the basis of the information received that the audit company gives its consent to conduct an audit. Thanks to this analysis, the number of positions is also formed, the need to attract clients, and the cost of services is determined.

Thirdly, the information provided is not always reliable.

Based on this, it is advisable to divide all information received by auditors before concluding a contract into two groups: basic information, i.e. information that should be collected and analyzed by the auditor before entering into the contract, and additional information (which it is desirable to collect and analyze because it can assist the auditor throughout the audit). The main procedures of the familiarization stage are presented in Figure 3:

Fig.3. Basic procedures for the introductory stage

To agree on the terms of the audit, the auditor and the management of the audited entity must reach agreement on the terms of the audit. The agreed terms must be documented in the letter of consent and the contract for the provision of audit services. The letter of consent is very important and essentially represents a guarantee from the auditor that the economic entity understands the essence of the audit. That is, the main purpose of the letter of consent is to inform the management of the audited entity about all the limitations objectively inherent in the audit (sample inspection, verification of significant aspects of the activity, the possibility of the risk of not detecting even some significant misstatements during the audit). The Audit+ auditing firm's own Standards are confidential information, since with their help this firm can conduct a high-quality audit with the least risk. The confidentiality of all information relating to the Standards and data about the Customer is regulated by relevant external and internal rules, compliance with which is strict and controlled by the director.

At the second stage, audit planning is carried out in accordance with the general principles of conducting an audit, as well as in accordance with Federal Rule (standard) of auditing activities No. 3 “Audit planning”. This standard establishes uniform requirements for planning an audit of financial (accounting) statements. Audit planning involves developing an overall strategy and a detailed approach to the expected nature, timing and scope of audit procedures.

The auditor's planning of his work is aimed at ensuring that important areas of the audit are given the necessary attention, potential problems are identified and the work is completed at optimal cost, with high quality and in a timely manner. Planning allows you to effectively distribute work between members of the team of specialists participating in the audit, as well as coordinate such work.

Planning includes several stages:

The first is a preliminary assessment of the internal control and accounting system;

The second is a preliminary assessment of audit risk and its components;

Third - preliminary calculation of the audit sample size;

Fourth - preliminary calculation of the level of materiality;

Fifth - justification for the need to involve an expert or other auditor in the audit;

Sixth - formation of the composition of the audit team;

Seventh - calculation of the cost of audit services;

Eighth - preparation of a general plan and audit programs for sections of inspection.

The third stage is the actual process of conducting an audit and is the main one. During the main stage, the auditor adjusts the values ​​of the calculated indicators (if necessary) and determines the updated values ​​of the amount of audit risk, the level of materiality and the size of the audit sample.

This stage includes the following stages:

conducting substantive audit procedures;

adjustment of calculations made at the planning stage;

analysis of the information received and comparison of identified errors with the level of materiality;

assessment of the financial condition of the organization.

Based on the results of the analysis, a summary table of identified violations and recommendations for their elimination are compiled.

At the fourth stage, the verification results are generated. At this final stage, written information (report) is compiled on the results of the audit and an audit report is issued. Based on the results of the audit, the management and accounting department of the audited entity are presented with the following documents:

Auditor's report on the accounting (financial) statements for the reporting year;

Written information (audit report), which is a detailed analytical document with all identified deficiencies and violations, as well as recommendations for correcting each of them;

Summary table of the audit results (analytical note) on the most significant violations with all necessary comments (tables, other audit notes)

If during the audit there is a need to revise certain provisions of the general plan, the head of the audit team must agree on this issue with the head of the audit organization.

From everything stated in this section, we can conclude that in addition to generally accepted standards, which include the rules for auditing certain areas of the financial and economic activities of enterprises, the step-by-step regulation of audit procedures, the Code of Ethics, which defines the rules of conduct for the auditor when contacting the customer and the internal procedure of the Company , audit firms use separate internal standards, which include some unique developments. Among them:

A wide database of archives of situations for each area of ​​the audit (access to practical materials allows you to unify the approach to complex issues);

Detailed developments for the analysis of the Customer’s business scheme, as an essential element of preparing an audit, allowing to identify key areas of analysis and identify significant business transactions, including those containing potential tax risks;

Standard for the formation of materials that make up the history of the Customer (this standard obliges all participants and, above all, the head of the audit project to thoroughly study the history of the Customer’s activities in anticipation of the audit and “write” new pages into the history upon completion of the audit).

2.3 Methodology for carrying out individual procedures during the audit

The effectiveness of audit work largely depends not only on knowledge of inspection methods and techniques, but also on their correct combination in accordance with the assigned tasks. Skillful application in practice of various methods and techniques helps to achieve maximum results in the performance of auditors’ functions.

Using the example of an audit of fixed assets, it can be noted that the purpose of the audit is to formulate an informed opinion regarding the reliability and completeness of information about fixed assets reflected in the accounting (financial) statements of the audited organization and the explanations thereto. Auditors may also consider related areas of accounting and reporting items: expenses for repairs of fixed assets, income from the rental of fixed assets and rental costs of fixed assets, income and expenses arising from the disposal of fixed assets, construction in progress, tax liabilities property, etc.

To achieve the goal, the auditor must:

evaluate the internal control system of the audited entity;

determine verification methods;

develop a program of substantive audit procedures.

To develop an effective approach to the audit of fixed assets, a preliminary assessment of the internal control system is carried out at the planning stage, which is confirmed or adjusted during the audit. Practice shows that audits of fixed assets are not always accompanied by an assessment of the internal control system, which obviously reduces their effectiveness. This leads, in particular, to an increase in time consumption, since prerequisites for justifying the selective method of verification that are not created in a timely manner increase the likelihood of distortions in the assessment of audit risk. An adequate assessment of the internal control system allows the auditor’s conclusions to be formed in a qualitative and more conclusive manner in the auditor’s written information to the management of the economic entity and in the analytical part of the audit report.

When assessing the internal control system, the auditor must check the presence and validity of administrative documents establishing the methods of accounting for transactions related to the movement of fixed assets, carry out an examination of the procedure for documenting the facts of economic activity, study the approved schedules and document flow diagrams, conduct an examination of the used accounting form, check the availability accounting and tax accounting registers, establish whether the established procedure for the preparation and presentation of internal accounting reports is being followed, summarize information on the composition, scale and nature of transactions in the audited period.

Using audit procedures, the reliability of accounting and reporting data is verified. If violations are detected, the auditor determines their nature and essence, as well as the level of materiality. At the same time, the auditor describes audit procedures or methods for detecting violations, the procedure for constructing an audit sample when using it, i.e. justifies the sufficiency of audit evidence. Based on the results of the audit procedures, the auditor can develop recommendations for eliminating errors in accounting and improving the accounting system.

If the auditor is auditing an entity for the first time, he must obtain evidence that:

the opening balances of fixed asset accounts do not contain distortions that could significantly affect the financial statements of the period being audited;

fixed asset account balances at the beginning of the current period are correctly transferred from the previous period (except for cases of changes in the opening balance as a result of the revaluation of fixed assets);

The organization's accounting policies regarding the valuation and depreciation of fixed assets were applied consistently from period to period.

If this is not the first audit of the organization by this auditor, he needs to make sure that the balances in the fixed asset accounts at the beginning of the reporting period correspond to the balances confirmed in the financial statements at the end of the reporting period. If an organization has revalued fixed assets and their book value at the beginning of the reporting period has been changed, the auditor needs to ensure that the revalued (replacement) cost of fixed assets is correctly reflected in the reporting.

The sample size for checking the balance of the fixed asset account and transactions with them is determined on the basis of an assessment of audit risks carried out at the audit planning stage. During the audit, when clarifying the assessment of the internal control system and audit risk, the sample size may be changed. In the case where an organization has a sufficiently large number of fixed assets, a representative sampling method can be used when checking balances on fixed asset accounts. If the number of fixed assets is not so large, then both representative and non-representative sampling methods are used.

When performing a random audit, the auditor must first divide the entire set of fixed assets into sub-populations (stratify) so that elements of all sub-populations can be selected for inspection with equal probability. The totality of an organization's fixed assets can be divided into subsets, for example, according to the following criteria:

territorial isolation: the sample should equally likely include fixed assets located in various separate divisions of the organization being audited;

production characteristics: for a random check it is necessary to select fixed assets used at various stages of the production process in the organization or in different industries if the organization is multi-industry;

classification in reporting: if the reporting classifies fixed assets into several groups, for example, land plots, buildings and structures, machinery and equipment, it is necessary that the sample includes fixed assets reflected under each item. The auditor may decide not to check elements for any of the items in the classification of fixed assets if it is significantly less than the level of materiality and possible violations will not affect the reliability of the financial statements of the organization as a whole;

classification by depreciation groups: if the organization’s fixed assets are divided into several depreciation groups, the sample should include fixed assets from different depreciation groups;

other classifications, depending on the characteristics of the organization being audited.

During the audit, it is also necessary to check whether fixed assets are insured against natural disasters, whether the amount of insurance coverage is sufficient, and whether it is periodically reviewed. This issue should be paid attention to in organizations that have expensive and specialized fixed assets in regions and (or) industries with high risks of natural disasters or other emergencies. The presence of an insurance program for assets valuable to the organization and regular assessment of the sufficiency of insurance coverage indicate the reliability of internal control in the organization and the desire of its management to avoid possible losses due to losses of production capacity and the corresponding reduction in production.

When checking operations for accounting for fixed assets, it is necessary to be guided by the accounting regulations “Accounting for fixed assets” PBU 6/01, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 30, 2001 No. 26n (as amended from May 18, 2002 No. 45n, dated 12.12 .2005 No. 147n, dated 09/18/2006 No. 116n, dated 11/27/2006 No. 156n, dated 10/25/2010 No. 132n, dated 12/24/2010 No. 186n) and Guidelines for accounting of fixed assets, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation of October 13, 2003 N 91n (as amended by Orders of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation of November 27, 2006 N 156n, of October 25, 2010 N 132n, of December 24, 2010 N 186n), and for tax purposes by the provisions Tax Code (hereinafter referred to as the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The procedure for recording transactions on accounting accounts is regulated by the Chart of Accounts and the Instructions for its application, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 31, 2000 N 94n.

For a detailed audit of operations with fixed assets, it seems to us that it is necessary to perform a number of sequential audit procedures:

1. Checking the application of the methods of maintaining accounting and tax accounting of fixed assets declared in the accounting policy. Issues of verifying the application of the methods of maintaining accounting and tax accounting of fixed assets declared in the accounting policy are among the significant areas of the audit that have a significant impact on the reliability of financial (accounting) statements. When checking the accounting policies of an organization, it is necessary to be guided by the accounting regulations "Accounting policies of the organization" PBU 1/2008, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 10/06/2008 N 106n with amendments dated 03/11/2009 No. 22n, dated 10/25/2010 No. 132n, dated November 8, 2010 No. 144n, and for tax purposes - by the provisions of the Tax Code.

When performing the procedure for verifying the application of the methods of maintaining accounting and tax accounting of fixed assets declared in the accounting policy, the auditor must answer the following questions:

Does the procedure for applying the declared methods of accounting for fixed assets comply with the provisions of the organization’s accounting policy?

Does the procedure for applying the declared methods of maintaining tax accounting for fixed assets comply with the provisions of the organization’s accounting policy?

Verification of the completeness of application of the elements of accounting policy for accounting purposes is carried out by applying such a verification methodology as an analysis of the completeness of application of the declared methods of maintaining accounting and tax accounting of fixed assets reflected in the accounting policy of the organization. In addition, at this stage it is necessary to form an opinion about the sufficiency of the elements of the accounting policy for the purposes of accounting and tax accounting of fixed assets and their compliance with the specifics and scale of the audited entity’s activities. In addition, it is necessary to assess the adequacy of information disclosure in financial (accounting) statements and the impact of the accounting methods used on the reliability of reporting indicators.

Checking the completeness of application of accounting policy elements for tax accounting purposes comes down to the need to take into account the fact that the procedure for forming accounting policies for profit tax purposes is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. According to Art. 313 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the tax accounting system is organized by the taxpayer independently based on the principle of consistency in the application of tax accounting norms and rules, that is, it is applied sequentially from one tax period to another. The procedure for maintaining tax accounting is established by the taxpayer in the accounting policy for tax purposes, approved by the relevant order (instruction) of the head.

In the process of applying such audit methods, it is advisable to analyze the completeness of application of the declared methods of maintaining tax accounting of fixed assets reflected in the accounting policy of the organization. Such an analysis should be carried out taking into account information about the specifics of the organization’s activities obtained at the stage of preliminary familiarization with the activities of the economic entity being inspected.

In addition, at this stage it is necessary to form an opinion about the sufficiency of the elements of the accounting policy for the purposes of tax accounting of fixed assets and their compliance with the specifics and scale of the audited entity’s activities.

completeness of application of the declared methods of maintaining accounting and tax accounting of fixed assets reflected in the accounting policy of the organization;

sufficiency of accounting policy elements and their compliance with the specifics and scale of activity of an economic entity;

the feasibility of using these methods.

The procedure for conducting an audit of the correct reflection of information about fixed assets in accounting and reporting, as we see it, includes a number of successive stages.

When conducting an audit, the audit organization must obtain sufficient audit evidence to ensure that:

the closing balances on the accounts of synthetic accounting of fixed assets of the previous reporting period are appropriately transferred to the beginning of the audited reporting period;

the corresponding accounting indicators (forms NN 1, 5) at the beginning and end of the reporting period correspond to the accounting data of the registers of synthetic and analytical accounting of fixed assets;

in the case of adjustments made to the initial and comparative indicators of the financial statements (for example, changes in the opening balance as a result of the revaluation of fixed assets), the results of the adjustments are appropriately disclosed in the notes to the audited financial statements.

If an organization has revalued fixed assets and their book value at the beginning of the reporting period has been changed, the auditor needs to ensure that the revalued (replacement) cost of fixed assets is correctly reflected in the reporting.

Testing the correctness of the reflection of business transactions in accounting and tax accounting is carried out by the auditor, using the verification methodology in relation to the entire volume of business transactions performed with fixed assets. Therefore, the most significant of them are selected (the selection criteria are the maximum amounts for turnover and balances of accounting accounts 01, 02, 03, 07, 08), and according to how accounting and control is carried out in these largest and most critical areas, the auditor forms his opinion about the accounting system as a whole. To carry out this technique you need:

select several fixed asset accounting accounts (at least three to five accounts) that have the largest balance at the end of the period under study;

select several fixed asset accounting accounts that have the largest turnover for the period under study (at least three to five accounts);

conduct a survey of the chief accountant according to a predetermined plan in relation to selected areas of accounting (for example, by testing);

analyze the responses received;

analyze the provisions of the accounting policy related to the procedure for recording transactions with fixed assets;

carry out end-to-end tests to verify the correctness of the reflection of business transactions in accounting and tax accounting (starting with checking the correctness of the execution of primary documents, ending with checking the correctness of the reflection of these transactions in analytical, synthetic and tax accounting, accounting and tax reporting);

identify those areas of accounting where the risk of errors or misstatements is particularly high, and reflect their presence in your working documents. In the future, when conducting an audit, explore these areas with more frequent sampling or a “blanket” method.

Essential information about fixed assets is subject to disclosure in the explanatory note and/or financial reporting forms. Auditors need to establish the completeness of disclosure of information about fixed assets in the financial statements. The information to be disclosed is given in clause 32 of the Accounting Regulations “Accounting for Fixed Assets” PBU 6/01, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated March 30, 2001 No. 26n (dated December 24, 2010 No. 186n).

Based on the audit results, the auditor’s opinion should be prepared on the following issues:

on the correspondence of analytical accounting data for fixed assets with turnovers and balances on synthetic accounting accounts: 01, 02, 03, 07, 08;

on the compliance of the accounting data of fixed assets with the corresponding data in the financial statements;

on the correctness and completeness of disclosure of information about fixed assets in the financial statements.

Based on the audit results, the auditor’s opinion should be prepared on the following issues:

On the correspondence of analytical accounting data for fixed assets with turnovers and balances on synthetic accounting accounts: 01, 02, 03, 07, 08;

On the compliance of accounting data for fixed assets with the corresponding data in financial statements;

On the correctness of disclosure of information about fixed assets in financial statements.

Issues of verification of transactions for the receipt of fixed assets are among the significant areas of the audit that have a significant impact on the reliability of financial (accounting) statements. In this regard, obtaining sufficient and appropriate audit evidence regarding transactions for the receipt of fixed assets and the disclosure of information about them, as well as the impact of these transactions on the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity, is the object of verification at all stages of the audit of financial (accounting) statements - from planning to conclusion.

The sample size for checking the balance of the fixed asset account and transactions with them is determined on the basis of an assessment of audit risks carried out at the audit planning stage. During the audit, when clarifying the assessment of the internal control system and audit risk, the sample size may be changed. When conducting an audit, it is necessary to determine whether the requirements of regulations are met when reflecting transactions for the receipt of fixed assets in accounting and tax accounting.

The main legal document that establishes all the necessary conditions for the implementation of the commercial plans of any organization is an agreement, the significance of which in the financial and economic activities of the organization is enormous. The economic result of the transaction largely depends on how competently and clearly in the legal sense a particular agreement is drawn up and concluded.

Depending on the transactions performed, upon receipt of fixed assets, the following types of contracts may be used: purchase and sale, supply, commissions, orders, exchange, donation, gratuitous use, simple partnership, trust management, leasing, rent, etc.

When auditing contracts, it is necessary to check their existence and correctness of execution. The procedure for forming the initial cost and reflecting transactions in accounting depends on the results of performing the listed procedures. When conducting an audit, it is necessary to determine whether the one-time conditions specified by regulations necessary for accepting property as part of fixed assets for accounting are met.

In this case, you need to pay attention to the following:

assets acquired after January 1, 2006, in respect of which the conditions provided above are met, and with a cost within the limit established in the organization’s accounting policies, but not more than 40,000 rubles per unit, may be reflected in accounting and financial statements as part of inventories (clause 5 of PBU 6/01);

fixed assets acquired after January 1, 2006, intended solely for provision by the organization for a fee for temporary possession and use or for temporary use for the purpose of generating income, must be reflected in accounting and financial statements as part of income-generating investments in tangible assets (balance sheet account 03).

When conducting an audit, it is also necessary to determine whether the one-time conditions specified by regulations necessary for accepting property as part of fixed assets for tax accounting are met.

In this case, it is necessary to pay attention to the following: the property value limit is 40,000 rubles. applies to fixed assets acquired after January 1, 2011. Before this date, the limit was RUB 20,000. Assets acquired after January 1, 2011, in respect of which the conditions provided above are met, and with a cost within the limit established in the organization’s accounting policy, but not more than 40,000 rubles per unit, must be written off as expenses in tax accounting at a time ( Clause 1 of Article 256 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Checking cash transactions on bank accounts requires the auditor to have a heightened sense of responsibility, because Only inattention can lead to further undesirable consequences for the auditor and the audited organization. When auditing cash transactions and transactions on bank accounts, all or any of the audit methods may be used. Very important importance should be given to checking the primary documents that served as the basis for recording business transactions in accounting registers. In this case, special attention must be paid to the preparation of primary documents, including:

inventory of the actual balance of cash in the cash register and its compliance with accounting data in the cash book;

checking the completeness and timeliness of the receipt and write-off of cash according to the cash book using incoming and outgoing orders;

checking the availability of supporting documents for incoming and outgoing orders on the basis of which they are issued (tickets, invoices, checks, availability of orders - in the first stage);

checking the legality of completed business transactions;

checking the actual presence of other valuables stored in the cash register, which, in accordance with current regulatory documents, must be stored in the cash register (securities, strict reporting forms, precious gifts to the company);

checking the totals in the cash book and other accounting registers;

ensuring the safety of funds upon receipt, delivery from a bank (enterprise), storage and issuance at the enterprise in accordance with the requirements of the recommendations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation on ensuring the safety of funds during their storage and transportation;

checking the existence of a written agreement on full financial responsibility with the cashier.

The order of checking cash transactions may be different at the discretion of the auditor. The main methods for checking banking transactions include:

checking the actual quantitative availability of settlement, current, and foreign currency accounts opened in the organization; completeness and necessity of their opening, in which banks they are open;

are all the amounts shown in the bank statements confirmed by the presence of correctly executed supporting documents for the amounts indicated in them;

checking the timely crediting and debiting of funds from the organization’s bank accounts.

If during the audit the auditor discovers the absence of a source bank document, or a photocopy that is not certified by the seal of the servicing bank (not Xerox) is present as a source document, such an operation cannot be recognized as legal. The auditor is obliged to require the presentation of a document drawn up in the prescribed manner. When checking the payment of invoices for the acquisition of material assets, it is necessary to ensure that they have been received and recorded in full. There are cases of illegal transactions when, under various pretexts, money is transferred, which is subsequently written off as production costs or from other sources, but in reality these amounts are used to purchase various types of property, which is subsequently appropriated by certain officials. It is necessary to carefully check all reversal entries in bank accounts. There are cases when an accountant involved in the theft of funds transfers the stolen amounts to the appropriate accounts, and then, by reversing them, makes new entries in other accounting registers in order to disguise the true state of affairs.

Methods for checking settlement relationships include complete and selective inventory of accounts.

Depending on the number of organizations participating in the calculations, the auditor himself determines which of the above methods to apply. In the practice of conducting audits, the selective method prevails, and if the accounting of calculations is in a neglected state, the continuous method. When starting an audit, it is necessary to find out whether the balance of debt, the reasons for the formation of the debt, how long ago it was formed, whose fault it was caused, and the reality of the receipt of the debt are correctly reflected in the relevant balance sheet items; those. are there any acts of reconciliation of settlements or letters of guarantee in which debtors acknowledge their debt and whether the statute of limitations has been missed, what measures were taken by management to repay or collect the debt, whether the requirement to conduct an inventory of settlements before drawing up the annual report has been fulfilled. An inventory of settlements with buyers, suppliers, accountable persons, workers and employees, depositors and other debtors and creditors, as well as with banks for loans, consists of identifying balances from the relevant documents and carefully checking the validity of the amounts listed in the accounts. The auditor and members of the inventory commission establish the timing of the occurrence of debt on the accounts of debtors and creditors, its reality and the persons guilty of missing the limitation period.

During the inventory process it is also necessary to establish:

the identity of settlements with banks, divisions of the enterprise that are on separate balance sheets, and with the tax authorities;

the correctness and validity of the amounts of debts for deficiencies and thefts listed on the balance sheets, and the measures taken to collect these debts;

the correctness and validity of the amounts of receivables and payables and deposited debts listed on the balance sheet, as well as whether claims have been filed for forced collection of receivables.

The results of the inventory of calculations are documented in an act. Analysis of the calculation inventory materials available at the audited enterprise or conducting an inventory by the auditor himself makes it possible to focus on a more thorough verification of calculations for which discrepancies, inconsistencies, and ambiguities have been identified.

When checking debts to suppliers and other creditors, a methodology is used in which it is necessary to find out whether there are amounts on the balance sheet for which the statute of limitations has expired, and it is especially necessary to carefully compare the facts when receivables are repaid from unclaimed accounts payable, and received values ​​are assigned to accounts receivable. Disputed debts are subject to especially careful scrutiny.

Controversial The debt of enterprises and organizations is considered if the document on its collection is submitted to a civil court for individuals or an arbitration court for legal entities. At the same time, the disputed debt does not include the debt of citizens for shortages, embezzlement and theft, even if it is transferred to the court for collection. The auditor must check whether the receivables were written off as losses justifiably and legally, determine whether the persons responsible for these losses were held accountable, and whether the transactions to write off the receivables were correctly reflected in the accounting records.

There are cases when clearly unfounded claims are submitted to a civil arbitration court for forced collection in order to use the refusal to satisfy it to write off unrealistic receivables at a loss.

Unreal accounts receivable - any bad accounts receivable for which there is a decision of a civil or arbitration court to refuse the claim - is unrealistic.

When checking, you should find out the reasons for the refusal of the claim: whether the statute of limitations has passed, the claim is unfounded, the documents are not drawn up correctly, etc.

The analysis of settlements with depositors also requires great attention; first of all, it is necessary to establish whether wages and scholarships not received on time, as well as amounts deducted from wages under writs of execution and other documents, are included in deposit amounts in a timely manner. The payment of deposited amounts to workers and employees should be carefully checked. When checking settlements with accountable persons, the auditor must conduct a complete check of advance reports and documents attached to them, comparing the entries in the accumulative statements with the data of advance reports approved by loan administrators. First of all, the auditor finds out to whom the advances were issued; The auditor is obliged to carefully check the accuracy of the documents attached to the advance reports and the legality of payment for them. If necessary, counter checks are carried out.

Using the methodology for checking transactions on accountable amounts, you should find out:

whether the director of the enterprise has determined the circle of persons who are granted the right to receive money on account;

whether advances in excess of the established amounts are given to accountable persons;

whether persons who have not accounted for previously received amounts receive money on account;

is it not allowed to pay through accountable persons expenses that could have been paid directly from the enterprise’s cash desk;

is there a note from the director of the enterprise on the expediency of the expenses incurred;

whether expenses from accountable amounts are reflected in accounting in a timely manner.

In market conditions, many organizations in their activities use borrowed funds from banks, other credit institutions and enterprises.

Article 897 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that under a loan agreement, one party - the lender - transfers into the ownership of the other party - the borrower money or other things determined by generic characteristics, and the borrower undertakes to return to the lender the same amount of money - the loan amount or an equal amount of other things received by him of the same kind and quality. Thus, when checking, the auditor must pay attention to the form in which the loan was taken - in the form of money or a thing.

In the practice of conducting inspections, there are cases when, under the terms of an agreement, especially a long-term one, an organization receives money and then, after a certain time, returns the loan with property or securities without changing the terms of the agreement, which is not allowed. Sometimes, when examining documents related to the repayment of a loan, auditors make mistakes regarding the payment of %% to the lender for using the loan, although such conditions are not in the agreement; they believe that if the agreement does not stipulate the payment of %% to the lender, then they should not be paid. At the same time, Article 809 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that if the agreement does not contain conditions on the amount of %%, then their size is determined by the %% bank rate existing at the lender’s location on the day the borrower pays the amount of the debt or its corresponding part. It is also necessary to remember that interest on the loan is not accrued only in cases where this is expressly stated in the agreement, i.e. an interest-free loan, or the borrower receives other things rather than money as a loan.

The auditor must ensure that:

drawing up and concluding a loan agreement;

organization of accounting of these transactions in accounts: 66 “Short-term loans”, 67 “Long-term loans”, with special attention paid to the organization of analytical accounting of these operations by lender and repayment period;

reflection in the accounting of loan repayment through the sale of securities at prices exceeding their cost, reflection in the accounting of %% accepted for payment for the use of the loan;

reflection in accounting of exchange rate differences on loans provided in foreign currency;

reflection in the accounting of loans by areas of their use;

accounting for a loan received against an issued bill of exchange;

timely repayment of loans.

When checking these issues, the indicators reflected in the transaction log are used.

The methodology for checking the credit relationships of an economic entity indicates that a loan agreement, in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, can be concluded by an enterprise only with a bank or other creditor organization. The same rules apply to relations under a credit agreement as under a loan agreement. The methodology for conducting audits of such transactions is basically no different from audits of loan transactions. The rules for issuing loans are developed by creditor organizations, and the loan is issued on the basis of a concluded bilateral loan agreement. Unlike loans, verification of transactions for obtaining and using loans is carried out in accounts 66 “Short-term bank loans” and 67. The auditor needs to check:

confirmation of the intended use of the loan;

timeliness and completeness of repayment;

the correctness and legality of attributing accrued and paid %% to the appropriate cost accounts or sources of their coverage;

reliability of balances, non-repaid loans;

security for the loan or the existence of provided guarantees for timely non-repayment of loan amounts;

objectivity of the reasons for violation of loan repayment terms.

When checking the issues of obtaining and using loans, the auditor must assess the effectiveness of the invested funds for the activities for which they were intended; what economic effect the enterprise as a whole received from their use, or vice versa, calculate the losses that the enterprise may incur in the event of misuse of the loan or untimely repayment to the creditor, as well as analyze the sources of covering the unrepaid amounts of creditors and report them to the management of the audited organization.

An audit of the formation of financial results is carried out by applying a methodology for checking the reliability of the final financial result: the auditor must establish the correspondence of the data in the report on financial results with the records of the General Ledger, transaction journals, and balance sheet. The process of auditing financial results can be divided into 3 objects:

audit of profit (loss) of the reporting period;

audit of taxable profits;

audit of net profit.

An audit of the general indicator of profit (loss) of the reporting period is carried out in order to establish the inclusion of unrelated costs in production costs, as well as incorrect calculation of profit that is the object of taxation.

There are 4 main groups of such distortions and the reasons for their occurrence:

distortion of profits taken to determine the amount of payments to the budget due to an unreasonable overstatement (understatement) of the amount of material costs included in the cost of goods, products, works, services, incorrect assessment of the balance of work in progress and shipped goods, work performed, services rendered at the end of the audited period services, shortages of material assets, etc.;

inclusion in production costs of expenses covered in accordance with current legislation from special sources reflected in the liability side of the balance sheet;

distortion of the financial result taken to determine payments to the budget by including in production costs or attributing to profit expenses that are subject to reimbursement from net profit, as well as unjustified overestimation of operating and non-operating income by including in their composition financial results from the sale of goods and products, other operations;

concealment of income by crediting proceeds from the sale of goods and products to other balance sheet accounts.

To conduct an audit, you must use the following information base:

order of the enterprise on accounting policy for the reporting year,

accounting reporting forms No. 2, 4;

Main book;

transaction logs, as well as analytical and synthetic accounting data, primary documents.

An audit of the formation of financial results begins with an analysis of documents on the application of accounting policies for the reporting year.

The second stage of verification is checking the cost of goods sold (form No. 2). It is necessary to check compliance with the requirements of the regulations on the composition of costs for production and sales of products and on the procedure for generating financial results, taking into account the latest changes and additions, to establish the validity of including expenses in the cost price, as well as their write-off at the expense of balance sheet profit and profit remaining at the disposal of the enterprise.

During the auditing process, all main parts of each financial result are controlled:

from sales of products;

from the sale of fixed assets and other property;

from non-operating activities.

The model of the profit auditing methodology is presented in Table No. 2.

When checking product sales, special attention must be paid to checking shipment indicators for invoices with similar indicators for export passes, because During such checks, cases are revealed when a smaller (and sometimes more) quantity of products is exported through passes than indicated in the shipping invoices and payment documents, however, the accounting records reflect the sales of products that are indicated in the shipping invoices, and in case of a sudden check on its surplus is revealed in the warehouse. The auditor must carefully check the sales of products, which include components and parts, and if violations are identified, propose changes to the sales and profit indicators.

The audit methodology provides for the need to pay attention to the correct documentation and legality of writing off accounts receivable, losses from natural disasters, uncompensated losses as a result of fires, accidents and other emergencies caused by extreme conditions; losses from theft, the perpetrators of which have not been identified by a court decision, fines for violations not related to the fulfillment of conditions under business contracts, the amount of doubtful debts in settlements with other enterprises.

The practice of conducting audits of such descriptions shows that documents of proper quality are not drawn up and there are often cases when decisions to write off are made by the chief accountant and the head of the enterprise, while an investigation into the reasons for the formation of such debts is not carried out, the debts of enterprises are not confirmed by reconciliation acts, and an in-depth examination of such debts write-offs sometimes reveal cases of abuse, and sometimes theft of material assets, both by individual officials and groups of persons. Often, fines paid that are not related to business contracts or imposed on specific officials are attributed to the financial results of the organization, and not to the profits remaining at the disposal of the enterprise or the perpetrators. When writing off losses from natural disasters or other extreme cases, an inventory of damaged property is not carried out, and losses are written off according to established acts, and, as a rule, for such write-offs, documents from the relevant local authorities confirming the fact of a natural disaster that occurred in the area are not attached as justification. .

When checking financial results, the auditor must also check the correctness of the calculation and timeliness of contributions to the budget of income tax, the correctness of the distribution of profits between the founders, and the correctness of the formation of special funds. In addition to checking the accrual and payment of income tax, compliance with the deadlines for its accrual and payment is checked. The main thing in the auditor’s work is to determine the reliability of the calculation of the taxable base, confirm the correctness of the calculation of income tax and expenses incurred from profits after taxes and mandatory payments (see table No. 3).

Table 2 Profit auditing methodology

	Cost of sales	Business expenses	Volume of products produced	Volume of products sold	Revenues from sales
Purpose of the audit	Checking the reliability and reality of expenses incurred, the feasibility of writing them off in accordance with the method of accounting for production costs	Checking the authenticity and reality of expenses incurred	Checking the reliability of the volume of products produced and the completeness of their receipt in the warehouse to assess actual inventories and forecast the formation of financial results	Checking the accuracy and completeness of the inclusion of data in the volume of products sold to generate financial results in accordance with the method of their reflection in the accounting accounts	Checking the accuracy and completeness of the reflection of funds in accounting accounts received from sales in a certain period of time
Information base	Business transactions on accounts 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 31, 89, grouping data sheets, batch passports, purchasing acts for raw materials, planned calculations by type of product, analytical production cards, development tables 1, 6, 8 , 9, 13, 14, distribution sheets; Main book.		Acts of acceptance of raw materials, batch passports, invoices on the transfer of finished products from production to warehouse, acts of inventory of finished product balances, material reports, business transactions on accounts 20, 40	Business transactions on accounts 20, 40, 45, 90, 62, 72, accumulative statements No. 5, 11, 15, 16, invoices from the finished product warehouse and the marketing department, invoices, passes for export of products, material movement reports products by assortment, warehouse accounting cards f. No. M-17	Business transactions on accounts 50, 51, 57, 62, cash receipt orders, payment orders, bills, order journals No. 1, 2, General Ledger
Audit areas		Tax confirming	Spare	Tax confirmation, spare	Tax confirming
Techniques and procedures	Control measurements, automated		Documentary research, calculation, analytical, automated	Documentary research, calculation, analytical, automated	Documentary research, calculation, analytical, automated
Possible violations		Excessively written off expenses, violation of regulatory legislation regarding the attribution of expenses to accounting accounts, application of expense standards is not justified	Late receipt of finished products	Concealment of part of the products sold, incorrect reflection in the accounts of goods exchange transactions	Hiding part of the proceeds
Auditor Decision Making	Reflected in the auditor's report, calculations are attached to the working documents

Table 3 Methodology for auditing taxable profits

Components of the audit methodology	Listening checkpoints
	Profit of the reporting period	Profit of the reporting period, adjusted for tax purposes	Profit and income taxed differently than the profit of the reporting period	Contributions to reserve and other funds	Income tax benefits	Taxable income
Purpose of the audit	Checking the reliability of the calculations made to determine the financial result	Checking the accuracy and completeness of calculations of indicators included in the tax base	Checking the accuracy of tax accrual for other types of activities and the procedure for their transfer	Checking the accuracy of the accrual of contributions to funds and the completeness of posting to the relevant accounting accounts	Checking the reliability of the company's benefits by category	Checking the correctness and reliability of the volume of taxable profit, the reality of calculating income tax and the completeness of its transfer to the budget
Information base	income statement	F. No. 2, statement of financial results, business transactions on accounts 90, 91, 99, etc.	Constituent documents and charter of the enterprise in terms of types of activities permitted by law; cost journals by type of activity	Constituent documents and charter of the enterprise, estimates for the formation of the intended use of funds, account transactions 86	Tax legislation in terms of benefits provided; Appendix No. 8 "Calculation of tax on actual profit"	Determined in different ways based on "Calculation of tax on actual profit", payment documents for advance payments, transactions on accounts 84, 99, 51, 68, transaction journals, General Ledger
Audit areas	Organizational and legal, financial analytical, tax confirmation	tax confirming	tax	tax	tax	tax
Techniques and procedures	Comparisons, comparisons	Documentary research, legal regulation, calculations, comparisons, comparisons, tracking	Documentary research, legal regulation, calculations, comparisons, comparisons	Documentary research, legal regulation, calculations, comparisons, comparisons	Legal regulation, calculations, comparisons, comparisons	Legal regulation, calculations, comparisons
Possible violations	Hiding part of the profit	Understating profits, concealing certain types of income, including unreasonable expenses in production costs	Concealment of profits received from other activities	Lack of entries in the accounting registers on the formation of these funds, or allocated to other accounts	Lack of supporting documents for preferential taxation	Concealing part of taxable profit
Materiality assessment	significant	significant
Auditor Decision Making		Will be reflected in the auditor's report

At the audit stage, an audit of the financial and economic activities of a commercial enterprise or budgetary organization is carried out in accordance with the program developed at the audit planning stage. The program may provide for three options for conducting an audit: according to standard procedures; on typical questions; according to the standard classifier of violations.

The entire methodological part of the system is implemented in the form of a full-text database containing a list of standard procedures (about 200 procedures for checking commercial organizations and more than 40 procedures for checking budgetary organizations), covering accounting and taxation of financial and economic activities of commercial and budgetary organizations.

All procedures are distributed according to typical audit objects inherent in any organization (enterprise). Thus, when creating an audit program by selecting from a general list of procedures only those that are inherent in the given organization (enterprise) being audited, the work manager automatically generates a list of standard procedures that require mandatory control during the audit. In order to make the auditor’s work as functional and productive as possible, in addition to the control procedure itself, the system stores a list of regulatory documents regulating the requirements of Russian legislation for this procedure, as well as comments describing the methodology for conducting an audit for this procedure.

During the audit process, the auditor consistently carries out procedures that require mandatory control in accordance with the personal program for verifying the audit objects assigned to him. Having reviewed the audit methodology given in the program for the selected procedures, the auditor needs to obtain appropriate audit evidence in order to formulate reasonable conclusions about the presence (absence) of individual violations of current legislation in the financial and economic activities of the audited entity.

In the base organization, the auditing firm Audit+ LLC, the entire methodological part of the system is implemented in the form of a full-text database containing a list of standard procedures (about 130 procedures for auditing commercial organizations and more than 40 procedures for auditing budgetary organizations), covering financial accounting and taxation -economic activities of commercial and budgetary organizations.

All procedures are distributed according to typical audit objects inherent in any organization (enterprise). Thus, when creating an audit program by selecting from a general list of procedures only those that are inherent in the given organization (enterprise) being audited, the work manager automatically generates a list of standard procedures that require mandatory control during the audit. In order to make the auditor’s work as functional and productive as possible, in addition to the control procedure itself, the system stores a list of regulatory documents regulating the requirements of Russian legislation for this procedure, as well as comments describing the methodology for conducting an audit for this procedure.

During the audit process, procedures are performed that require mandatory control in accordance with the personal program for checking the audit objects assigned to him. Having reviewed the audit methodology, the auditor needs to obtain appropriate audit evidence in order to formulate reasonable conclusions about the presence (absence) of individual violations of current legislation in the financial and economic activities of the audited entity. During the audit of the financial and economic activities of an organization (enterprise) according to control procedures, the auditor has the opportunity to make notes, thereby carrying out a systematic collection of audit evidence and consistently generating working audit materials. The mechanism for collecting audit evidence provides the opportunity to include in the working materials for each procedure facts of violations, recommendations for eliminating violations, work records, amounts of identified violations that affected the reliability of accounting and tax reporting. If necessary, there is always the opportunity to proceed to conduct an audit on the issues given in this procedure, or according to the standard classifier of violations. The purpose of obtaining additional audit evidence, as well as generating working documentation, in addition to the automated audit procedure according to the methodology, provides for the generation of analytical tables, transcripts and certificates (filling out forms). It is not necessary to fill out all of the following document forms. You should select and complete only those documents that will be necessary to obtain additional audit evidence on certain issues. In addition, the program provides the ability to fill out forms of analytical tables for analyzing the financial and economic activities of the audited organization (enterprise) based on financial reporting data, for which the program provides a calculation module.

Thus, during the audit of the financial and economic activities of an organization (enterprise) according to the control procedures provided for by the methods, the auditor has the opportunity to carry out a systematic collection of audit evidence and consistently generate working audit materials. The mechanism for collecting audit evidence in accordance with the methods for each section of audits provides the opportunity to include in the working materials for each procedure facts of violations, recommendations for eliminating violations, work records, amounts of identified violations that affected the reliability of accounting and tax reporting.

The basic principles of auditing can be divided into two groups:

1) the basic principles governing auditing - ethical and professional standards that determine the relationship between the auditor (audit firm) and the client. These principles must be observed by auditors and audit firms when providing all audit services and taken into account when developing regulations governing auditing;

2) basic principles of conducting an audit, i.e. rules defining the stages and elements of an audit.

The principles governing the audit are defined in clause 3 of standard No. 1 “The purpose and basic principles of the audit of financial (accounting) statements.” Thus, the standard determines that when performing his professional duties, the auditor must be guided by the standards established by professional audit associations of which he is a member (professional standards), as well as the following ethical principles:

1) independence;

2) honesty;

3) objectivity;

4) professional competence and integrity;

5) confidentiality;

6) professional behavior;

7) professional skepticism.

Auditor independence – presupposes the auditor’s freedom from influence, pressure, control, both from the audited entity and from any third parties. Auditor independence is the absence of any financial or property interest of the auditor in the audited company. Thus, the auditor cannot audit a company of which he is one of the owners, and cannot participate in the audit if he has family relations with the client’s senior officials.

Auditor Integrity presupposes the auditor's commitment to professional duty.

Auditor objectivity – this is the impartiality of the auditor when considering any professional issues and forming judgments, conclusions and conclusions.

Professional competence auditor - this is the possession of the necessary amount of knowledge and the ability to skillfully apply this knowledge when considering specific situations.

Auditor integrity is the provision of professional services by the auditor with due care, care, efficiency and proper use of his abilities.

Principle confidentiality of information is that auditors (audit organizations) are obliged to ensure the safety of documents received or compiled by them in the course of auditing activities, and do not have the right to transfer these documents to any third parties or disclose information contained in them orally without the consent of the audited entity

Professional conduct of the auditor – maintaining the high reputation of the profession and refraining from committing acts that could undermine respect and confidence in the auditing profession

Professional skepticism is expressed in the fact that the auditor critically evaluates the weight of the audit evidence obtained and carefully studies the audit

proprietary evidence that contradicts any documents or statements of management or casts doubt on the reliability of such documents or statements

The basic principles of conducting an audit include:

1) determining the scope of the audit;

2) audit planning;

3) assessment of accounting and internal control systems;

4) audit evidence;

5) audit documentation;

6) auditor's report.

Determining the Scope of the Audit. According to paragraph 5 of Federal Auditing Standard No. 1 “Objectives and basic principles of the audit of financial (accounting) statements”, the term “scope of audit” refers to audit procedures that are considered necessary to achieve the purpose of the audit under the given circumstances. The procedures necessary to conduct an audit must be determined by the auditor taking into account the federal rules (standards) of auditing activities, internal rules (standards) of auditing activities applied in professional audit associations of which he is a member, as well as the rules (standards) of auditing activities of the auditor. In addition to the rules (standards), when determining the scope of the audit, the auditor must take into account federal laws, other regulations and, if necessary, the terms of the audit engagement and the requirements for preparing the report.

The auditor must obtain a sufficient understanding of all aspects of the financial and economic activities of the audited entity, the organization of accounting and internal control at the enterprise in order to adequately plan the audit and obtain data sufficient to draw up an objective audit report.

Audit planning. In accordance with Auditing Standard No. 3 “Audit Planning,” the audit organization and the individual auditor are required to plan their work so that the audit is carried out effectively. Audit planning involves developing an overall strategy and a detailed approach to the expected nature, timing and scope of audit procedures.

When planning and conducting an audit, the auditor should not assume that the management of the entity being audited is dishonest, but should not assume that management is completely honest.

Oral and written statements by management are not a substitute for the auditor's need to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to form reasonable conclusions on which to base the audit opinion.

The audit should be planned on the basis of a preliminary analysis of the organization being audited, an assessment of the scale of the work to be done and the internal control applied. It is necessary to determine the procedures that should be used in the audit process, and also determine whether it is necessary to involve other auditors, experts and support personnel in the work, plan their activities, obtaining the consent of the client.

Using the work of other specialists does not relieve the auditor of responsibility for the audit report,

Assessment of accounting and internal control systems. The auditor needs to evaluate the accounting and internal control systems adopted by the audited organization to determine the likelihood of errors affecting the reliability of the financial statements. Based on this assessment, the content, scope and number of audit procedures are determined.

Audit evidence. According to the requirements of Federal Auditing Standard No. 5 “Audit Evidence”, during an audit

The auditor needs to collect evidence that the financial statements are prepared in accordance with applicable laws and accounting standards and are reliable.

Audit evidence is the information obtained by the auditor during the audit, and the result of the analysis of this information, on which the auditor’s opinion is based. Audit evidence includes, in particular, primary documents and accounting records that are the basis of financial (accounting) statements, as well as written explanations from authorized employees of the audited entity and information obtained from various sources (from third parties).

Audit documentation. Federal Auditing Standard No. 2 “Documentation of an Audit” determines that the most important audit evidence (audit data) must be documented. The term “documentation” refers to working papers and materials prepared by and for the auditor, or received and maintained by the auditor in connection with the audit. Working documents can be presented in the form of data recorded on paper, photographic film, electronically or in another form.

The auditor must reflect in the working papers information about the planning of the audit work, the nature, time frame and scope of the audit procedures performed, their results, as well as the conclusions drawn on the basis of the audit evidence obtained. The working papers should contain the auditor's rationale for all important matters on which professional judgment is required, together with the auditor's conclusions thereon. In cases where the auditor has considered complex issues of principle or has expressed professional judgment on any matters important to the audit, the working papers should include the facts that were known to the auditor at the time the conclusions were formulated and the necessary reasoning.

Working papers should be compiled and organized in such a way as to meet the circumstances of each specific audit and the needs of the auditor during its conduct. If necessary, the auditor can draw up working documents necessary for audit procedures (statements, diagrams, etc.). Audit documentation is the property of the auditor, and the information contained therein is confidential and cannot be used and/or disclosed without the client’s consent.

Audit report. In accordance with Federal Auditing Rule (Standard) No. 6 “Audit Report on Financial (Accounting) Statements,” the auditor’s report is an official document intended for users of the financial (accounting) statements of audited entities, drawn up in accordance with this rule and containing statements expressed in the prescribed form the opinion of an audit organization or an individual auditor on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity and the compliance of its accounting procedures with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Under reliability in all material respects, the degree of accuracy of financial (accounting) reporting data is understood, which allows users of these reporting to draw correct conclusions about the results of economic activities, financial and property status of the audited entities and make informed decisions based on these conclusions. To assess the degree of compliance of financial (accounting) statements with the legislation of the Russian Federation, the auditor must establish the maximum permissible deviations by determining, for the purposes of the audit, the materiality of accounting indicators

and financial (accounting) reporting in accordance with federal auditing rule (standard) No. 4 “Materiality in an audit”.