Tuesday, January 3, 2017

The Importance Of Financial Audit Services

By Joyce McDonald


As a business owner or stakeholder ensuring that your assets are well protected is a serious matter. One way you can make sure that your business property is safe is by conducting regular financial audit services. An audit is an independent, impartial assessment of these financial reports and reporting procedure. These services are undertaken with designs of giving stakeholders such as investors, managers, regulators and directors rational guarantee that monetary reports are complete and accurate.

This kind of engagement can be quite demanding and is, therefore, performed by highly qualified accountants. This professional must be independent as to ensure that the audit report has not been biased. The role of this analyst is to offer assurance that the financial statements of this business are reported in agreement with the accepted accounting principles. Naturally, this task is assigned to certified public accountants. However, government agencies and nonprofit organizations can also conduct such audits for your company.

For an audit to be efficient, it must be tailored to the particular needs of the organization. The procedure used in conducting these engagements is usually the same for all companies. The accountant begins by assessing the nature of task and organization so as to ascertain the risks involved and viability of the work. Crucial things that one must consider during this engagement acceptance process are the existence of pending lawsuits, the reliability of company management and any other particular circumstances.

If the odds are good then, the auditor will accept the job by writing an engagement letter containing the details of responsibilities, costs of the procedure and time factor. This professional will immediately begin preparing for the meeting. This planning and preparation are intended at ascertaining a degree of understanding of the firm and industry, trends of performance and ratio analysis, assessment of misstatement risks to the enterprise and internal regulatory processes.

Since the main area of interest is the financial reporting system, this auditor must conduct some tests into this department. This expert conducts these tests during field work or his or her stay at the office. This professional randomly selects a good number of financial statements and reviews if the cash flows are rightly done. For surety, this person must also check out the related invoices.

The next procedure is account analysis whereby the professional makes sure that the financial report account balances are sustained by the fundamental analysis and documentation. Here, the accountant analyzes the outcomes of the tests, reviews management reactions to inquiries and records engagement-adjusting entries. Additionally, the expert documents reasons for extensive alterations in accounts from period to period.

Upon completion, this specialist has to issue an opinion on the reviewed financial statements. That view should indicate whether the reports of this organization are presented under generally accepted accounting principles or not. Additionally, this auditor is expected to draft the necessary statements and the associated notes for management.

The auditor is expected to retain appropriate documentation concerning the engagement and ascertain signatures from the management concerning their responsibility for the details recounted in the business statements. He or she should keep a copy of this document as it will come in handy in case of a lawsuit regarding the stated aggregates.




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