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The Basics On Financial Audits

By Rena Hudson


Financial audits is the terminology used when referencing the verification of financial statements filed by legal entities with the purpose of expressing audit opinions. These opinions provide assurance, reasonable not absolute, that statements are fairly represented. That is, with true or fair view that is in accordance with the framework of such financial reporting.

The purpose of such audits is to provide independent and objective exam of statements. This increases the credibility and value of statements by management. It also works by increasing the user confidence in the statements, reducing risk of investors and lowering the cost of capital of the statement preparer.

This is commonplace at firms of accountants, professional experts in terms of this type of reporting. An audit of this kind serves as an assurance function made available by way of accounting firms. A great majority of organizations hire internal auditors who are assigned to focus on the internal controls of a business. External auditors are also available, although these professionals rely little on info produced by the internal auditors.

Auditing encourages accurate and transparency when it comes to financial disclosures of organizations. Therefore, it typically reduces the concealment of immoral dealings by these corporations. On an international level, the benchmark for this process is the ISA, International Standards on Auditing, which is issued by International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, or IAASB. Nearly all jurisdictions mandate auditors follow ISA or a local variation of it.

The main intent of the practice is to give management credibility. The statements given by the management should correctly represent the performance and position of an organization. This is important to stakeholders who are often the main shareholders as well. Employees, suppliers, tax authorities, customers and banks are just some of the people or things that have interest in the fairness of such statements.

The goal here is not to find absolute assurance, as the process is more of a sample than a collection of every balance and transaction. It is used to lower the amount of misstatements found in reports, whether by errors or fraud. Generally, these offer value through easing cost of information asymmetry and reducing information risk. Oversight in this form is also applied to government agencies in developed countries.

Numerous methods and processes are used in auditing. As far as collection and accumulation of evidence, professionals may use a wide variety of methods. Auditors typically do checking, casting, inspection, verification, year-end scrutiny, bank reconciliation, posting checking, confirmation, physical exam, re-computation and more.

Financial audits serve as a sort of oversight. The professionals who handle this work are known as auditors and may be internal or external. The purpose of this practice is to verify that financial statements are fair. It is not intended to find absolute assurance but reasonable assurance that the statements issued by management of organizations is fair and correct. The information gathered from this is important to stakeholders, including shareholders, regulators, customers, suppliers, employees, banks and tax authorities. Numerous techniques are applied when it comes to gathering and assessing information for the purpose of auditing.




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