Economic accounting began to develop in the 9th century. in Novgorod. For the first century and a half, the most primitive accounting techniques were used related to the registration of trade turnover and the collection of tribute (taxes). During this period, any farm was considered the private property of the prince, so the size of the tribute was not limited.
The impetus for the development of accounting thought in Rus' was given by the adoption of Christianity, namely the emergence of many monasteries, conducting a huge but at that time diverse economic activity. Until the 18th century, accounting in Rus' was carried out by princes, boyars, monasteries and churches in the form of income and expenditure books.
In the 18th century, the government of Peter I recognized the country's backwardness and embarked on a path of reforms that also affected accounting. In 1710, a new word “accountant” appeared in the newspaper “Moscow News” (the Russian word “bookholder” was also proposed, but it did not take root). The Order of Accounting Affairs was established to maintain records of funds and control public finances. The position of auditor (chartered accountant) was introduced in the army, combining the features of the position of clerk, secretary and prosecutor. In the Military Charter of 1716 and in the Table of Ranks, the title of auditor was included in the military ranks. The auditors investigated cases of property disputes. The German audit model was borrowed. However, at that time there was no internal need for audit, and introduced by directive, it was not developed and gradually lost its original purpose. With the introduction of the military-judicial reform in Russia in 1861, the position of accountant was abolished.
In 1889, an attempt was made to create an Institute of Auditors, but in Russia at that time there was not a sufficient number of qualified accountants, and the existing specialists were afraid of exams. At the same time, the public insisted on obtaining permits for membership in the Institute and work licenses based on either a diploma from an educational institution or work experience; compliance by auditors with moral ethics. In addition, Russian merchants demanded reliable guarantees when planning to attract foreign capital, and membership in the Institute was allowed only to Russian subjects, which could not ensure the infusion of new, possibly more qualified personnel.
Further attempts to create an audit institute in Russia were made in 1912 and 1928, but all of them were unsuccessful. The main reasons are the lack of legal guarantees for auditing activities, as well as changes in the political and economic situation in the country.
In the second half of the 1980s. The process of rapid growth of the country's foreign economic activity, as well as the creation of joint ventures (JVs), began. In 1987, resolutions of the Council of Ministers (CoM) of the USSR were adopted on January 13, 1987 No. 48 “On the procedure for creating on the territory of the USSR and the activities of joint ventures, international associations and organizations of the USSR and other CMEA member countries” and on January 13, 1987 No. 49 “On the procedure for creating on the territory of the USSR and the activities of joint ventures with the participation of Soviet organizations and firms of capitalist and developing countries,” which provided that the audit of financial, economic and commercial activities is carried out for a fee by a Soviet self-supporting audit organization. To carry out such audits, qualified specialists were needed who spoke foreign languages and had knowledge of Western accounting and taxation standards. Therefore, on September 8, 1987, a special resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers was adopted “On the creation of a Soviet audit organization”, which established JSC Inaudit on the basis of the Main Directorate of Currency Control of the USSR Ministry of Finance. This joint-stock company had 10 departments in its structure that provided services to joint ventures operating in the USSR and abroad: verification of financial and economic activities, receipt and analysis of all necessary documentation; obtaining data on the activities of audited organizations from third parties; establishment of its representative offices; support of professional contacts with foreign companies; publishing reports both in Russia and abroad; provision of consulting services on setting up accounting and organizing internal control, etc.
Further, on May 26, 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Law “On Cooperation in the USSR”, Art. 10 of which determined the principles of activity of cooperatives, Art. 32 - organization of accounting, reporting and control, conducting internal audits, as well as control by financial authorities. Market reforms led to the intensification of foreign economic activity of new companies, the emergence of joint ventures, and the need arose for appropriate structures that would provide consulting services, as well as audit activities. Since control and audit departments (KRU) were present in every ministry and department, they tried to create control and audit groups from the employees of these services, operating on the principle of self-financing; cooperatives appeared, specializing in the provision of consulting services, mainly consisting of former employees of audit bodies. However, the activities of these organizations were insignificant, which was largely due to the lack of a regulatory and legal framework.
Despite the fact that formally Inaudit was a joint-stock company, in essence it remained a state structure, the largest shareholder was the state represented by its ministers. However, foreign investors demanded an opinion from audit firms regarding the activities of the joint venture. And since the market niche for audit services was practically empty, Western audit firms rushed to this market. The first of them was the company Emst&Young, which created the Ernst & Young Vneshaudit joint venture in January 1990. Subsequently, all the largest audit firms entered the Russian audit services market and took strong positions there.
1990 is the time of the formation of genuine audit in Russia. The adoption of a number of laws this year allowed the creation of many audit firms. Their constituent documents provided for inspections of the financial, economic and commercial activities of enterprises of any organizational, legal forms and types of ownership in order to confirm the reliability and reality of financial statements, providing advice on issues of financial, legal, economic and commercial activities. In 1991, Inaudig was privatized, many specialists left the company and created their own companies.
In July 1990, Mosaudit LLC appeared. Its founders were JSC Inaudig and the Commercial Bureau for International Settlements of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council. A.L. became the general director of the new company. Ruf, who in 1991, together with 53 employees, created one of the first private audit firms - JSC Rufaudit.
Already at the very early stage of audit development in Russia, attempts were made to develop methodological support. Since 1989, the training of auditors began at several universities.
The Regulations on Joint Stock Companies, approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated December 25, 1990 No. 601 (lost force), contained a section on audit. It distinguished between external and internal audit.
In accordance with the Federal Law of December 2, 1990 No. 395-1 “On Banks and Banking Activities,” the activities of banks are subject to annual inspection by audit organizations. In February 1991, the “Regulations on auditing activities in the banking system of the RSFSR” were approved (lost force), regulating who can engage in auditing activities in banks; rights of auditing enterprises; responsibilities of audit firms; the procedure for drawing up conclusions; responsibility of audit firms; activities of banking audit councils and their functions.
Order of the State Property Committee of Russia (now the Federal Agency for State Property Management - Rosimushchestvo) dated November 30, 1993 No. 2078-r “On the organization of training and certification of auditors for check investment funds” determined the organizations receiving the rights to conduct training, exams and issue certificates for auditors check investment funds, certificate form and kata.
Thus, we can say that provisions on conducting audits, the obligation to submit financial statements confirmed by the audit report, in relation to a number of economic entities, were contained in numerous legal acts.
However, there was no single regulatory legal act regulating the implementation of audit activities. Until 1994, Russian audit organizations were mainly created and functioned on the basis of the RSFSR Law of December 25, 1990 No. 445-1 “On Enterprises and Entrepreneurial Activities” (repealed) as ordinary commercial structures. Therefore, in the absence of legislation on auditing activities, they were not officially required to have licenses, but there are cases when state bodies, including tax services, unjustifiably prohibited the activities of already registered organizations due to the lack of a license, because it was not stipulated by the legislator in any way. At this time, amateur organizations began to emerge and function to train auditors and issue them appropriate certificates, certificates, attestations and licenses. In fact, these licenses (with the exception of the license of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Bank of Russia) were only advisory in nature, since the legislator did not officially transfer to any of the listed or other bodies (up to the Ministry of Finance of Russia) the right to issue such licenses.
In the period from 1991 to 1993, a number of legislative acts and regulations were issued establishing mandatory audits for companies with foreign investments, insurance companies and investment funds. Thus, in 1992, the norm on mandatory audit was reflected in the “Regulations on Accounting and Reporting in the Russian Federation” (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 20, 1992 No. 10 - no longer in force). The reliability of the published reporting (it became open to interested users) was required to be confirmed by an independent audit organization.
These documents outlined the scope of activity of audit companies and created the demand for audit services. Many domestic and foreign audit firms have appeared in Russia (by the end of 1991 - about 800). At the same time, the rights, duties and responsibilities of auditors remained unclear, there were no uniform rules for their licensing and certification, and no sanctions were provided for auditors and audit firms that made mistakes, miscalculations and negligence in their work. The need for regulation of a new profession, i.e. determining its status and developing standards became obvious. One of the first modern public associations of auditors was created on the initiative of the Rufaudig company. It became the Russian College of Auditors (RCA). The founding meeting of the Collegium took place on June 17, 1992. Representatives of audit firms from 46 cities of Russia took part in it. The RCA Council was elected, which included representatives of 17 companies from among the founders of the Collegium. The meeting elected A.L. as President of the RKA. Rufa. Currently, RCA is a self-regulatory audit association accredited by the Russian Ministry of Finance.
The legal regulation of auditing as a special independent organizational form of financial control in Russia began to take shape with the adoption of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 22, 1993 No. 2263 “On auditing activities in the Russian Federation,” which introduced the Temporary Rules for Auditing Activities in the Russian Federation, which were in force before the adoption in 2001 Auditing Act. This act contained the definition of “audit activity”, established the mandatory licensing of this type of activity and certification of auditors, their rights and obligations, and the organization of state regulation. He played a positive role in organizing the legal support for auditing and the formation of the Russian market for audit services.
According to the Temporary Rules:
- ? audit activity (audit) is the entrepreneurial activity of auditors (audit firms) but the implementation of independent non-departmental audits of accounting (financial) statements, payment and settlement documentation, tax returns and other financial obligations and requirements of economic entities, as well as the provision of other audit services;
- ? auditing activities are carried out along with financial control over the activities of economic entities, carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation by specially authorized state bodies;
- ? The main purpose of auditing activities is to establish the reliability of the accounting (financial) statements of economic entities and the compliance of their financial and business transactions with the regulations in force in the Russian Federation.
The temporary rules also regulated the types of audit, the measure of punishment in the event of an economic entity evading a mandatory audit, and determined who has the right to engage in audit activities. Auditors were allowed to engage in other types of activities, and it was stipulated what they could not do. The interests of the client were also taken into account: “auditors and audit firms do not have the right to transfer the information they received during the audit process to third parties for the use of this information for business purposes” (clause 9).
The Temporary Rules also clarified cases when an auditor or audit firm did not have the right to audit an economic entity. The independence of auditors was determined; rights and responsibilities of auditors and audit firms, responsibilities of managers and other officials of the audited economic entity.
The temporary rules regulated the procedure for licensing auditing activities that existed before the adoption of Federal Law No. 158-FZ of September 25, 1998 “On licensing of certain types of activities.”
The auditing community has recognized the unconditional positive impact of this document on the development of the profession. He formed the conceptual focus and excluded the spontaneous and unregulated nature of the development of audit in the country. The decisive role in this process was played by the audit regulatory bodies: the Commission on Auditing under the President of the Russian Federation
Federation, Central Certification and Licensing Audit Commissions of the Ministry of Finance of Russia, Bank of Russia, Federal Insurance Supervision Service (Rosstrakhnadzor). Practically, the legal successor of all these structures after the entry into force of the Federal Law “On Auditing Activities” became the Council on Auditing Activities under the Ministry of Finance of Russia.
In 1994, the main criteria for the activities of economic entities were determined, according to which their financial statements were subject to mandatory audit. On May 6, 1994, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted Resolution No. 482 “On the approval of normative documents for regulating auditing activities in the Russian Federation” (repealed), clarifying the guarantees of independence of auditors, regulating the procedure for certifying auditors, and the procedure for issuing licenses.
Of no small importance was the adoption by the Bank of Russia in 1997 of the Regulations on auditing activities in the banking system. This document established a system for organizing audits in the banking sector, the procedure for certification and licensing of banking audits, and the applied sanctions against auditors carrying out banking audits.
These acts were able to lay the legal foundations for the implementation of auditing activities in Russia, determining the direction of development of auditing in general and its individual types: general audit, banking audit, audit of insurance organizations, exchanges, over-the-counter funds and investment institutions. Public organizations have also emerged that unite mountain accountants, in particular the Association of Accountants and Auditors.
The peculiarity of the development of auditing activity in Russia was its strict government regulation. The main problem in the audit movement of the second half of the 1990s. was that obtaining a license to carry out auditing activities was primarily associated with significant amounts of the license fee. Such licensing fees and sanctions would not bring only the largest audit organizations to ruin (even for medium-sized ones it was a heavy burden). Thus, the market for audit services was significantly distorted in favor of foreign auditors.
However, since 1995-1996. Russian firms began to squeeze Western companies. Examples include the audit of the Bank of Russia in 1997, the audit of targeted loans from the World Bank (by the end of 1997 there were about 20 of them), etc. Foreign firms, recognizing in this case the priority of domestic ones, often agreed to the role of subcontractors for Russian firms . The reasons for the success of Russian firms were knowledge of domestic specifics, fanaticism in work and the presence of the necessary connections.
At the end of the 1990s. Cooperation between the Russian College of Auditors and professional associations of auditors in the CIS countries has been developed. In 1997, the RCA transferred its auditing standards to them in the form of “Recommendations for the Drawing up of National Auditing Standards.” Subsequently, they were used in the development of national auditing standards in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. A continuation of this work was the creation of the International Regional Federation of Accountants and Auditors “Eurasia” (IRFBA “Eurasia”). The meeting of the organizing committee of the new international association took place on March 19, 1999 in the Executive Directorate of the RKA. Three months later, the Constituent Assembly and the first General Assembly of the IRFBA were convened in Kyiv. The priority direction in the activities of the Federation has become comprehensive support and assistance to national organizations of accountants and auditors. Currently, IRFBA “Eurasia” unites 17 professional organizations of accountants and auditors from nine CIS countries.
Another association of auditors - the Audit Chamber of Russia (APR) - was founded in January 1995. According to the charter, the APR is a self-regulatory non-profit organization that unites individual auditors, audit organizations and other organizations of specialists promoting the development of audit and audit services. It is one of the professional audit associations accredited by the Russian Ministry of Finance.
In 2000, the non-profit partnership “Institute of Professional Auditors (I PAR)” joined the existing audit associations. And PAR is accredited by the Russian Ministry of Finance as one of the self-regulatory audit associations.
The next stage in the development of domestic audit began with the adoption of Federal Law of August 7, 2001 No. 119-FZ “On Auditing Activities”. This Law established higher requirements for the organization of audits and for persons carrying out audits compared to the Temporary Rules, clarified the concept of auditing activities, including mandatory audits, established the principles of auditing activities, introduced the obligation to insure civil liability during mandatory audits, established systems for quality control, certification and licensing of auditing activities. He determined the place and role in organizing the audit of government authorities, professional audit associations and other interested parties.
After the entry into force of this law, a regulatory framework for regulating auditing activities was formed, including the adoption of several resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation, orders of the Ministry of Finance of Russia, approval of federal rules (standards) of auditing activities, developed on the basis of International Auditing Standards and establishing uniform requirements for the procedure for carrying out audit, design and assessment of the quality of the audit and related services, as well as the procedure for training auditors and assessing their qualifications.
By Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of February 6, 2002 No. 80 “On issues of state regulation of auditing activities in the Russian Federation,” the Ministry of Finance of Russia was identified as the authorized federal executive body carrying out state regulation of auditing activities. It became the licensing body in the field of auditing.
Along with this, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted Resolution No. 190 of March 29, 2002 “On licensing of auditing activities” (lost force), which approved the Regulations on licensing of auditing activities.
On August 28, 2003, the Council on Auditing Activities under the Ministry of Finance of Russia, in agreement with the Coordination Council of Russian Professional Associations of Auditors and Accountants and with the support of the Ministry of Finance of Russia and the Federal Commission for the Securities Market (FCSM of Russia), adopted the Code of Ethics for Auditors of Russia, prepared on the basis of international standards .
At a meeting of the Council on Auditing under the Ministry of Finance of Russia on September 25, 2003, a decision was made on mandatory membership of audit organizations and individual auditors in audit associations accredited by the Ministry of Finance of Russia.
Thus, a normative and methodological mechanism was created to help solve problems of creating favorable conditions for the development of auditing, improving its quality and efficiency based on the principles of self-regulation of the profession.
Audit has taken an important place in the system of market relations. Russian auditors have become in demand not only in the private sector of the economy, but also in the public sector - they have begun to conduct audits of state unitary enterprises and joint-stock companies. Processes of self-regulation have been developed within the framework of decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation on administrative reform. New programs for certification and advanced training of auditors began to be developed, taking into account international experience. Connections between professional audit associations and higher educational institutions that train accountants, auditors, and specialists in the field of finance and credit have expanded. The system of external and internal quality control of auditing activities and professional ethics within the framework of professional audit associations and audit organizations has received further development. The interaction of auditors with appraisers, professional accountants and internal auditors has been strengthened. Some progress has been made in training auditors to audit financial statements prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and providing consulting services to enterprises and organizations on their preparation using multi-media .
The need for further changes in the regulatory framework for auditing was caused by both the development of market relations and the desire, using the experience of Western countries, to reduce the role of state regulation of this type of activity. The development of this industry is associated with the growth of self-regulatory professional organizations of auditors, the expansion of their powers due to the transfer to them of a number of functions for regulating audit activities from government bodies, as well as the redistribution of responsibilities between professional associations of auditors and the state.
One of the important steps in this direction was the adoption of the Federal Law of December 1, 2007 No. 315-FZ “On Self-Regulatory Organizations” (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Self-Regulatory Organizations), which established the legal basis for the activities of self-regulatory organizations (SROs), which are a special institute of professional public regulation, uniting persons engaged in entrepreneurial or other professional activities.
Thus, leading economists conditionally divide the recent history of Russian audit into three stages.
First stage: 1987-1993 - spontaneous emergence of audit activity (training of personnel, disorderly issuance of the first certificates and licenses in 1990-1993), the directive nature of the creation of the first audit organization “Inaudit”.
Second stage: December 1993 - August 2001 - the formation of Russian audit, in the process of which the Temporary Rules for Auditing Activities in the Russian Federation played a major role. During this time, work was carried out on certification and licensing of auditing activities, public audit associations and firms were created, and work began on conducting mandatory audits and providing related services.
The third stage: the adoption of the Federal Law of August 7, 2001 No. 119-FZ “On Auditing Activities”, which finally confirmed the formation of Russian audit and determined the prospects for its further development.
On January 1, 2009, a new Law on Auditing came into force, according to which licensing was replaced by mandatory membership of audit organizations and auditors in SROs.
The purpose of this law is to change the current system of regulation of auditing activities through the abolition of its licensing, the formation by the community of auditors of self-control mechanisms based on uniform professional standards, the introduction of mandatory membership of auditors and audit organizations in self-regulatory audit associations, as well as the transfer to these associations of a number of functions of the federal executive body which carries out state regulation of auditing activities.
Audit, as an indispensable attribute of a market economy, has found its niche among other types of financial control.
Having briefly analyzed the formation of audit in developed countries, we come to the conclusion that at the first stage - until the end of the 1940s. - it mainly involved checking the documentation supporting recorded monetary transactions and the correct grouping of these transactions in the financial statements and was called a confirmatory audit. Audit in the classical sense of the word was external, independent, non-departmental financial control of the activities of economic entities (companies).
In the second stage of audit development, after 1949, independent auditors (external auditors) began to pay more attention to internal control issues in companies, believing that with an effective internal control system, the likelihood of errors is negligible and, therefore, financial data and reports are sufficiently complete and accurate. Auditing firms began to engage more in consulting activities rather than direct audits. Such an audit was called system-oriented, as it made it possible to observe the systems that control the operations of the internal control system (ICS).
Currently, we are witnessing the third stage of audit development - risk-oriented audit. When conducting audits or consulting clients, audit firms first of all calculate the possible risk. As a rule, audits are currently carried out selectively - mainly where the risk of error (or fraud) is greatest.
- The document became invalid due to the adoption of Federal Law No. 128-FZ of August 8, 2001 “On licensing of certain types of activities.” On November 3, 2011, Federal Law of May 4, 2011 No. 99-FZ Federal Law “On licensing of certain types of activities” came into force.
- The document became invalid due to the publication of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2010 No. 1192.
Introduction
In the conditions of the formation of market relations, it is almost impossible to manage the complex economic mechanism of an economic entity without timely economic information, the main part of which is provided by a well-established accounting system, which always needs to be verified by auditors.
The subject of the study is the essence and significance of auditing activities. Audit is a business activity for independent verification of accounting and financial statements of organizations and individual entrepreneurs.
The purpose of the audit is to express an opinion on the reliability of the financial statements of the audited entities and the compliance of the accounting procedures with the law.
The purpose of this work is to study and consider the problem of auditing. An audit is one of the forms of financial control and is carried out along with its other types: state financial control and audit.
Audit is translated as “listening”. Its historical homeland is considered to be the UK, where a series of laws on companies were issued, according to which the boards of joint-stock companies are obliged to invite a special person at least once a year to check the accounts and report to shareholders.
By giving an official opinion, which expresses an opinion on the reliability of the reporting of a business entity, the auditor helps reduce the information risk of its user, but at the same time he does not guarantee that the reporting fully reflects the real economic activities of the audited entity, since the entity itself bears responsibility for the completeness and reality of the reporting management.
Theoretical foundations of AUDIT
Brief history of auditing
The auditor profession is not new and has a long history. The early stage of the audit focused on detecting fraud and abuse. As society developed, so did auditing. England is considered to be the birthplace of auditing. The profession of accountant-auditor arose in the 12th-13th centuries, but the law on compulsory auditing was adopted in Great Britain only in 1862.
XIX century - rapid development of industry and capital accumulation. Joint-stock companies are being created. The owners are afraid of losing their capital (there are people who, through fraud in the enterprise, take possession of large sums of money). There is a need for independent financial auditors. At this time, the institute of professional auditors was created.
Auditing activity received the main impetus for its development during the Great Economic Depression (late 20s - early 30s of the 20th century). The center of audit activity moves from Great Britain to the United States, where the Auditing Act was signed in 1937. A little earlier, in 1934, a commission on securities and exchange transactions was created. This commission required all publicly traded companies to publish their audited accounts.
The development of the audit business in the West has led to the creation of the largest transnational companies, which to this day operate in the audit services market.
In Russia, the profession of auditor was introduced by Peter I. But due to the vertical system of state financial control (due to the large share of state property), the institution of auditing was created.
Audit in the Republic of Kazakhstan originated at the end of 1980. The official date of origin of auditing is October 1993 - the year of publication of the first law on auditing activities. In a market economy, auditing activities have received special development.
At the end of the 19th century, an attempt was made to create an institute of chartered accountants, but this attempt failed. The institute ceased to exist before 1917. The human factor played a large role in the insolvency of the institute (there were no qualified auditors, accounting workers were negatively opposed to auditors).
The development of financial and credit organizations, in particular commercial banks, insurance organizations, investment funds, etc., had a significant impact on the intensification of audit activity. When concluding agreements with enterprises, they, as a rule, required independent auditors to confirm the reliability of clients’ reporting and assess their financial condition. These needs determined the rapid development of audit as an element of the infrastructure of a market economy.
There are numerous auditing firms in the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as governments of the world's leading auditing companies, which operate in conditions of fierce competition, constantly increasing their range and volume of work, and improving the quality of audit services.
In May 2000, the Chamber of Auditors of the Republic of Kazakhstan became an official member of the International Federation of Accountants. There are 3 stages of audit development:
Confirming
System-oriented,
Risk based stage.
At the first stage, the auditor checks each transaction.
At the second stage, special importance is attached to checking the effectiveness of internal control and the audit is carried out in certain areas.
At stage 3, due to the selective nature of the audit, there is an audit risk of non-detection (risk of non-detection of errors).
Currently, a stable market for audit services has developed, which contributes to the harmonization of accounting and financial reporting with the requirements of international standards.
Auditors are increasingly tasked with assessing not only the reliability of reporting, but also the financial stability of the organization.
Functions of finance Discussion questions about the essence and functions of finance
DocumentFINANCE 1.1. Emergence finance and development Sciences... prerequisite ... briefly- and long-term economic forecasts development states, his ... his size and shape of the organization. Story audit ... concept audit. By its essence audit activity ...
Educational and methodological complex of the academic discipline "Audit" specialty
Training and metodology complexMaterials audit conclusions. Story emergence And development audit. Topic 2. Theoretical foundations audit Modern theories audit. Stages development theories audit: confirming...
B 796 Boltnev, Valentin Egorovich. Ecology: studies for undergraduate universities, training on e.g.: “Automation of technological processes and production”, “Prikl informatics” / Boltnev
Document... audit activities, concept mandatory audit And audit services, ethical standards considered audit, standards audit activities, organization audit testing, methodology audit And his ...
The course “Advocacy” represents the basic provisions set out in a certain system based on the theory and practice of legal regulation. The purpose of studying the discipline
Document... preconditions correct application his norms in legal activities. Structure of the discipline Section 1. General part. Concept...as necessary conditions for their everyday activities; trace history emergence And development the phenomenon of "ethics and business...
Curriculum for the specialty: 1-25 01 08 Accounting, analysis and audit Faculty: financial economics
Program8. Brief story emergence And development economic analysis activities State of economic analysis activities And brief story his emergence and becoming. Main directions development economic analysis activities ...
Audit in the modern sense began to take shape in the middle of the 19th century. in connection with the development of market relations. The emergence of a market economy was accompanied by massive bankruptcy of companies. Quite frequent bankruptcies of companies and deception on the part of the administration significantly increased the risk of financial investments. Bankrupt shareholders needed protection, and investors and existing shareholders needed reliable information about the state of business in the companies. Shareholders wanted to be sure that they were not being deceived and that the reports submitted to the administration were completely reliable. For this purpose, people who, in the opinion of shareholders, could be trusted, began to be invited to check the accuracy of the accounting statements. The purpose of the audit was to conduct a detailed check of the financial and economic activities and the correctness of the companies' accounts. The main personality traits of the auditor at that time were his impeccable integrity, honesty and independence.
England is considered the historical birthplace of audit, where in 1844 a number of laws were adopted providing for the verification by independent accountants of accounting accounts and reports for presentation to shareholders. In 1862, a law on compulsory auditing was adopted in England. Later, mandatory audit laws came into force in other countries. In the USA, the Association of Auditors was formed in 1887, and in 1896, auditing activities were regulated by law in the state of New York. The first official regulation on auditing in the United States was published in 1917 and focused on the “audit of balance sheets.”
In Germany, the first attempt at auditing was made in 1870, when an addition to the Law on Joint Stock Companies obliged the supervisory boards of these companies to check the main reporting forms - the balance sheet, and reports on the distribution of profits and the results of these checks to be brought to the attention of shareholders. In 1932, the Institute of Auditors was created in Germany, which operated until 1941. After the end of World War II, the Institute of Auditors was renamed the Institute of Auditors of Germany in 1954. State influence on auditing activities in Germany is determined by the fact that all auditors and audit firms must be members of the Audit Chamber of the Federal Republic of Germany.
In France, laws were passed in 1867 that obliged auditors to check and evaluate the balance sheets of joint-stock companies. Currently in France there are two main organizations that are engaged in auditing activities. One of them is called the Chamber of Expert Accountants, and the second is called the National Company of Account Commissioners. The main difference between them is that the former are invited to conduct audits of accounting and reporting in joint-stock companies, while the latter are mandatory appointed to conduct audits.
In 1992, a government decree was adopted in Italy, according to which legal auditing activities can only be carried out by persons included in a special registered register, which is under the control of the Ministry of Justice. Auditors who have passed exams in accounting, law, computing and computer science can be included in this register.
In Russia, the title of auditor was introduced by Peter I. The position of auditor combined some of the responsibilities of a clerk, secretary and prosecutor. Auditors in Russia were called accounting jurors.
In the Republic of Belarus, by resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Belarusian SSR dated September 30, 1991, the Temporary Regulations on auditing activities in the Republic of Belarus were approved, which outlined the main ways for the development of this type of activity. Then, by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated August 17, 1992, the Audit Chamber under the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus was formed, which was entrusted with organizing audit activities, training personnel (auditors), issuing licenses to engage in this type of activity and other issues.
In accordance with the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated March 14, 1994 “On improving the structure of government bodies of the Republic of Belarus and reducing the costs of their maintenance,” the Audit Chamber under the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus was transformed into the Audit Chamber of the Republic of Belarus on the principles of self-government and self-financing.
By the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated June 16, 1994 “On improving state regulation of auditing activities and control over them in the Republic of Belarus,” the Council of Ministers entrusted the Audit Chamber with the functions of state regulation of auditing activities and control over them. The same resolution approved the Regulations on the procedure for state regulation and control over auditing activities in the Republic of Belarus.
On November 8, 1994, at the Session of the Supreme Council, the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Auditing Activities” was adopted, which was put into effect on December 7, 1994. The law defined the legal framework
carrying out audit activities on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, the basic rules and procedure for its implementation.
Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated August 28, 1999 No. 30 “On some measures to improve state regulation of auditing activities and control over its implementation in the Republic of Belarus”, methodological guidance of audits, control over the activities of auditors and audit organizations, licensing of auditing activities and other issues were assigned to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus. By Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated October 8, 1999 No. 1558, the Main Audit Directorate was created within the structure of the Ministry of Finance.
On November 15, 2002, the House of Representatives made amendments and additions to the law of the Republic of Belarus “On Auditing Activities,” which was adopted on November 8, 1994. The said law was approved by the Council of the Republic on December 2, 2002 (registered in the NRPA RB on December 27, 2002. , per. No. 2/913).
The need for auditor services arises in connection with the following circumstances: the possibility of biased information on the part of its compilers (administration) in the event of conflicts between the administration and its users (founders, investors, creditors); users of accounting (financial) information usually do not have access to reflecting business transactions in the organization’s accounting accounts, in addition, they do not have the appropriate experience, for this purpose they need to invite auditors to work; the consequences of decisions made by users can be so significant for them that the reliability and completeness of information obtained through auditors is absolutely necessary.
The above circumstances and a number of other reasons have led to the need for the services of independent experts who have the appropriate training, qualifications and experience.
The relevance of the topic under consideration is obvious, because audits are simply irreplaceable in a market economy and at the transition stage of Russia's development. The auditor not only identifies errors in accounting and taxation, not only reveals shortcomings in the management system and organizational structure of the enterprise, but is able to give the most qualified advice on these issues. Being independent, audit activity not only contributes to improving the overall work of an economic entity, but also protects its interests owners, but also guards the interests of the state, compliance with laws and regulations. Hence, identifying and solving problems that could hinder the full development and establishment of audit in our country should be given great attention. The audit includes examination, independent of the influence of individuals and legal entities, as well as analysis of all financial statements of a given economic entity by special qualified authorized persons, hereinafter referred to as auditors, including firms who have the goal of determining the reliability of the information provided, as well as its completeness and compliance with the current a given state's laws and regulations that apply to the status of all audited financial statements and prepared accounting records.
The object of the study is an audit of historical development as an independent examination of the state of accounting, financial statements and balance sheets
The purpose of the work is to characterize the main stages of audit development in the world and in Russia.
Research objectives:
– characterize the reason and conditions for the occurrence of the audit;
– consider the history of the development of auditing in foreign countries and in Russia;
– give a brief description of modern audit theories;
– analyze the main content of the audit depending on national approaches.
The research methods are: analytical, dialectical, structural-logical, retroperspective.
The theoretical basis of the study is the work of such authors as Albarov R.A., Andreev V.D., Arens A., Bogomolov A.M., Bychkova S.M., Voronina L.I., Kamyshanov P.I., Pacioli L. ., Myatenko S.V., Robertson J., Romanov A.N., Sokolov Y.V., Suits V.P., Shchadilova S.N., Sheremet A.D. and etc.
1 History of the development of auditing in foreign countries
1.1 Control and audit in antiquity and the Middle Ages
The profession of an auditor has been known since ancient times. As early as about 200 BC, quaestors (officials in charge of financial and judicial affairs) of the Roman Empire supervised local government accountants. The reports of the quaestors were sent to Rome and heard by examiners. This practice gave rise to the term “auditor” from the Latin “to listen”. In addition, according to the Roman Empire, a special tax police was created, whose officers resorted to torturing women and children to obtain information about income and property hidden from taxation.
In the ancient world, public legal reporting took place. So, according to Herodotus, on the pyramid of Cheops it is carved how much garlic, radishes, onions and other products were given to the people involved in the construction of the pyramid, the total cost of which was 1,500 talents. We have reached a report carved on the wall of the Parthenon, according to which the cost of construction was 469 talents.
In one of the world's most popular auditing books, The Montgomery Audit, the authors opined that “A number of forms of internal control... are described in the Bible, the contents of which, by general agreement, cover the period between 1800 BC and 95 AD, and the rationale for establishing controls, that if employees have a chance to steal, they can take advantage, reflects the same professional skepticism that is expected of auditors today. Specifically, the Bible deals with the issues of double security of property, the need to hire competent and honest workers, restrictions on access, and division of duties.” In addition, based on publications in the field of accounting history, the authors of the Montgomery Audit indicate the presence in Athens in the 5th century BC. control of income and expenditure by the People's Assembly, and that the financial system "included government auditors who checked the documents of all officials upon expiration of their powers."
One of the famous Russian auditors A.A. Terekhov writes that “many fundamental economic processes and mechanisms with unconditional recognition of the importance of accounting and control were considered by scientists of the Ancient world: Plato, Aristotle and others. Aristotle in his “Politics” clearly distinguishes between accounting and control functions, with a direct indication that checks (audit, revision) is part of control.” At the same time, A. Terekhov concludes that “... even from ancient philosophers there is an understanding that the inspector should have equal rights to the chief accountant (not lower in status), and in addition, that he does not have the right to become dependent on those being audited.”
In English-speaking countries, the oldest mention of auditing dates back to 1130 (document from the Treasury archives of England and Scotland). According to , the City of London was subject to audit at least as early as the 1200s, and at the beginning of the 14th century auditors were among the elected officials and since then there are many documents in the archives indicating widespread recognition of the importance of audit and the regular implementation of audits reports from municipalities, private landowners and craft guilds. According to March 24, 1324, King Edward II signed a decree appointing three public auditors who were to ask, examine and "take all accounts that have been and will be entered into the provinces of Oxford, Birkenhand, Southampton, Wales, Somersetshire and Dorset, do and designate everything that auditors should do with accounts.”
The audit itself in Great Britain of that period was divided into two types:
“Public audit”, i.e. literally hearing audit reports in the presence of officials and citizens. The audit reports were read aloud by the treasurer. This practice was carried out taking into account the fact that not many people were literate. By the mid-16th century, auditors' reports stated "heard by the undersigned auditors."
Detailed audit of payment accounts of financial managers of large estates - an oral report from the auditor to the owner and the board of managers of the estate. In this case, the auditor was usually a member of the board, and according to the conclusions of the authors of Auditing Montgomery, this type of audit is the forerunner of modern internal audit.
At the same time, both types of audit considered were aimed at ensuring the accountability of public and private officials in relation to the funds entrusted to them.
In the Middle Ages, thanks to the introduction of accounting principles based on double entry, which the Franciscan monk Luca Pacioli was able to methodically expound in his fundamental work, published in 1494, “Summa of Arithmetic, Geometry, Doctrine of Proportions and Ratios.” Part one, section 9 is Treatise XI “On Accounts and Records”. The clarity, logic of presentation, as well as the need for systematization that has arisen in accounting practice have contributed to the fact that accounting methods through the use of double entry (many sources say “double-entry bookkeeping”, but in our conditions this phrase has a slightly different meaning, so we will use The term "double entry") has spread to many countries. This proliferation was caused by the development of trade and industry, the widespread development of debt capital markets, the complexity of settlements with customs and excise officials, the increase in the volume of accounting work, as well as the need to monitor the accounting process and its accuracy and reliability. In Chapter 17, “On how and why accounts are kept by public institutions, as well as by the lending chamber, which is governed in accordance with the laws of Venice,” Pacioli writes: “The High Senate cruelly punishes faulty brokers and registrars, and I myself recall many from whom In the past, they were strictly punished for omissions. They did a good deed when they appointed a person to monitor them and was tasked with investigating whether the books in these institutions were being kept well or badly.” Thus, Pacioli gives us information that control functions existed earlier and emphasizes their usefulness.
The further development of audit is associated with the development of large-scale production, transport, the emergence of capitalist relations, the division of interests of those who are directly involved in managing the enterprise (administration, managers) and those who invest money in its activities (owners, investors, shareholders). The latter could not and did not want to rely only on the financial information provided by the managers and accountants of the enterprise subordinate to them. Shareholders wanted to be sure that they were not being deceived, that the statements presented by the administration fully reflected the actual financial position of the enterprise.
Let's consider the development of auditing in individual countries.
1.2. Development of audit in Western Europe and the USA
According to one version, set out in, the famous 18th century politician and economist George Watson once recommended that Scottish merchants audit their accounting records. The results were so significant that the “callous, stingy and pedantic” (as other Britons defined them) Scots recognized the benefits of such checks and began to practice them.
In 1805, a directory was published in Edinburgh containing the names of 17 auditors, who soon created their own professional organization. (As is known, many professions already had professional organizations at that time; the beginning was made in the Middle Ages with the formation of guilds). In 1854, the Society of Accountants was formed in Edinburgh, which united accountants and auditors.
Following the passage of the British Companies Act in 1862, which required companies to submit accounts and reports to be examined by accountants and financial controls at least once a year, the ranks of auditors swelled significantly. The authors of the book, citing the British author Richard Brown, indicate the number of auditors worldwide in 1905 - 11 thousand, of which half were in the UK.
In 1880 the Institute of Chartered Accountants was founded in England and Wales. A hundred years later (as of January 1, 1983) it had 76 thousand members, almost half of which were under 35 years of age, two-thirds under 45 years of age. There are a total of six main accounting and auditing organizations in the UK, including:
Association of Chartered Accountants;
Institute of Accountants-Calculators and Accountants-Managers;
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland;
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accounting;
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
However, only members of the institutes of chartered accountants in England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the Association of Chartered Accountants have the right to engage in auditing.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland was founded by Royal Charter in 1951 and incorporated the previously separate Institutes of Chartered Accountants of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
At first, the auditor's responsibilities were not clearly defined: all investors - both shareholders and creditors - saw him as a defender of their interests. The modern view of the auditor as a person responsible only to the shareholders began to emerge after the passing of the Companies Act in 1929, which required all companies to include a profit and loss account in their financial statements.
English specialists from the mid-to-late last century made a significant contribution to the development of auditing and audit technology. According to, balance equations were created in the first half of the last century by V.F. Foster and in the second half - Lawrence Dixie:
A - P = K and A = P + K.
Among English specialists there were heated discussions regarding the assessment of balance sheet items, while the controversy between the largest specialists led to the fact that at first glance, dry scholastic balance equations, interpreted from the point of view of the psychological climate and interests of persons related to the company, made it possible to classify various violations, which people are so prone to. Since this tendency was observed quite often, according to experts, it was necessary to systematically conduct comprehensive and targeted audits to guarantee the interests of counterparties. Lawrence Dixie, the largest authority of that time, saw the goals of audits as identifying:
1) forgery;
2) random errors;
3) lack of accounting organization.
1) there are no values, especially monetary ones;
2) documents are issued on the wrong day;
3) balances on cash (cash) and material accounts are artificially inflated;
4) payroll totals are inflated;
5) the salaries of the accountant’s “friends” are inflated;
6) money is issued to dummies (“dead souls”);
7) prices are inflated in collusion with suppliers;
8) fictitious crediting of the cash account or reflection of fictitious accounts payable;
9) payment of inflated commissions and sharing them with recipients;
10) forgery of documents, usually checks;
11) payment several times for the same document (or its different copies).”
It can be noted that a lot of things that were noticed by English scientists back in the last century are still relevant today.
English scientists made a great contribution to the development of audit theory and methods. Modern audit owes them to the appearance of questionnaires that can significantly reduce the labor intensity of inspections. I would like to end the brief history of the development of auditing in the UK with the definition of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS): “An audit represents a set of methods aimed at establishing the effectiveness and integrity of management systems and the accuracy of financial statements.”
In 1905, and then in 1909, R. Montgomery published, with editorial corrections, Lawrence Dixie’s book “Auditing: A Practical Guide for Auditors” in the United States. Developing the ideas of Lawrence Dixie, he wrote that the purpose of an audit is to reveal voluntary and involuntary errors that may occur in financial statements. Based on this, a hierarchy of audit tasks related to the detection of three types of errors was built:
1) free (abuse);
2) involuntary (slip slips, arithmetic errors);
3) fundamental (choice of incorrect methodological techniques).
However, the pace of business development in the USA differed sharply from the British; for America, English methods became unacceptable due to the fact that the British style of verification required too much time and money. American audit, due to the specific nature of the ultra-fast growth rates of American business at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, needed a fast pace of audits, and therefore, progressive audit technologies. American auditors began to practice the use of “test audits,” collecting evidence of a company’s activities from business partners in order to verify operations. They began to take into account the interests of investors, pay more and more attention to the assessment of assets and liabilities, and moved away from the rather predominant detailed examination in the English school, which Montgomery described as “the test of clerical accuracy.” Demand from lenders, mainly banks, has led to an expansion of audit tasks and the development of new audit methods and approaches to standardization.
R. Montgomery in 1912 wrote the book “Audit: Theory and Practice”, which in subsequent editions and reprints (up to the present day) was called “Audit Montgomery”. In the first edition of this book, he called early American auditing "account auditing," emphasizing that three-quarters of an auditor's time was spent calculating and compiling books. Robert Montgomery himself (1872 - 1953) was not only a theorist, but also an audit practitioner. Together with his colleagues, back in 1898, he founded a company that later became one of the leading auditing firms in the world, Coopers and Lybrand, contributed to the creation of the American Institute of Chartered Accountants and became its president, and taught at Columbia, New York and the University of Pennsylvania.
According to the US, audit is required for companies registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission, created in 1934 after the Wall Street crash of 1929. Securities Act of 1933 and Exchange Act 1934 required registered companies to prepare appropriate forms of financial statements.
In the USA there are two types of professional and non-governmental audit organizations. One of them is represented at the national, federal level and is called the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). This institute was founded in 1887 and since then has played a leading role in the formation of audit personnel. It certifies the qualifications of the applicant, who passes the relevant exams and receives a diploma as an accountant-auditor. The Institute leads scientific and methodological work in the USA, publishes monographs and publishes a number of auditing journals, among which the Journal of Accountancy is the most popular.
In addition to the national Institute, there are professional auditing organizations at the state level, which are called societies of certified public accountants. Members of these societies have the right to conduct audits and provide consulting assistance in their states. Accountant-auditors can practice their activities in private practice or be employees of audit firms. The most qualified auditors teach at universities and colleges.
An active process of standardization of auditing in the United States began in 1939, when the AICPA established the Committee on Auditing Procedures and it issued the first Statement on Auditing Procedures. Beginning in 1939, the AICPA began publishing research bulletins and reports on auditing procedures—the institution's first original documents related to auditing standardization. The first report on auditing procedures outlined seven key principles that underlie the formation of the auditing profession. The report recognized the examination of inventories and confirmation of accounts receivable as mandatory audit procedures, recommended that independent auditors be elected by the Board of Directors (company shareholders), and companies create independent audit committees to oversee internal audits and accounting procedures, and formulated sample auditor opinions on the financial information presented.
The 70s and 80s of the 20th century in the United States were marked by increased public interest in the responsibilities and work of auditors. A series of unsuccessful audits, which resulted in litigation, resulted in congressional hearings and the creation of special commissions to determine the role and responsibilities of the auditor. The result was a conclusion about the discrepancy between what society (and therefore clients) imagine an audit should consist of, and the capabilities of the actual audit process, which are limited by certain limits (primarily restrictions on the timing of audits) and the need to strengthen the activity of the Council on auditing standards in order to reduce and further eliminate this gap.
Definitions of auditing vary among organizations in the United States. For example, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants defines auditing as “the process by which a competent independent practitioner obtains and evaluates evidence of quantifiable information relating to a specific business system to determine and express in his opinion the degree to which that information meets established criteria.” , and the American Accounting Association's Committee on Fundamental Accounting Concepts defined auditing as follows: “An audit is a systematic process for obtaining and evaluating objective data about economic activities, determining the level of their compliance with a specified criterion and presenting the results to interested users.”
There are currently more than 45,000 accounting firms in the United States. The number of employees ranges from 1 to several thousand people.
In the USA, auditors are certified in three specializations: 1) chartered accountant; 2) certified internal auditor; 3) sworn auditor of information systems.
According to Germany, the first steps towards the introduction of audit were taken in 1870, when an addition to the law on joint stock companies obliged the supervisory boards of these companies to audit the balance sheet, profit distribution report and report on the results of the audit at general meetings of shareholders. However, the law did not indicate what kind of inspection this should be - by one’s own (internal) auditors or invited from outside. Due to the fact that the Gründer fever after 1870 led to the creation and rapid collapse of many joint-stock companies, German law provided for external audit.
On August 14, 1884, following the example of English auditors, the institute of accountants-auditors arose in Germany (however, in his book “Essays on the History of Accounting” Yaroslav Vyacheslavovich Sokolov notes that “... the nationalist tendency attributed the emergence of the profession to the 18th century and even to the times Hanse". Similar institutions, not without the influence of the German tradition, were organized in Christiania (Oslo), Vienna, Budapest, Zurich, Riga, Helsingfors. The accountant-auditor was called a trigender. German researchers assessed the activities of trigender differently. “The triplegender is not only a representative in the legal sense, but also a confidant, friend, adviser, assistant, in short - a right hand, a faithful hand, which works for us where we ourselves entrust or where the conditions of place, time, personal, economic, material we are prevented from doing everything ourselves and where we need a third party, namely a trigender.”
R. Stern and R. Beigel, among other scientists, were German scientists who made significant contributions to the development of business analysis and balance sheet analysis. The German school distinguished three areas of study of balance:
1) economic analysis;
2) legal analysis, which led to the creation of an accounting audit;
3) popularization of knowledge about the balance sheet among shareholders.
It was in Germany at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that an original scientific direction arose - balance science. According to Y. Sokolov, the emergence of balance science was due to three factors:
1) the activities of prominent lawyers who created a special branch of law - balance law;
2) promotion of the balance sheet as the fundamental initial concept of accounting;
3) the need to familiarize the masses of shareholders with the mechanism of the main reporting form - the balance sheet, when studying the structure of the latter.
At the same time, the merit of German lawyers was the formulation of the basic requirements for balance:
1) accuracy;
2) completeness;
3) clarity;
4) truthfulness;
5) continuity;
6) unity of balance.
Since 1908, special training for accountants and auditors began at the Leipzig Higher Commercial School (training period - 1 year). Only persons with higher economic education and accounting experience were accepted into the department.
Since 1931, joint-stock companies have been required to conduct audits (the obligation to undergo an external audit was formulated in the regulation regarding joint-stock companies). This was due to the fact that the supervisory boards of joint-stock companies did not cope with their responsibility to conduct inspections, especially since the objects of inspections were not only annual reports, but also the entire accounting organization.
In 1932, the Institute of Auditors was created in Germany as a result of the transfer of the functions of the previously existing Institute of Audit and Trusteeship, which existed until 1945. After the end of the Second World War, the Institute of Auditors was formed in Düsseldorf, which in November 1954 was renamed the Institute of Auditors in Germany. During this time, the Düsseldorf Institute, carrying out professional activities throughout Germany, gained high prestige, which allowed it to become a pan-German organization.
The objectives of the Institute of Auditors are to promote the development of the auditing profession and provide the country with audit personnel, to develop uniform professional principles and standards, and compliance with these standards by all representatives of the auditing profession.
Currently, the Institute of Auditors voluntarily includes about 5,600 auditors and 600 audit organizations, i.e. approximately 80% of all representatives of this profession. The main condition of membership is voluntary but strict adherence to professional rules, including compliance with ethical standards
Currently, the term “wirtschaftsprüfer” is used to designate the audit profession in Germany, which literally means “controller of the economy.” This term is protected by law, and all others that were previously used in the course of the historical development of Germany (auditor, financial inspector, etc.) are not found in professional use: “according to the German Civil Code, the origins of which go back to 1896 and which, modified in in accordance with the requirements of the modern era, the form also applies in Germany, the auditor is a representative of a free profession, his task is “to carry out production and economic control, especially the annual financial reports of enterprises, and to provide information on the results of such control.”
State influence on auditing activities in Germany is complemented by the fact that all auditors and audit firms must be members of the Audit Chamber. The responsibility of the Chamber of Auditors is to protect the professional interests of auditors and promote the growth of the authority of the auditing profession, provide consulting and legal assistance to members of the chamber, improve the qualifications of auditors, monitor audit activities and assist in the training of new audit personnel.
Since January 1, 1986, professional auditing standards have been brought into line with 4, 7 and 8 Directives of the Council of the European Communities, as well as accounting and reporting standards. The right to conduct audits is reserved only for officially authorized auditors - “controllers of the economy”, “sworn controllers of books of accounts”, as well as officially authorized audit firms.
The system of training auditors is very complex, and the requirements for applicants are also high: in order to be admitted to the exam, the candidate must have a higher education in one of several specialties and six years of practical activity in the economic field (with at least four years of participation in the execution of technical or other control functions).
audit control of the enterprise at the end of the financial year (checking the correctness of accounting books, checking annual reports);
audit control of documents of a legal entity during the period of its foundation for compliance with the legislation of the country;
audit control on behalf of the general meeting of shareholders (as a rule, certain areas of the joint-stock company’s activities, and not all);
audit control of certain segments of business and financial activities (in particular, deposited securities in credit institutions);
audits to detect violations, including control checks of an ongoing nature, preventive checks to prevent possible violations;
control check of the entire enterprise or part of it (for example, in case of sale).
In France, there are two main organizations involved in the management of auditing activities in the country - the Chamber of Expert Accountants and Certified Accountants and the Society of Account Commissioners. The main differences between expert accountants and account commissioners are that expert accountants are invited to conduct audits of accounting and reporting, while account commissioners are mandatory appointed to joint stock companies in accordance with the legislation on joint stock companies. Every joint stock company must have an appointed account commissioner, and if the company is required to publish consolidated accounts, there must be at least two commissioners.
Accounts commissioners audit the financial statements of joint-stock companies and issue certificates on the reports, confirming their accuracy and validity with entries in the accounting accounts. Therefore, the activities of account commissioners are quite strictly regulated by the ordinance of September 19, 1945. The activities of an expert accountant are not so strictly regulated by the state. They are mainly engaged in ongoing consultations on accounting, management and legal issues; in addition, they are engaged in setting up accounting records and establishing an internal control system. Accounting experts can perform the functions of account commissioners only in a company other than the one to which consulting services were provided or accounting was established or improved.
As in other countries with market economies, the development of auditing led to the emergence of specializations - from among auditors, traditionally called expert accountants, specialists in tax, legal consulting, and management emerged.
The Chamber of Expert Accountants and Chartered Accountants brings together audit institutions and individual auditors at the national and regional levels. It officially represents all audit organizations operating in France in relations with international organizations. Scientific, methodological and organizational work in the field of audit is carried out by the French Institute of Expert Accountants with residence in Paris, which publishes a magazine covering accounting and auditing problems. The National Accounting Council, which is an advisory body to the Minister of Economy and Finance, has a decisive influence on accounting in France. It has 80 members, most of whom are expert accountants, account commissioners, and chief accountants of enterprises.
In France, state regulation of auditing is quite strong (this can be noted in the example of the appointment of account commissioners in joint-stock companies); the state exercises direct control over the formation of audit personnel, their professional training and current activities.
According to Italy, it is one of the countries where state regulation of auditing is highly developed. At the end of January 1992, a government decree was adopted in Italy according to which only those persons who are included in the registered register under the control of the Ministry of Justice can carry out legal auditing activities. Applicants for the title of auditor must have diplomas of higher economic, legal, commercial education or secondary accounting education with at least three years of practical experience. To qualify for auditing, applicants must pass exams in accounting, law, computing and computer science. The examinations are also controlled by the Ministry of Justice
In Italy, as in France, auditors are divided into two categories: the verification and confirmation of financial statements is carried out by the so-called “dottori commercialisti”, and the organization of accounting and ongoing advice on accounting matters is carried out by the “ragionieri” (see commissioners of accounts and expert accountants in France)
In conclusion, it should be noted that currently in the EU countries there is a process of unification of accounting and auditing associated with the intensification of the process of European integration and the introduction of a single European currency - the euro. The 8th Directive of the Council of the European Communities of April 10, 1984 is devoted to the problem of harmonization of auditing activities in the United Europe. All qualification requirements must be uniform and auditors who have passed the exams and received the right to work in their country will have the right to work in other countries included into the European Community. However, this process is complicated by the fact that the rating of the audit profession, although quite high in all EU member countries, but the payment for audit services varies greatly depending on the country.
1.3 Characteristics of modern audit theories
After a brief review of the history of the development of auditing as a type of activity, we will dwell on some theoretical aspects of modern auditing. As in any science, there are different scientific areas in auditing, different rates of economic development, features of the national system of accounts and financial legislation have a significant impact on the development of scientific areas in the development of audit theory and methods. However, the problems of unification of accounting reporting, the increasing and increasing interpenetration of the economies and finances of more developed countries into less developed ones, the development of transnational corporations, the widespread use of computer technologies in business and finance, the creation of a United Europe lead to the need for unification and standardization of financial reporting and, accordingly, highlight Particularly important issues include the unification of auditing standards, theoretical aspects and methods of training auditors.
Let's consider modern audit theories. In auditing, three areas of theory can be distinguished:
– comparison with accounting registers;
– comparison with primary documents;
– checking the logical linkage of reporting data (collation);
– direct comparison of accounting data with the actual property status of the enterprise (inventory).
Within this theory, there were two alternative approaches to direct sequential auditing:
– from documents to reporting;
– from reporting to documents.
Continuing and developing the approach of Lawrence Dixie, representatives of this theory saw their task in revealing voluntary and involuntary errors that penetrated into the report being checked.
The set of views presented received the metaphorical names of the police theory or the “watchdog” theory, according to which the auditor is a “watchdog”, protecting the property of the owners, i.e. the audit is carried out in the interests of the owners, and the role of the audit is limited to verifying the actual existence of events that took place in the past and establishing their accuracy. The auditor answers the question of what really is, but, unfortunately, the disadvantage of this theory is that by the time the potential investor gets acquainted with the opinion of the auditor, this opinion is already outdated.
In the first quarter of the 20th century, the theory of controlling arose, according to which the purpose of the audit shifts from “dead documents” to the “living organization” of internal control in the audited company. Here we see a reorientation of the “watchdog” to the role of a “sniffer dog”, which should show the owner how effectively the hired administration worked. An example is given that clearly shows the differences between the two theories presented.
Let's consider the following situation: the company received X rubles in profit for the reporting year and analyze this fact according to these theories.
Federal Law “On Auditing Activities” dated December 8, 2008 No. 307-FZ // SZ RF. 2001. Art. 5.
Federal Law “On Auditing Activities” dated August 7, 2001 No. 119-FZ (as amended by Federal Laws dated December 14, 2001 No. 164-FZ, dated December 30, 2001 No. 196-FZ, dated December 30, 2004 No. 219-FZ, dated 02.02 .2006 No. 19-FZ, dated 03.11.2006 No. 183-FZ, dated 30.12.2008 No. 307-FZ) // SZ RF, 13.08.2001, No. 33 (part I), art. 3422.
Alborov R.A. Audit in organizations of industry, trade and agro-industrial complex. - M.: Publishing House "Delo and Service", 2008. - 464 p.
Andreev V.D. Practical audit: Reference manual - M.: Economics, 2007. - 336 p.
Arens A., Lobbeck J. Audit. / Per. from English; Ch. ed. series by prof. I'M IN. Sokolov. - M.: Finance and Statistics, 2005. - 560 p.
Audit Montgomery/F.L. Defliz, G.R. Jenik, W.M.O., Reilly, M.B. Hirsch. / Per. from English edited by I'M IN. Sokolova. - M.: Audit, UNITY, 2007. - 542 p.
Audit: Textbook for universities / V.I. Podolsky, G.B. Polyak, A.A. Savin, L.V. Sotnikov / Ed. prof. V.I. Podolsky. - M.: Audit, UNITY, 2007. - 432 p.
Bogomolov A.M., Goloshchapov N.A. Internal audit. Organization and methodology. - M.: Exam, 2009. - 192 p.
Accounting and audit portfolio (Entrepreneur's Book. Accountant's Book. Auditor's Book) / Responsible. ed. Yu.B. Rubin, V.I. Soldatkin. - M.: SOMINTEK, 2008. - 752 p.
2014-11-02
Dyakonova A. Auditing practice abroad. On the professional status of the auditor in Germany / Audit statements, 8. - No. 4. AUDIT LETTER Conduct a comparative analysis of ISA 610 “Review of the work of internal audit” and the Rules (standard) of auditing activities “Study and use of the work of internal audit”. Approved by the Commission on Auditing under the President of the Russian Federation on April 27, 1999. Protocol No. 3 REASONS FOR ORGANIZATIONS USING HR AUDIT. ROLE AND OBJECTIVES OF HR AUDIT IN THE MARKET OF AUDITING AND CONSULTING SERVICES Goals and objectives of audit planning
After conducting a detailed audit of the enterprise, the “watchdogs” claim that the actual profit is equal to the accounting profit (or differs extremely slightly, without significant tax consequences). The audit is considered completed.
The task of the “snoops” comes down to examining the activities of the administration, management decisions, to show the owners that if the administration had worked more efficiently, it could have received not X, but (X + D), but if it had worked worse or more honestly (there is kind of more honest in relation to taxation), then the profit could be less, i.e. X - D. In this case, audit procedures are reduced to indirect methods that reveal weaknesses in management and the auditor’s attention is focused on the fact that it is these weaknesses that must be checked. In this case, we are not talking about eliminating all deviations, including violations of accounting rules, but about their significance. Material (or significant, significant) deviations are those that can have an impact on management decisions, so the auditor must identify them. Within the framework of this theory, the mechanism of enterprise management is revealed, it makes it possible to reveal unused reserves, but it also has its drawbacks, in particular the fact that the degree of objectivity of the reporting data is reduced.
The development of this theory was the behavioral approach, according to which the auditor’s behavior is predetermined by incentives and he must have an appropriate reaction to each incentive. The main features include the fact that the most important procedures are:
tests, and testing subjective behavior is even more important than testing documents; risk, because the calculation of uncertainty under which certain decisions are made is the basis of the auditor’s work.
The “guide dog” theory is based on subjective assessments and makes it possible to find out what lies behind the documents outside the recorded facts of economic life, while it is directed not to the past, but to the future. It is within the framework of this theory that stochastic methods are widely used and is focused entirely on mathematical disciplines - probability theory, information theory, linear programming, game theory, as well as some techniques of the “direct costing” system in accounting.
In the monograph “Evidence in Auditing” S.M. Bychkova identifies a slightly different (more detailed) classification of audit theories, in which six theories are distinguished:
2. Main stages and development of audit in Russia
2.1 History of the formation of audit in Russia
In pre-Petrine Russia, at the state level there naturally existed functions of control over the completeness of tax payment, since state income was largely due to a fairly developed tax system. Control was mainly due to the fact that taxation of the population was quite burdensome, so attempts to evade taxation naturally arose. In this regard, the tax system is gradually being improved, making it possible to more accurately take into account planned government revenues and control their receipt. Under Alexei Mikhailovich and at the beginning of the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich, household lists, called “census books,” were compiled throughout the state, according to which newly introduced taxes were collected, the so-called “household taxation,” which replaced the previously existing “cow letter,” i.e. payment of taxes by the agricultural population according to this ancient land cadastre.
At the same time, the receipt of taxes is concentrated in the orders - the Streletsky, Yamsky and Great Orders, and in each of them control functions took place in relation to ensuring the collection of taxes. Under Peter I, the taxation system changed; after a complete census of the population, a taxation system based on the capitation tax was introduced, and a reform of public administration took place. Peter I put the Senate at the head of financial management, a chamber board was established to manage state revenues, a state office board (or tats office) was established to manage expenses, and an audit office was established to check accounts and reports. However, the specialization of tax collection has been preserved, with each of them being intended for a specific branch of management. Peter I paid great attention to improving public administration, as well as control over state revenues and expenses. One of the decrees of 1722 prescribes that auditors should be sent annually to the provinces to conduct inspections.
According to some sources, the title of auditor in Russia was introduced precisely by Peter I. The position of auditor combined the separate responsibilities of a prosecutor, a clerk and a secretary. As noted by V.D. Andreev, “the institute of auditors was introduced into the army, where they dealt with matters related to the investigation of property disputes.”
As is known, Peter I contributed to the development of many branches of knowledge. He also contributed to the development of accounting and auditing. P.I. Kamyshanov provides information that the evidentiary value of the document was recognized long ago. An interesting description of the role of the document was formulated by Peter I in a letter to A.D. Menshikov. “Before an important matter, ask the generals for their opinion in writing. So that when they lose a battle, they don’t say that they advised differently.”
The era of Peter I was also characterized by a deficit-free state budget. The introduction of the poll tax, control over the collection and expenditure of tax funds, the role of the personality of Peter himself led to the fact that state revenues were constantly growing and despite the enormous costs, the Russian state managed with its own income and, as historian S.M. Soloviev, “did not make a penny of debt.” According to, “Peter subordinated the administrative mechanism to double crown control: secret over finances - the fiscals and overt over the courts - the prosecutor’s office, the top leadership of both was concentrated in the hands of the prosecutor general,” and “the first audit was carried out in 1719”
The successors of Peter I did not make a significant contribution to the matter of control and audit; due to the constant waging of wars, as well as for a number of other reasons, the state budget was in deficit.
During the reign of Alexander I, the Ministry of Finance, the State Treasury (the position of state treasurer was approved under Paul I), state control, a debt repayment commission, etc. were established.
During the period of nationwide reforms associated with the beginning of the reign of Alexander II, the financial situation of the state was rather deplorable; the budget, starting from 1845, was in deficit, and there was chaos in financial management. This caused the need for reform and in 1859 two commissions were established: one under state control - to draw up rules on the procedure for accounting, reporting and auditing, the other - under the Ministry of Finance - to revise taxes and fees. As a result, on May 22, 1862, rules were approved for the preparation and approval of state lists and financial estimates of ministries and main departments; in 1863, the so-called “cash rules” were issued, i.e. rules on the procedure for receiving state revenue, as well as accounting rules, introduced everywhere since 1866. At the same time, a new reporting and audit procedure was established on the basis of documents justifying each item of expenditure; in 1864, new local control institutions were opened - control chambers. Estimated cash rules created the unity of the budget, the direction of loans for their intended purpose, and unspent balances into general government funds, the limitation of over-limit loans and a system of cash unity, according to which the cash registers of the Ministry of Finance became the common spenders of all government departments. These principles were supplemented by the principle of publicity of state reporting (since 1862) and since 1866 - reporting of state control (until 1862, the amount of state revenues and expenses was a closely guarded secret).
Auditors in Russia were called chartered accountants. However, mainly in Russia the concepts of “auditor” and “controller” were used. In addition, the term “revision” was traditionally used in Russia in the meaning of “population census”; the results of the census were revision tales” - personalized lists of the population for accounting and taxation purposes. The “revision tales” compiled for settlements included all residents, indicating their age and marital status, and their souls for taxation purposes; the capitation tax was considered “living” even in the event of death until the next revision. This is where the idea of “dead souls” came from.
On October 18, 1889, the founding meeting of the Society was held in St. Petersburg to disseminate commercial knowledge; from January 1896, the magazine “Accounting” became the printed organ of the Society. One of the remarkable initiatives of the Society was the attempt to create the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Russia. It was assumed that it would include persons who received certificates of successfully passing exams from specially created district commissions. The Institute's Charter was prepared. However, the Society existed until 1917, but the institute was never created.
On October 2, 1892, the Society of Accountants was created in Moscow, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which held three accounting congresses - in 1891 - 92 in Moscow, in 1897 in Kyiv, in 1989 in Moscow. In 1916, after the death of its founder F.V. Yezersky's society ceased to exist. The end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century was marked by the emergence in many large and medium-sized cities of public organizations of accountants, promoting the dissemination of knowledge and the employment of accountants, however, the issue of the emergence of auditing as a profession was not raised.
Three attempts were made to organize a professional association - an institute in 1889 - 1899, 1907 - 1912 and 1928 - 30, but for various reasons these attempts were not successful.
After the revolution, during the period of state regulation of the economy in the USSR, there was no audit. The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of April 15, 1936 “On intradepartmental financial control and documentary audit of institutions, enterprises, economic organizations and construction” defined the functions of state control and intradepartmental control bodies.
Under the Ministry of Finance there was a Control and Audit Department (KRU), and ministries and departments had the same departments. In Soviet times, ministries and departments, on the basis of standard instructions, developed and agreed with the Ministry of Finance sectoral instructions on the procedure for conducting comprehensive audits (the standard instructions were last sent by the USSR Ministry of Finance on September 14, 1978 (letter No. 85). This document prescribed annual inspections of enterprises , consisting of economic accounts.
2.2 Main stages of audit development in Russia
The beginning of the modern stage of audit development in Russia was directly related to the transition to market methods of economic management. On May 26, 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Law “On Cooperation in the USSR”, Article 10 of which defined the principles of the activities of cooperatives, Article 32 - the organization of accounting, reporting and control, internal audits, as well as control by financial authorities. According to this Law, economic entities immediately began to appear, but a problem arose due to the fact that there were no tax control bodies as such; the created economic entities were not state property. In addition, market reforms have led to the intensification of foreign economic activity of new economic entities, the emergence of joint ventures, and the need arose for appropriate structures that would provide consulting services, as well as audit activities. Since audit services were present in every ministry and department (KRU), from the employees of these services they tried to create control and audit groups operating on the principle of self-financing; in addition, cooperatives specializing in the provision of consulting services appeared, mainly consisting of former employees of audit bodies . However, the activities of these organizations were insignificant, which is largely due to the lack of a regulatory and legal framework.
An important step in the development of audit can be called the creation of the joint-stock company “Inaudit”. The need for its creation was caused by the rapid growth of foreign economic activity, as well as the creation of joint ventures. On January 13, 1987, in order to further develop trade and economic cooperation with capitalist and developing countries, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a resolution “On the procedure for creating on the territory of the USSR and the activities of joint ventures with the participation of Soviet organizations and firms of capitalist and developing countries” (No. 49).
To carry out such audits, qualified specialists were needed who spoke foreign languages and had knowledge of Western accounting and taxation standards. On September 8, 1987, a special resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the creation of a Soviet audit organization” was adopted, which established JSC “Inaudit” on the basis of the Main Directorate of Currency Control of the USSR Ministry of Finance. The composition of shareholders was as follows:
– Ministry of Finance of the USSR - 55%;
– Ministry of Foreign Trade - 10%;
– State Bank of the USSR - 5%;
– 5% of the largest foreign trade All-Union associations, such as Avtoexport, Stankoimport, Sovfrakht, Sovrybflot, etc.
JSC Inaudit had 10 departments in its structure that provided services to joint ventures operating in the USSR and abroad. It should be noted that in 1991, Inaudit, like many enterprises, was privatized, individuals became co-owners, many specialists left Inaudit and created their own companies that exist now.
Despite the fact that Inaudit was formally a joint-stock company, at its core it remained a state structure; the largest shareholders were the state represented by its ministers. However, foreign investors (as is their custom) demanded an opinion from audit firms regarding the activities of joint ventures. Since the market niche for audit services was practically empty, Western audit firms focused their efforts on this market. The first was one of the largest (that is, from the “Big Six”) - Ernst & Young, which created the Ernst & Young Vneshaudit joint venture in January 1990. Subsequently, all the largest audit firms penetrated the audit services market and firmly occupy their positions, despite the processes that take place in their central offices (these are processes of mergers and reorganizations).
Already at the very early stage of audit development in Russia, attempts were made to develop methodological support (in 1989, the USSR Ministry of Finance, the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the UN Center for Transnational Corporations held a seminar in Moscow on the problems of accounting, auditing and financial management in joint ventures ). Since 1989, the training of auditors began at several universities.
The process of market formation gradually took place audit services. At the same time, public organizations uniting accountants and auditors appeared, in particular, the Association of Accountants and Auditors of the USSR, which was later transformed into the Association of Accountants and Auditors.
In his book “Audit” A. Terekhov writes: “In 1991, together with the Congress of Business Circles, the All-Russian Congress of Audits was held, which was attended by 180 representatives of Russian audit firms.”
The first contribution to the regulation of auditing was made by the Central Bank - on February 6, 1991, the “Regulations on auditing activities in banks” were approved. The section “Audit enterprises (organizations) and auditors” regulated in sufficient detail: who can engage in auditing activities in banks; rights of auditing enterprises; responsibilities of audit firms; the procedure for drawing up conclusions; responsibility of audit firms.
The third section of the document regulates the activities of banking audit councils and their functions.
Thus, we see that the Central Bank began to deal with the methodology and organization of audits before the Ministry of Finance. Until now (in all likelihood, due to precisely this beginning), the Central Bank is in charge of regulating audit activities in the field of banking audit and has even begun work on standardizing banking audits. On September 8 (Minutes No. 4), the Expert Committee of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Minutes No. 4) approved Rule (Standard) No. 1 of auditing activities in the field of banking audit “The procedure for drawing up an audit report on the reliability of the financial statements of a credit organization prepared based on the results of the year’s activities.”
The State Committee of the Russian Federation for State Property Management also made its contribution to the development of audit. Order No. 2078-r dated November 30, 1993 “On the organization of training and certification of auditors for check investment funds” determined the form of the certificate for organizations receiving the rights to conduct training, exams and issue certificates for auditors of check investment funds. At the same time, the Moscow Regional Union of Consultants and Auditors was among the organizations allowed to conduct training.
Finally, the moment has come for the beginning of state participation in regulating auditing in Russia. On December 22, 1993, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 2263 “On auditing activities in the Russian Federation” was signed, from which the formation of a regulatory framework for auditing begins. This decree approved the “Temporary Rules for Auditing in the Russian Federation” and introduced certification of auditors and licensing. In addition, paragraph 4 of the Decree concerns the formation of the Audit Commission under the President of the Russian Federation.
However, auditing activities do not cancel financial control carried out by the Control Department of the Ministry of Finance, the State Tax Service and other control bodies.
On May 6, 1994, in pursuance of Decree No. 2263, Resolution No. 482 of the Government of the Russian Federation was adopted “On approval of regulatory documents for regulating auditing activities in the Russian Federation”, clarifying guarantees of independence of auditors, regulating the procedure for certifying auditors, the procedure for issuing licenses (changed, see above) . At the same time, in order to organize licensing work, it is stipulated that the Commission on Auditing Activities under the President of the Russian Federation issues general licenses: to the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation - for licensing the audit of exchanges, extra-budgetary funds, investment institutions and general audit; Federal Service of Russia for Supervision of Insurance Activities - for licensing the audit of insurance organizations and mutual insurance companies; The Central Bank of the Russian Federation - for licensing of banking audits.
The fourth stage of audit development began with the adoption of the Federal Law No. 119-FZ “On Auditing Activities” on August 7, 2001. The adoption of the Federal Law confirmed the final establishment of auditing in Russia, made it possible to adopt a number of legal acts to regulate auditing activities in Russia, and take a step towards integrating Russian auditing into the international auditing system.
In the field of standardization of auditing activities during 2002-2006. The Government of the Russian Federation has adopted 31 federal standards. In 2007, it is planned to complete the development of a priority package of 39 standards that comply with International Standards on Auditing (ISA). In accordance with the Work Plan of the Audit Council in 2006–2008. The preparation of methods 2 for conducting audits in accordance with this plan is also ongoing. Currently, the Council has approved six such methodological recommendations: on collecting audit evidence in a specific case (inventory); on collecting audit evidence when checking the correctness of the formation of insurance reserves; to verify income tax and obligations to the budget when conducting an audit and providing related services; on collecting audit evidence of the reliability of inventory indicators in the financial statements; on collecting audit evidence when checking calculations for value added tax; on organizing internal quality control of audit services.
The development of methodological recommendations for the audit of credit institutions and banking (consolidated) groups continues, taking into account the approval by the Council of the progress of work on the preparation of a draft methodological recommendation for the audit of the bank’s loan portfolio. During the preparation of the project, the relevant commission is taking steps aimed at strengthening coordination of work with the Bank of Russia.
The adoption of the new Federal Law “On Auditing Activities” is due to the transition from licensing of these activities to self-regulation in this area. Licensing of audit activities will be abolished from January 1, 2010. At the same time, mandatory membership of individual auditors and audit organizations in self-regulatory audit associations will be introduced. These associations will be entrusted with the functions of maintaining a register of auditors and audit organizations, improving the qualifications of auditors and monitoring the quality of work of individual auditors and audit organizations. Thus, state regulation of auditing activities will mainly be reduced to the development of state policy and legal regulation in this area, maintaining a state register of self-regulatory organizations of auditors, and analyzing the state of the audit services market in the Russian Federation. Additional requirements are established for auditors and audit organizations (in particular, for length of service in an audit organization, the presence of an impeccable business reputation, the authorized capital of audit organizations), designed to improve the quality of audit services and ensure the independence of auditors and audit organizations. In order to support small businesses, the requirements for the number of auditors in an audit organization have been reduced, individual auditors are allowed to conduct mandatory audits. A unified auditor qualification certificate is being introduced, which will give auditors the right to conduct audits in any sector of the economy. The procedure for the activities of self-regulatory organizations of auditors is regulated in detail. The federal law came into force on January 1, 2009, with the exception of certain provisions for which a later date of entry into force is provided.
Conclusion
Having briefly analyzed the development of auditing in developed countries and having examined audit theories, we can agree with the conclusions of many authors, in particular L.I. Voronina that “until the end of the 40s, audit mainly consisted of checking documentation confirming recorded monetary transactions and the correct grouping of these transactions in financial statements and was called confirmatory audit, and the period of its formation is the first stage of audit development. Characterizing this stage, we can say that audit in the classical sense of the word was external, independent, non-departmental financial control of the activities of economic entities (companies)…
In the second stage of audit development, after 1949, independent auditors (external auditors) began to pay more attention to issues of internal control in companies, believing that with an effective internal control system, the likelihood of errors is negligible and, therefore, financial data and reports are sufficiently complete and accurate. Auditing firms began to engage in more consulting activities than direct audits. This audit is called system-oriented, as it made it possible to observe the systems that control the operations of the internal control system.
Currently, the third stage of audit development is observed - risk-based audit. When conducting audits or consulting, audit firms first of all calculate the possible risk. As a rule, audits are currently carried out selectively - mainly where the risk of error (or fraud) is greatest.
Like all scientific theories, audit theories have their positive and negative sides. Consequently, the tasks of auditing as a scientific direction in Russia clearly follow - on the basis of the richest world experience, taking into account the national characteristics of the economy, to develop theoretical approaches, as well as on the basis of studying world experience in regulating auditing activities by introducing standards, to develop a system of standards that allows regulating auditing and using in practice all the latest scientific achievements.
However, before considering auditing in Russia, it is necessary to trace its historical roots.