THE GOVERNANCE ROLE OF AN EXTERNAL AUDITOR
What is an external auditor?
External auditors are employees of a public accounting firm which has been engaged to conduct the audit of a particular company’s financial statements (audit client). The external auditor’s responsibility is to provide assurance to the general public regarding the truth and fairness of the presented financial statement (audit client). Since the public relies heavily upon an audit opinion published by a public accounting firm, to make investment decisions. It is imperative that they view accounting firm as being independent, objective and free from the influence of the audit client or any other parties.
Role of external auditors
External auditors play a critical role in
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This is possible because external auditor’s reports are conducted independent of the company’s finance and affects to the validity of financial reports that may have been released. They ensure that the board may also question the auditor’s views and assessment on the appropriateness of the accounting principles used by a company. So therefore shareholders relay their trust in external auditor’s opinion as it is believed that they act according to the professional rules and also IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) for that reason, the external audit opinion is mostly likely to be treated as a true valid …show more content…
auditors ensures that an organisation does not show or lower amount of profit to pay less taxes or reduce any figures in its financial statement in aim of not paying tax. Auditors automatically reduce government fraud taking place in the country.
Role of external auditor in corporate governance
• Promote accountability
External auditors may introduce measures and policies designed to compel accountability in the workplace for instance, auditors could recommend penalties for office who manipulate financial statement by inflating figures or cooling accounting number penalties for such acts could include stripping the managers of his/her position or his/her compensation such as reducing annual bonuses and even pensions.
• Maintain strong relationship with regulators
The efforts of an external auditors help a good relationship with regulator most regulators or supportive of companies and agencies that appear to have transparent operation. External auditors evaluate the organisation of a company for compliance with regulations. Regulation is also more likely to trust company also closure after an auditor affects to
4. External audits are performed by Third party agent or outside agents. 5. Audit is performed by an organization free from customer supplier
This includes; implementing and maintaining financial control procedures, planning, supervising, offering specialized Advice, obtaining sufficient data, and financial compliance (Petrick, 2016). A CPA’s responsibilities in regards to audit engagements include; planning, testing of controls, substantiation or fieldwork and exit or finalization. The first step in this process is notifying the client that an audit is about to take place. The Auditor will then, gather information to understand the organization, review and evaluate internal control procedures, confirm major transactions and balances and test underlying accounting records (Renitra, 2000). The differences in a CPA’s professional responsibility for consulting engagement and audit engagement is that an consulting engagement focuses one a specific area of an organization whereas an audit engagement focuses on the entire
However, internal audits show findings and recommendations which act as a tool for department heads to take suitable corrective action and help in plugging the loopholes which would otherwise go undetected for a considerable period of time. The external audit lends credibility to the financial reporting process of state and local governments, and an essential element of that process is the independence of the external auditors from the governments they are auditing. Otherwise, those who use governmental financial statements cannot rely on the integrity and objectivity of the auditors’ report.
I can simply answer because I want to be a hero. In my opinion, an auditor is a dark knight that saves the world secretly and silently. An auditor has to commit to do his job professionally as well as ethically. As a matter of fact, there have been many corporate and accounting frauds, such as the WorldCom scandal in 2002 and the Madoff Ponzi scheme in 2008,
Date: 11/17/2014 To: The Director of Internal Audit, Dentistar Inc From: Fahad Albaijan, Staff Auditor Subject: Internal Controls Assessment Report – Western Region Background: Dentistar Inc is a company that was created in 1985 for the purpose of providing dental and orthodontic services to individuals who enjoyed prepaid dental services across the nation. It is imperative to carry out an internal audit of the Western Region’s internal system controls since there have been several reported cases of overdrafts in its operating bank account. Purpose:
Discuss how Relative Audit Contractor Can Impact A Physician Practice? Recovery Audit Contractors can impact a physician practice in several ways which can be both positive and negative depending on various factors, as we about to witness below. The fact that, these contractors are hired by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to audit and recover dollars to put back into the Medicare Trust Fund, these have a huge incentive as they are paid on contingency, and percentage basis.
An Auditor’s report is a report that used to examine the financial statements of a company. Its purpose is to examine the condition of the company and to assist with predicting the future of the company. The textbook uses Bed Bath & Beyond 's Auditor’s report as an example. Within this report, there is an example of an unqualified opinion. It states “the consolidated financial statements…present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc….and the results of their operations and their cash flow…”(Godwin, N. and Alderman, W., 2013, p.41).
Global Level Strategy are strategies that purse international markets (Organizational Strategy). The Naval Audit Service is a Federal Agency that serves the United States Navy and Marne Corps. To expand our competitive advantage in that foreign market, and whether or not it can meet the specific needs of consumers in that foreign market is insensible. Evaluating global expansion, identify opportunities globally that allow the agency to build on its competitive advantages, yet are customized to the local market conditions and realities with consideration of cultural, social, economic, technological, and legal factors (Organizational Strategy). Corporate Level Strategy are to a competitive advantage in the appropriate industry or industries
The professional ethics become a priority in today’s business world. The improvements and regulations towards accounting ethics have been made for the last fifteen years. Since early 2000s, regulators have issued the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), Sections 302 and 404 to oversee the financial reporting, review audit requirements, and impose sanctions for inaccurate disclosure and violation of ethical standards. Following SOX, AICPA, PCAOB, and COSO together with the Institute of Management Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Financial Executives International, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and the American Accounting Association developed models and themes that guide companies on accounting ethics and
5- MARKETING AUDIT: Marketing Audit provides information about internal and external environmental analysis, aims and objectives of marketing activities and organisational structure. 6- INTERNAL & EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OF ASDA: Internal and external environmental analysis is a tool that is used by all companies in today’s intense competitive environment. Internal analysis determines organisational strengths, competitive advantage, and weakness. These could either be a strong supply chain, positive brand image, highly proactive research and development department.
The unrealistic expectations of external users of financial statements to assume that an auditor remains totally impartial to client influence is a conclusion drawn from psychological research. The legal system forms the opposite view and has determined that external users should be able to rely implicitly on an auditor’s determination. Accounting standards have set expectations of auditor independence and neutrality. (Max H. Bazerman, 1997) The entire concept of professional scepticism and its application is the true and fair representation of financial statements to the users of these
Introduction This report is about comparative analysis of the given question ‘Do an accountant need to be ethical?’ This comparative analysis report includes comparison and contrast among the relatable sources used, explained accordingly and the list of references. Simply ethics is a code of fundamental principles so accounting professionals can demonstrate honesty and fairness to maintain the public trust and profession. This comparative analysis report compares and contrasts on how code of conduct or ethics are used, relation with accountants in different cases and sources to support the argument. Source 1: Code of Ethics Na.theiia.org.(2017).
First, internal auditors deter financial fraud just by being there. Individuals are far less likely to attempt to commit fraud when they know that they are under a watchful eye. Second internal auditors place controls on business processes and perform routine tests to make sure that the controls are effective. Finally internal auditors perform in-depth special investigations when irregularities are found and they determine which individuals are creating irregularities.
It also requires that all members of audit, compensation and nominating or governance committees should be independent and also that at least one member of the audit committee must have accounting expertise. These regulations also impose stricter supervision over outside auditors for proper auditing
Professional skepticism depends on the personal behavioral actions. The need for professional skepticism in an audit cannot be overemphasized. Professional skepticism is an essential part of the auditor 's skill and is very closely interrelated to the concept of auditor independences and professional judgement and contributes to audit quality. In addition to professional skepticism is important and required throughout the audit in engagement acceptances, identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement, designing the nature, timing and extent of further audit procedures that are responsive to assessed risks of material misstatement, and evaluating audit evidence, and forming an opinion on whether the financial statements are prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the application financial reporting framework.