Audits help to recheck the financial records of a business to see if they are accurate or not. How? Auditors check the transactions made by your business and recorded in books of accounts systematically. All the audits look at are the accounting books and financial statements for public companies and businesses, most of which have to go through the auditing of accounts once every year, mandated by law.
If you are a small business owner, then there are a few things that you must keep in your mind while for auditing of accounts. You need to maintain clear accounting books throughout the year, these books should have the clear expenses of your business and its income. If you don’t have clear accounting books, then your auditing may be held in more detail as a special case and difficulties may arise.
Audits are important as they help to give you a clear picture of your expenses, any error in accounting, and help you keep a check on your business.
The origin of auditing
Auditing is an important tool that can be used to ensure the reliability of financial records and the integrity of financial transactions. The use of auditing dates back centuries, when the practice of auditing was first used in China.
The practice of auditing spread to India and the Middle East by the 9th century, and it is around this time that the word “audit” was first used. In China, auditing was used to ensure that tax was paid correctly and that the government was not being overcharged. Auditing was also used to ensure that the records of the emperor were accurate, and the emperor’s officials were honest with their records.
Through the use of auditing, the Chinese government was able to create a more stable financial system. Auditing is used today by governments, businesses, and not-for-profit organizations. It is used to ensure that records are correct, to prevent fraud and corruption, and to keep business and governments accountable.
Why do we need accounting?
Accounting is a very important segment of the business world and it is one of the most important things that determines how successful and stable the business is. The simple reason behind this is that accounting helps in keeping a track on the financial records of the company, which in turn helps determine the performance of the business.
It is the process of recording, categorizing and summarizing financial information. Accounting includes both financial and managerial accounting and in most cases, it is the financial accounting which helps in managing the financial records of an organization. This helps in determining the health of the organization and helps in determining the business strategies.
Accounting is one of the fundamental pillars of a business, because it shows the financial health of the business. With the help of financial reports, the owner of the company can analyze the financial situation and make the necessary decisions.
It is important that the information provided by accounting is reliable and accurate. If the financial reports are of bad quality, it may lead to financial losses. Therefore, the quality of the accounting is very important for the business.
What is the importance of auditing?
Auditing is an important activity in any business. As a business grows, you’ll need to evaluate how well your business is doing, whether you have the right systems in place, and whether you have the right people in place.
Without auditing, you might find that you have a lot of problems that you’re not aware of, and you won’t know how to fix them. Auditing is the process of evaluating your business’s processes, systems, and personnel to make sure that everything is working well together.
An audit should happen every year, or even every quarter if there are a lot of changes happening in the business. This will help to keep everything on track. If you’re starting a business, it’s recommended that you include the audit process in your business plan and follow it throughout the business’s life.
Accounting vs. Auditing: What’s the Difference?
The two terms accounting and auditing are often used interchangeably. However, the main difference between accounting and auditing is that accounting is the process of recording and analyzing the financial transactions of a company or an individual in a business, while auditing is the process of examining and verifying the accuracy, authenticity and completeness of the financial transaction of a company or an individual.
What skills are needed to become an auditor?
The work of auditors varies greatly depending on the size of the company, industry and the nature of the audit. Auditors need to be inquisitive, analytical and methodical. They need to be able to deal with stress, and have a good eye for detail. They also need to be able to work under strict deadlines, and work well within a team as well as on their own.
What are different types of audit?
There are many different types of audits that are carried out for a multitude of purposes. The most common type of audit is a financial audit. This is carried out by an independent accountant and is usually performed on a yearly basis. This type of audit is carried out on a company’s accounts in order to ensure they are giving an accurate and precise account of the financial status of the company.
However, there are also many other types of audit which are carried out for different purposes. For example, a service audit is carried out on a business’s services. This type of audit is to ensure that the business is providing their services in a professional, efficient and consistent manner.
There is also a quality audit which ensures that a company is producing high quality products. Some other examples of common auditing services include an environmental audit, a political audit, a health and safety audit, a legal audit, an IT audit and a security audit.
Internal vs external audits?
The internal audit is a review process conducted or overseen by a company’s management, usually for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of the company’s systems of internal control.
The internal audit can be conducted by members or employees of the company, but it is increasingly the policy of larger organizations to engage the services of an outside firm to perform the examination.
The internal audit may be conducted in connection with the financial audit of the company’s financial statements (the statement of financial position, the statement of financial performance and the statement of cash flows). The internal audit is a part of the overall corporate governance.
An internal audit is a type of management review that is conducted within an organization. It is usually led by the company’s management, who are best suited to assess the company’s projects and operations to ensure that they comply with the company’s policies and procedures.
An external audit is conducted by an independent auditor who is not employed by the company, and is usually in the form of an opinion of the company’s financial statements.
Accounting and Auditing
It doesn’t matter how small or big a business is, keeping a check of all the transactions ever made will always be tiring, and annoying, but it is a must. Accounting helps you with this, as it balances and tracks the business. Accounting checks all the transactions being made from every aspect and gives the results. the financial Activities and its track checking are essential as it helps to manage the company.
You can keep yourself updated with the company’s conditions with the help of accounting. Accounting detects the inaccuracy, and accuracy of financial activities and tells about the necessary steps to take. information given by accounting can prove to be helpful in the long term.
How It Works
Audits have many types, but here we are talking about general auditing where meetings are held with private and public corporations. For the public companies, the audits are held independently so that their annual financial reportings are validated.
But as far as the privately owned corporations are concerned, the audits are not required legally but they are still important. While auditing, not one financial statement is examined but all are, like the income statement, expenses statement, and even the balance sheet.
Stakeholders and regulatory agencies are provided with reports after the audit, who know how the money was spent, earned, or wasted throughout the year. An audit can go even up to a few months, or a whole year, it entirely depends on the company size. Audits give professional opinion about the auditing of the accounts and their reports, and also what should be done to accurate the error.
Skills Required for Auditing of Accounts
There are a few things you need when auditing the accounts and if you don’t have them, the auditing is affected.
You need to have strong communication skills so that you could talk to your team members and the auditee about the problems you found in recording.
You also need a strong eye-detection to find the inaccuracy in the auditing accounts.
After that, when the problem has been detected, you must how to solve it and find all the possible solutions.
But in all these steps, you must have a time management idea. You must be ready for anything every time.
The last but not the least thing is that you have to be confident so others listen and value your opinions as well. This will make people believe that something actually is wrong with the auditing
Phases of Auditing of Accounts
There are four total phases of auditing of accounts that any small business has to go through once every year. Not only will it make you a clean recorder of your small details, but will help your business bottom line immensely.
- The first phase is the planning and the preparations. In this, all the preparations are made beforehand, like the clients and the auditors, the head auditor, its program manager, so that the interested parties have an audit to their clients’ objective. In this phase, the audit is conducted with the thoughts of the audit itself and even ends on audits too.
- The second phase is the execution of the said audit. In the audit, we called the execution fieldwork. In this phase, all the data, from the start to the end of the audit meeting is gathered. It has a lot of activities, like meeting up with the auditors, on-site management, and the understanding of the process and the controls, to see if they work, communicate, both with the team members, and the auditee.
- After that, in the third phase, the auditing report is made, stating all the records, their accuracy, and inaccuracy. This data then helps to make decisions on the current issues and what to implement to better the organizational issues. But what is the purpose of auditing? Auditing helps to give clear data to help you communicate the results and how to improve them for the next time. Audits end whenever the steps for the betterment are taken, or when the auditee has reviewed the results.
- The last phase is the audit follow-up and closure. As I said before, an audit ends whenever the necessary steps are taken, this is called audit follow-up and closure. In this, the auditee must agree with the audit client. These follow-ups and closures affect the subsequent audit greatly.
