Иқтисодий таҳлил ва аудит

CPA FIRMS

Audited financial statements submitted to the SEC or to other stakeholders are audited by CPAs. These CPAs practice in public accounting firms, many of which are referred to as professional services firms. The largest firms are commonly referred to as "The Big Four." These four firms are: Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. These companies, and many other public accounting firms, typically operate as limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and thus carry the LLP designation in their names. In addition to accounting and auditing services, many CPA firms offer tax and consulting services. These consulting services include systems design, litigation support, pension and benefits consulting, and financial planning.
To ensure independence, CPA firms are not allowed to complete most consulting services for their publicly traded audit clients. Under Section 201 of SOX, it is unlawful for a CPA firm to provide any nonaudit service to an audit client,
including: (1) bookkeeping or other services related to the accounting records or financial statements of the audit client; (2) financial information systems design and implementation; (3) appraisal or valuation services, fairness opinions, or contribution-in-kind reports; (4) actuarial services; (5) internal audit outsourcing services; (6) management functions or human resources; (7) broker or dealer, investment adviser, or investment banking services; (8) legal services and expert services unrelated to the audit; (9) any other service that the Board determines, by regulation, is impermissible. (http://www.aicpa.org/info/sarbanes_oxley_summary.htm)

GENERALLY ACCEPTED AUDITING STANDARDS

External auditors must follow generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) when performing financial statement audits. These ten broad standards include three general requirements for the individual CPA, three standards for fieldwork, and four reporting standards. Authoritative guidance regarding the application of these ten general standards is provided in Statements on Auditing Standards, which are issued by the AICPA's Auditing Standards Board.
The general standards require CPAs to be proficient in accounting and auditing, to be independent from their clients, and to exercise due professional care. Before accepting an audit client, auditors must determine if they will be able to provide the necessary services on a timely basis and must have no financial or managerial relationship with the company whose financial statements are being audited.
The fieldwork standards address what is required when actually performing the audit work. The auditor must plan the engagement and supervise assistants. The auditor must obtain an understanding of the company's internal controls. The auditor must obtain sufficient competent evidence to support the financial statement assertions.
The reporting standards set requirements for the auditor's report. The report must explicitly refer to GAAP and must state an opinion on the financial statements as a whole. If there has been a change in accounting principles used by the company or inadequate disclosure of significant information, the auditor's report should address those issues.
For audits of publicly traded companies, the external auditor must also follow the auditing standards issued by the PCAOB. The first standard essentially adopts GAAS for publicly traded company audits and specifies the intention of the PCAOB to consider changes to GAAS on a go-forward basis. The second standard specifies the audit requirements for the internal control audits completed by external auditors, and the third standard specifies documentation requirements related to the evidential matter gathered on an audit of publicly traded companies.