Mandatory audit report criteria. Statutory audit: criteria for conducting. Troubleshooting common errors

An audit means an independent examination of the activities of an entrepreneur. This can be carried out either on one’s own initiative or without fail. Who must undergo a mandatory audit in 2019?

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The mandatory audit procedure is aimed primarily at protecting the interests of society. Confirmed accuracy of reporting significantly reduces the risk of dishonest activities of entrepreneurs.

But such a check is also a requirement of the state that must be strictly fulfilled. Who is subject to mandatory audit in 2019?

Required information

But at the same time, there are organizations in which the audit process can be entrusted exclusively to an audit company.

These, in accordance with, include:

• organizations whose securities are traded in organized trading;
• insurance and;
• non-state pension funds;
• organizations in whose authorized capital the state share is not less than twenty-five percent;
• state-owned companies and corporations;
• organizations creating consolidated statements.

At the same time, the law predetermines some nuances of mandatory audit for fully or partially government organizations.

The requirement itself is established in Part 4 of Article 5 of Federal Law No. 307. When choosing an audit organization or a private auditor, you should make sure that he is a member of the SRO of auditors.

The purpose of such a check is defined as the expression of an independent expert’s opinion on the reliability of the reporting. The concept of “accounting or financial statements” is given in.

According to legal requirements, auditing is mandatory in some cases. Organizations subject to mandatory audit are listed in Part 2 of Article 5 of Federal Law No. 307.

An audit can only be carried out by an audit company or an individual auditor who has a license to carry out such activities.

The auditor acquires the right to conduct an audit from the moment information about him is entered into the state register.

Upon completion of the statutory audit, the client must receive two documents:

Which enterprises are subject to mandatory audit

It outlines the main changes regarding statutory audits for 2019. The website also lists cases of mandatory audit of financial statements.

For each listed case, legislative norms and the type of audited reporting are provided. The main list of organizations subject to mandatory audit remained the same in 2019.

Among the innovations, we can note the changes in - now mandatory audit is provided for the financial statements of political parties.

Can a small business be inspected?

The basis of the economy of any state is small and medium-sized businesses. Therefore, legislation pays special attention to this category of entrepreneurs at the federal level.

The division of companies into small and medium-sized ones in the Russian Federation is determined by “On the development of small and medium-sized enterprises...”.

Clause 1.Article 4 of this standard defines the procedure for dividing entities into medium-sized enterprises, small and micro enterprises. Membership in a category is determined by the participation of third parties, the number of employees and the volume of revenue.

To determine the status of a company as a small or medium-sized enterprise, three main conditions must be met:

• the total share of participation in the authorized capital of a third party should not exceed twenty-five percent.
• the average number of employees in the previous year should be:

• Revenue for the previous year should not exceed (revenue amounts are determined):

In accordance with current legislation, some enterprises must undergo an audit once a year.

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Moreover, such a procedure must be carried out in accordance with certain regulatory documents.

The regulation is presented in federal legislation. There are some special criteria for mandatory audit in 2019.

It is worth familiarizing yourself with them, as well as with all sorts of other nuances, in advance. This way you can avoid a large number of different problems and difficulties.

General points

Today, all companies without exception conduct audits. It can be of different types and serve different purposes. It all depends on a large number of different factors. With the help of an audit, it will be possible to solve a large number of different problems.

But first of all, all types of audits can be divided into two main groups:

• optional;
• mandatory.

Non-mandatory audit usually refers to inspections that are carried out on the initiative of the enterprise itself and its individuals. These could be the founders, executive directors, founder - if there is only one.

At the same time, for some enterprises at the legislative level it is necessary to carry out mandatory testing once in a certain period of time.

The reasons for holding such events may vary. Usually, the first thing that is taken into account is the scope of activity of a particular legal entity.

To avoid various kinds of difficulties, you will need to carefully consider the following issues in advance:

• definitions;
• for what purpose is it carried out;
• legal grounds.

Definitions

All aspects related to the statutory audit procedure are reflected in the current legislative norms.

But at the same time, for a correct interpretation, a correct understanding of this kind of procedure, it will be necessary to understand in advance all the terms used.

The basic concepts, the knowledge of which is strictly necessary, include the following:

• audit;
• proactive audit;
• auditing activities;
• auditor;
• types of audit services;
• accounting automation;
• accounting;
• assessment activities.

For what purpose is it carried out?

Regardless of the type of audit required, it allows you to simultaneously solve various types of problems. The main ones today include the following.

With the help of such a check it will be possible to achieve the following goals:

Mandatory audit is assigned to enterprises that, in the opinion of government agencies, require special control.

Legal grounds

Today, regardless of the type of audit, the goals of its implementation, it is necessary to focus on

This regulatory document includes the following main sections:

Criteria for conducting a mandatory audit in 2019

Statutory audit is a special type of inspection, which is carried out in accordance with special regulations.

Persons involved in this type of audit should familiarize themselves with the following questions in advance:

• scroll;
• nuances for LLC;
• for municipal unitary enterprises.

Scroll

Federal Law No. 307-FZ dated December 30, 2008 reflects a complete list of cases when carrying out an audit of this type is strictly mandatory.

The full list includes the following:

There are also other cases when an audit of the type in question is mandatory. Such cases are regulated by special federal legislative acts.

Nuances for LLC

In accordance with legislative norms, mandatory audits are carried out in all joint stock companies without exception.

In addition to limited liability companies, such enterprises include the following:

• JSC and many others.

It is necessary to remember a large number of nuances. First of all, the legislation is constantly being reformed.

Therefore, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with all reforms in a timely manner. For example, in 2019, all LLCs are required to conduct a statutory audit, regardless of the amount of revenue.

For municipal unitary enterprises

The main difference between municipal, unitary enterprises and all others is that for them a special list of situations is drawn up when mandatory testing must be carried out.

For example, it will be required if municipal and state institutions publish financial statements and submit them in consolidated form.

These types of enterprises include the following:

• public authorities;
• local government bodies;
• state extra-budgetary fund;
• other.

A mandatory audit is carried out by the company every year. Independent audit firms that have the appropriate license act as auditors. The result of the audit is the inspector’s conclusion about the correctness of the reflection of the facts of economic and financial activities. Not all companies are required to undergo mandatory audits. So, the following should be checked annually:

1. joint stock companies;
2. credit institutions;
3. insurance companies;
4. investment funds;
5. companies whose securities are traded on the stock exchange and others.

Other enterprises must also undergo mandatory inspection if their activities exceed established financial indicators. Criteria for mandatory audit in 2018:

• revenue more than 400 million rubles, excluding VAT;
• The company's assets at the end of the year exceed 60 million rubles.

The criteria obliging companies to carry out inspections are established in paragraph 1 of Art. 5 of Law No. 307-FZ. If, based on the company's performance, at least one of these requirements is met, it must conduct an audit. Information is taken for the previous year, i.e. If, after the end of the year, the company’s activities met one of the requirements, it must undergo a mandatory audit next year.

As you can see, there are no special requirements regulating mandatory audit for LLCs. If a company's assets or revenue exceed established standards, LLCs must be audited annually. The obligation of an annual audit for an LLC may be established by the charter or by a decision of the company's participants. But in both cases we are talking about an initiative audit.

There are also requirements for how the audit should be carried out. The audit must meet the following criteria:

• The audit is carried out across all activities of the organization. All assets, liabilities, and inventories of the company are assessed. Accounting and tax reporting are analyzed. The authenticity of settlements with founders, regulatory authorities, and budgetary funds is checked.
• The conclusion of the inspection company must be definite. At the end of the audit, the auditor must make a clear verdict on whether the information presented in the financial statements is reliable or not.
• The audit is carried out in compliance with all standards. Previously, audit rules were regulated by Russian legislation. However, since 2017, everything has changed and the activities of audit firms must already meet international standards.

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​An audit is a very labor-intensive process, so a detailed plan is drawn up immediately before the inspection. First, information about the enterprise where it will take place is studied. Based on this information, strategy and tactics are determined, an audit program is developed, a schedule and plan are drawn up. Everything is agreed upon with the client.

Then the verification itself is carried out. All financial, accounting and statutory documents are studied. The data obtained is analyzed and assessed for their compliance with Russian legislation. Identified deficiencies are recorded, and the auditor proposes measures to eliminate them.

The final conclusions are presented to the founders of the organization in the form of an audit report. There are two types of conclusion: unconditionally positive, such a decision is made if no violations are found during the inspection, and modified. The latter in turn is divided into three subtypes:

1. positive with reservations;
2. negative;
3. refusal to express an opinion is issued if documents are incompletely submitted for verification.

Basically, in practice, positive conclusions or opinions with reservations are issued. The other two options account for less than 1% of conclusions.

After receiving the document, the enterprise must submit it to Rosstat. The conclusion is submitted along with the annual balance sheet and other reporting. This must be done within 10 days from the date of its submission to the legal entity, but before the end of the year following the reporting year.

The transition to international requirements has made adjustments to the audit procedure. First of all, this affected the presentation of the auditor’s opinion on the results of the audit. The form of the conclusion has changed, now it has become more informative. In addition to assessing the financial performance of the company, it includes an analysis of the main points that interested the auditor and a listing of possible risks for further activities.

Since 2018, audit secrecy has actually been abolished. Now the Federal Tax Service can receive any documents related to the audit conducted from the audit company. Moreover, according to the new amendments, tax authorities are allowed to disclose the information received.

No verification was carried out, what will happen

Ignoring the law entails the imposition of penalties. Both the organization itself and its leader can be fined. Supervisory authorities can issue both fines.

In the case of a mandatory audit, the following is considered a violation:

• Failure to provide information to statistical authorities. There is no need to submit a conclusion to the tax office. The fine for the manager will be from 300 to 500 rubles. The company will pay 3,000 - 5,000 rubles;
• Absence or untimely entry of information into the state register about the activities of organizations. The company may be subject to sanctions in the amount of 5,000 to 50,000 rubles;
• Violation of the storage period for audit results. An on-site tax audit may request audit documents for the past 5 years. This is the period established for storing audit reports by law. If there are no documents, the organization will be fined 5,000 - 10,000 rubles.

All LLCs subject to legal requirements must undergo mandatory verification, otherwise they will have to pay large fines. It is also important to monitor the deadlines for submitting audit reports to statistical authorities; violation of them will also entail the imposition of penalties.

Since January 1, 2017, 48 international auditing standards (ISAs) have come into force in the Russian Federation. They are introduced by two orders of the Ministry of Finance dated October 24, 2016 No. 192n and dated November 9, 2016 No. 207n.

According to the new requirements of International Standards, instead of the usual form of an auditor’s report on several sheets with standard text, for all new contracts for the conduct of a mandatory audit of an organization, concluded since January 1, 2017, a more information-rich report is drawn up in accordance with ISA. The new form of the auditor's report will contain not only an assessment of the company's financial statements, but also draw users' attention to the most important points in the activities of the audited entity, including what attracted the most attention of the auditor, to what the auditor sees as the most significant risks for organizations. For comparison, in an audit report issued in accordance with Federal Auditing Standards, the auditor expresses only his opinion on the reliability of the accounting records of the audited entity, and does not evaluate the company’s financial statements or describe special aspects in the activities of the audited entity. All this information is reflected in the auditor’s working documents and is not available to a wide range of users. After the introduction of International Standards on Auditing, almost all information obtained by the auditor during the audit must be reflected in the audit report.

The new form of the audit report should contain expanded information not only for accounting, but also for external and internal interested users: shareholders, board of directors, etc., that is, a wider range of people making decisions on business development strategy.

Thus, from January 1, 2017, the new ISA requirements will affect both auditors and audited companies. The volume of data required to analyze the activities of audited organizations is significantly increasing, and the degree of publicity of audit results is also increasing.

THE AUDIT REPORT WILL BE MORE INFORMATIVE AND PUBLIC

Let us recall that from October 1, 2016, legally significant information about the facts of the activities of legal entities, including information about mandatory audits, is entered into the Unified Federal Register. In this case, the audit client is obliged to disclose circumstances that have a significant impact on the reliability of the reporting listed in the auditor’s report. Information in the Register must be entered within three working days from the date of occurrence of the relevant fact (paragraph 2, paragraph 9, article 7.1 of Law No. 129-FZ). If this deadline is violated, officials of the organization may be subject to administrative liability, including disqualification.

BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS

Disclosure of additional data in the auditor's report will allow investors and companies' counterparties to make more informed business decisions. However, financial risks increase for the audited company, since increasing the level of transparency of the company’s activities and reflecting all identified business risks in the audit report will automatically lead to an increase in the cost of bank loans for companies if the auditor in the audit report expresses concerns about the activities of the audited organization or sees increased financial risks .

The new rules on disclosure in the auditor's report under ISAs have additional business implications. It is expected that starting from 2018, the Federal Tax Service will be able to require auditors to disclose audit secrets. Such innovations are set out in the draft Federal Law on Amendments to Articles 82 and 93.1 of Part One of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. When conducting tax control, the collection, storage, use and dissemination of information about the taxpayer received from audit organizations and individual auditors will be allowed. A tax authority official will have the right to request from auditors documents received during audits and the provision of other audit services that serve as the basis for the calculation and payment of tax by the organization, if they are not submitted in the prescribed manner by the taxpayer himself.

Criteria for conducting a mandatory audit for 2016

Mandatory audit of an organization’s financial statements is carried out by legal entities that:

Revenue more than 400 million rubles. or balance sheet assets exceed 60 million rubles. based on the results of 2015;
-organizational and legal form: joint stock company,
- an organization (with the exception of a government body, a local government body, a state extra-budgetary fund, as well as a state and municipal institution) submits and (or) publishes summary (consolidated) accounting (financial) statements;
-organizations whose securities are admitted to organized trading, credit and insurance organizations, non-state pension funds.

Mandatory audit of organizations in the authorized capitals of which the share of state ownership is at least 25 percent, state corporations, state-owned companies, as well as accounting (financial) statements included in the securities prospectus, and consolidated financial statements is carried out only by audit organizations. (Part 3 as amended by Federal Law dated December 1, 2014 N 403-FZ).

An agreement to conduct a mandatory audit of the accounting (financial) statements of an organization in the authorized (share) capital of which the share of state ownership is at least 25 percent, as well as to conduct an audit of the accounting (financial) statements of a state corporation, state company, state unitary enterprise or municipal unitary enterprise enterprise is concluded with an audit organization or an individual auditor, determined by holding an open competition at least once every five years in the manner established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on the contract system in the field of procurement, goods, works, services to meet state and municipal needs, while establishing requirements for securing applications for participation in the competition and (or) for securing the execution of a contract is not mandatory. (as amended by Federal Laws dated December 28, 2013 N 396-FZ, dated December 1, 2014 N 403-FZ)

Note: In an open competition for concluding a contract to conduct an audit of the accounting (financial) statements of an organization, the volume of proceeds from the sale of products (sale of goods, performance of work, provision of services) for the previous reporting year does not exceed 1 billion rubles, the participation of audit organizations that are subjects of small and medium enterprises. (Part 5 introduced by Federal Law dated December 1, 2014 N 403-FZ)

Why is it necessary to conduct a mandatory audit of the enterprise based on the results of 2016?

The experience of the auditing firm "Yurinform-audit" allows us to assert that the organizations conducting the audit were able to promptly identify the main errors in accounting and correct them in a timely manner. Therefore, mandatory audit has its advantages and undoubted benefits.

Elimination of common errors.

Timely identification and elimination of inconsistencies in tax and accounting is possible through a timely independent audit based on the results of the reporting financial year. Correcting such errors for the reporting financial year both in accounting and tax accounting will allow you to avoid penalties from tax inspectors.

During the course, the auditors of the Yurinform-Audit company check not only the correctness of the preparation of financial statements, but also the correctness of the formation of tax returns and their reliability based on the results of the reporting year 2016.
The relevance of proper accounting is especially important in view of the increased administrative liability for violations of accounting legislation and the presentation of unreliable financial statements. For gross violations in accounting, fines have been increased. New fines were approved on March 30, 2016. The President signed Federal Law No. 77-FZ on amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Penalties for officials are set in the range from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles (previously - from 2 to 3 thousand rubles). For a repeated violation within a calendar year, the fine will increase and range from 10,000 to 20,000 rubles or disqualification for a period of one to two years (previously, punishment for a repeated violation was not provided).

The following are violations that are classified as gross:

• understatement of accrued taxes and fees by at least 10% due to distortion of accounting data;
• distortion of any indicator of accounting (financial) statements expressed in monetary terms by at least 10%;
• registration of a fact of economic life that has not taken place, an imaginary, feigned object of accounting in the accounting registers;
• maintaining accounting accounts outside the applicable accounting registers;
• preparation of accounting (financial) statements not based on data from accounting registers;
• the economic entity lacks primary accounting documents and (or) accounting registers and (or) accounting (financial) statements and (or) an audit report on the accounting (financial) statements within the established storage periods for such documents.

The statute of limitations for bringing to justice for violation of accounting legislation is established by Article 4.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and is limited to two years from the date of the offense (previously this period was 3 months).

Penalty for lack of an audit report.

If an organization, for some reason, has not conducted a mandatory audit, it will not be punished for this; current legislation does not provide for liability for failure to conduct a mandatory audit, but administrative liability has been established for the absence (failure to submit, non-publication) of an audit report.

In particular, the absence of an audit report on the accounting (financial) statements of the Joint Stock Company entails the imposition of an administrative fine on officials in the amount of five thousand to ten thousand rubles in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 15.11 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offences.

Failure to submit or untimely submission of annual accounting (financial) statements to the state statistics bodies, which must include an auditor’s report, will result in an administrative fine under Art. 19.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in the amount of three hundred to five hundred rubles for officials and from three thousand to five thousand rubles for legal entities.

Failure of the joint-stock company to publish the audit report on the Internet within the prescribed period, in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 15.19 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, may entail the imposition of an administrative fine on officials in the amount of thirty to fifty thousand rubles or disqualification for a period of one to two years; for legal entities - from seven hundred thousand to one million rubles.

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