Financial audit

BASIC DEFINITION Audit is the examination of records and reports of a company, in order to check that what is provided is relevant, and closest to the reality. That is to say, all assets and liabilities are properly recorded in the balance sheet, and, all profits and losses are properly assessed. This assessement is done through 2 methods, by assessing internal control procedures and by checking the consistency of items in the books. (cf hereunder)

STEPS

Audit is usually done annually through 3 main steps.

Interim review

• to understand the business of the company, its market, what its main issues are
• to figure out what risks are from an audit point of view. This means, auditors will have to find what kind of mistake (on purpose or not) could be done in this company. For instance, if the income of sales representatives is directly linked to the sales they generate (it's of course never the case), they could try to overstate their figures, leading to a abnormally high income.
• to assess the internal control procedures actually in place. This is an important step as it will allow later to determine if one should carry out basic or advanced investigations. Indeed, if the internal control procedures seem to be reliable, this means there is no need to check accounts further.

Biggest audit companies

• KPMG
• PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Ernst & Young
• Deloitte[?]