Learn about the main types of audit and see how to prepare your
company
Audits are essential for companies
of all sizes and sectors. After all, they ensure management in accordance with
rules and laws. That's why there are different types of audits. Know the main
ones and optimize your business!
Good management involves a series
of processes and adaptations to the most varied rules and regulatory laws. From
tax obligations to labor, tax, accounting, among others, all must undergo some
validation. That is why there are several types of audits to be applied in
companies.
Auditing is the right process to
ensure security and minimize business risks. Without it, it is impossible to
assess whether the processes are being carried out properly. Based on what is found
in each of these audits, it is possible to certify whether there is compliance
in the processes, according to the strategy of each organization.
To optimize the control of your
routines, check out the main types of audits, why it is important to implement
them in your company and how to perform them in 7 steps!
What are the most common types of Auditors
in Dubai?
As you can see, the audit is an
essential tool to ensure good organizational management. But which types can
you adopt, in practice?
First, it is necessary to clarify
that we can separate the types of audits in two different ways.
·
By the way it is performed,
that is, whether internal or external;
·
According to the sector or
activity.
However, these types of audits
should not be viewed in isolation. That is, internal audit is necessarily
promoted in some sector, for example.
Thus, we can structure the audit
types as follows:
1 - Internal Audit
It is the modality in which
someone or a team of professionals from the company itself is responsible for
the audits.
Here, the objective is to verify
if the accounting and internal control processes are effective . In order to
preserve consistency between internal procedures and policies defined by the
company.
Within this type of audit, we can
have:
Accounting audit
His biggest concern is to preserve
the company's assets . Therefore, it assesses whether the organization's assets
are being managed in accordance with the guidelines established by the company
itself. And also, if they are in accordance with accounting principles.
Its objective, therefore, is to
reduce corporate improbity rates .
In this sense, the accounting
audit is the procedure that thoroughly examines the company's records and
documents. To verify that the information is correct and if there are any
changes to be made or corrections to be provided.
Accountants already have the
conventional practice of checking documents , records and cross-checking data.
Therefore, examining the performance of accounting operations through files and
cross-referencing information to check for inconsistencies are already basic
audit processes.
This type of work is quite common,
and only requires the organization to have a good accountant, who works with a
focus on analyzing processes and results.
Tax and tax audit
A very important point for the
legal security of the company, the tax audit aims to reach laws, regulations,
rules and organizations associated with tax law.
That is why, often, tax auditing
is also included in this effort. After all, tax documents also serve to attest
to the regularity of the operation, following the guidelines of the supervisory
bodies.
In order for them to be successful
in their management, it is important to map out the tax and fiscal obligations
related to your business, as well as to define a professional or a team
specialized in the organization of documents, issues, etc.
Operational audit
Here, the objective is to evaluate
the company's day-to-day functioning , providing an operational diagnosis and
proposing solutions aimed at greater efficiency and economy.
The main factor to be evaluated
here is the relationship between the company's internal processes and the use
of resources.
Systems audit
We know that technology is a great
ally of productive and economic operations. That is why, in order to remain
competitive, many companies have adopted management software to achieve success
and growth.
In this sense, these technologies
also need to be audited. After all, it is necessary to evaluate the efficiency
and performance of the technological solutions adopted by the company .
Quality audit
The quality audit assesses whether
the products or services provided by the company are in accordance with the
guidelines established by the company itself .
In addition, they check whether
they comply with external standards, such as those issued by public authorities
responsible for health surveillance .
Environmental audit
As the name implies, this type of
audit is concerned with the impact that the company's activities have on the
environment . It consists of investigating the norms or parameters of a
company, in relation to its interaction with the environment .
Thus, choosing suppliers that
pollute less or that do not promote laboratory tests on animals would be
examples of solutions in this sense.
This type of audit serves to
verify that the company is complying with the regulations laid down by laws
focused on environmental protection. This is because, in some cases, it can end
up leaving aside the ecological aspect to obtain more profits.
Compliance audit
Here, we can understand compliance
as compliance with established criteria and standards , as well as the
agreements signed by the company and its respective mission, vision and values.
It is an audit that aims to guide
all hierarchical levels of the company in order to maintain daily compliance
among employees.
In this way, adequate supervision
is ensured, attentive to transgressions and failures that may go against the
company's objectives, such as standards of conduct to serious faults, such as
fraud.
This audit comes with the
establishment of actions and training to raise awareness of the team and
preserve the institutional image, which also helps in risk control and adds
value to the brand, which operates according to ethical standards.
2 - External Audit
The external audit is the one
carried out by independent auditors, with no employment relationship with the
audited company .
As with internal audit, its role
is also to evaluate the company's internal systems. Therefore, the ideal is for
the external auditor to work in partnership with the internal one.
The types of audits performed by
the external audit are no different from those promoted internally. Thus, it
also makes use of accounting, tax, fiscal, operational, environmental audits,
etc.
However, what changes is the focus
of each one. Generally, when performed by an outside party, the intention is to
obtain an ISO quality certification . That is why the professional will assess
whether all the required points are being followed in practice.
On the other hand, the internal
audit is the one that will guarantee, on a daily basis, that the processes
strictly follow the rules. That is, preparing the company for this careful
analysis by third parties.
The external audit also works as a
consultancy . Therefore, its focus is precisely to assess the reliability of
accounting records.
Only through audits is it possible
to know if there is a gap between theory and practice. In addition, with them,
we will understand what must be done in order to better use the company's
resources and achieve the goals set.
How to prepare your company for any type of audit?
If your company is about to
receive an external audit, it is worth analyzing the processes from within and
starting with an internal audit to optimize management and control routines in
search of non-conformities that need to be resolved.
So, check out a step-by-step guide
to implement this practice in your business!
Create an action plan
For the audit to be carried out,
it is first necessary to prepare a document with everything that involves the
organizational day-to-day.
This involves the integration of
all sectors of the company. In order to emphasize which are the processes to be
analyzed, the reasons for this investigation, who are responsible for each one
of them, the deadlines for carrying them out and all other questions about the
audit work.
It is interesting that this action
plan covers the entire year of operations, that is, it is valid for 12 months
and is reviewed annually. This will facilitate the scheduling and control of
each audit, as well as the delivery of final reports.
Formalize the planning
This action plan must be known to
all employees. After all, those involved need to know the rules and policies of
the business. This involvement must be part of the company's culture, and not
just happen in moments close to the audits.
So, document all actions in order
to record and explain everything to employees. It is also interesting to
appoint a responsible professional for guidance and clarification of doubts
about the procedures defined in the plan.
Identify sectors and relate their actions
Which areas should be audited? In
which processes? This mapping is important because, although most processes are
interconnected between more than one sector, the requirements for each area are
different.
Therefore, it is necessary to
identify sectors and establish performance targets for good results in audits.
Standardize processes
As a complement to the previous
item, standardization is essential for the analyzes to be carried out in a
coherent way. In addition, they increase the chances of good results in audits,
since everything is properly organized.
Make a schedule
Each of these types of audits is
long-term, that is, they are not resolved overnight. As these are ongoing
processes that must respect deadlines, it is necessary to establish dates
according to the order of priority of each process.
Organization is the watchword for
the audit to be successful, therefore, the elaboration of a schedule allows
employees to deliver the necessary tasks on time, as well as develop good
practices for the operational routine.
Use checklists
The adoption of an online
checklist allows the manager to monitor operations in a much more assertive
way. This is because technology favors the application of questionnaires,
scheduling and data extraction for analysis.
Thus, both the day-to-day and the
audit process are optimized. The company starts to follow best practices and
standardize its processes.
What is the importance of
promoting the types of audit in the company?
Promoting audits is important for
companies for a number of reasons. First, we can highlight that it allows
managers to have a faithful picture of the business' progress.
This facilitates the
identification of processes that are correct and also of critical points, as
well as everything that needs more urgent action.
In this sense, the audit:
·
Allows a broader understanding
, as it covers all areas of the company;
·
Presents suggestions to improve
internal control ;
·
Helps to eliminate waste,
promoting cost reductions ;
·
Improves operational quality ,
increasing productivity ;
·
Ensures that procedures are
performed correctly ;
·
Evaluates whether accounting
data and management reports reflect the company's reality or not;
·
Identifies fraud, losses and
deviations that are impacting the company's financial planning;
·
Evaluates the activities
developed internally and also by third parties;
·
It helps in the search for
operational efficiency.
And, in the midst of all these
attributions, we can point out 3 main benefits of including the types of audit
in your daily life:
1. Improved internal control
When the audit analyzes internal
processes, it identifies flaws so that they can be quickly remedied. This
directly contributes to optimizing the control .
After all, it allows monitoring
performance and correcting inefficient strategies. In order to promote
continuous improvement !
2. Reduction of failures and deviations
If carried out periodically,
audits allow for improvements to be made to reduce the occurrence of failures .
Consequently, the tendency is for
financial deviations to also decrease. Bearing in mind that it is necessary to
prove the expenses. And yet, to match what was previously stated.
3. Stimulates good practices
The great benefit of auditing is
that it creates a more transparent environment . After all, all deliveries are
audited. Facilitating the discovery of inconsistencies.
In this way, the employees
themselves feel more motivated to take ethical attitudes. Not just because they
would be discovered. But because they will be following the same line of action
as the business as a whole.
