The types of audit and their characteristics depend on the goals that are pursued in the process of conducting a consistent economic audit. An audit is a process of checking reports for their compliance with the PBU requirements and the norms of current legislation required for accounting, and for the preparation of consolidated financial statements for all business enterprises, regardless of their organizational forms.
Depending on the person interested in obtaining such financial information, the types of audit, the classification of these activities differ and are divided into separate types. This audit is proactive and mandatory. Depending on the scope of the audit, the general, exchange audit, banking, insurance and other types also differ.
Types of audit and their characteristics differ in the selected accounting objects for the implementation of the audit. This may be the production part of accounting or its financial component.
Voluntary audit is usually carried out at the initiative of one of the founders or by decision of the business entity itself. As a rule, an initiative (comprehensive) audit is conducted to analyze the state of all accounting in the enterprise, but it can also be thematically directed. All components of the production process are audited, starting with the release of the product, the formation of its cost and the way of implementation, including settlements with suppliers and customers. Voluntary audit is aimed at identifying the reliability, accuracy of numbers, identifying weaknesses at certain stages of production activity, as well as to measure the relevance and relevance of the production of these products (services).
Compulsory audit, in contrast to voluntary audit, is carried out at the request of state bodies. The types of audit and their characteristics by the methods used to implement these goals are identical. The following accounting methods are distinguished - solid, selective, and visual. The continuous method is used to audit cash, banking transactions and settlements with customers or suppliers. The selective method is used in the audit of inventories, payroll. The visual verification method is used in the inventory of individual accounting objects.
Regardless of the purpose of the audit report, all types of audit and their characteristics largely depend on the quantity and quality of the primary documents submitted for verification , on the degree of reliability of the information provided and its timeliness. Therefore, all types of audits include the development of an audit plan. The following points are necessarily included in the concept of this plan for a certain type of audit. This is the purpose of the audit, the accounting sections to be controlled, verification methods, a list of primary internal documents provided to auditors to study information on the activities of the enterprise, to preliminary assess the risks of the audit, to determine the time frame for the audit, to prove the validity of the issued audit report.
Currently, all types of audit of the business activities of any entity as a whole, and separately at different stages of the production process, are very important. Since only a well-grounded and reliable conclusion of independent expert auditors makes it possible to judge possible risks in the future activities of the enterprise, it allows you to make a responsible decision on the development of new business projects, as well as correct erroneous management decisions and remove ineffective business management standards.