Assurance and Accounting
Assurance
Audit:
This pertains to the expression of an independent audit opinion on the financial statements and other financials (forecasts and projections) or any specific item(s) of the financials in accordance with International Standards for Auditing.
Review Engagement:
This involves inquiry and analytical procedures that provide the accountant with a reasonable basis for expressing limited assurance, consistent with IFRS, that there are no material modifications that should be made to the financial statements or other financials in order for them to be in conformity with International Accounting Standards.
Compilation:
These are presentations in the form of financial statements or other financials, information that are the representations of management without undertaking to express any assurance on the said financial statements or other financials.
Agreed Upon Procedures:
These are special reports where the accountant performs specified procedures to enable the expression of an opinion on specific elements, accounts or items in accordance with the agreement of all parties who are entitled to receive the report. As an illustration, an auditor may be requested to provide a compliance report in conjunction with an audit of the financial statements, as required by a bond indenture, loan agreement or regulatory agencies to give assurance about the compliance with loan covenants, payments into sinking funds and dividend restrictions inter alia.
Public Accounting
This section of the practice is responsible for assurance (audit); accounting; and tax filing services. All duties/functions being performed by qualified accountants and partly qualified accountants and technicians, consistent with the level of complexity of each engagement.
Accounting
Collection, classification and summarization of documents in the production of the necessary books and records (electronic and/or manual) to satisfy both management and statutory requirements.
Reconciliations and analyses of bank and general ledger (financial statements) accounts. Preparation of management and statutory reports in accordance with prescribed accounting periods.
Preparation of financial statements in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IAS) as well as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for prescribed accounting periods and, at other times, as required by management. Other financials would include cash flow statements, budget plans and future oriented financial statements consistent with management responsibilities.
Management Auditing
A management audit pertains to an in-depth review of individual parts of a business to ascertain how they function and interrelate to produce overall results. When properly executed, such an audit provides the best overview available of the business dynamics as a single entity.
An audit may be used to evaluate specific functions within the organization to determine their performance efficiency. This review considers the unique characteristics of each organization, adjusts its standard of measurement accordingly and reflects the specific nature of their corporate culture.
In an era of hypercompetitive business environments, management audits could mean the difference between business success and failure. The benefits to be derived are hereunder set out:
• A systematic identification of areas that affect profitability with the attendant experience-based solutions for improving efficiency and effectiveness.
• The development of information to ensure a competitive advantage.
• The development of management information to provide guidance in establishing standards in defining goals and expectations.
• The utilization of analytical tools for evaluating operations, such as financial ratio, cash flow, break-even and capacity analyses and more.
• The establishment of procedures for the development of action plans to achieve improvements in numerous methods for reducing or containing costs.