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Types of auditor's report. Types of auditor's report Presentation of the auditor's report

24.01.2024

The information contained in the auditor's report must be accessible and understandable to all users potentially interested in it. Since users are often faced with the need to make management decisions, the basis of which is the results of an analysis of the financial and economic activities of potential partners, and the auditor’s report reflects the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements on the basis of which the analysis is carried out, there is an objective need for a uniform procedure for compiling auditor's report on financial (accounting) statements. The basic requirements for the form and content of the auditor's report are established by Russian Rule (standard) No. 6 “Audit's report on financial (accounting) statements.”

The audit report is an official document intended for users of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entities, containing the opinion of the audit organization, expressed in the prescribed form, on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity in all its essential respects and the compliance of its accounting procedures with the legislation of the Russian Federation Federation.

The auditor should be guided by the following principles in drawing up the audit report:

express a clearly formulated opinion on financial (accounting) statements;
When drawing up the audit report, the auditor must take into account all material circumstances established as a result of the audit. Circumstances that significantly affect the reliability of reporting are considered significant;
do not allow corrections in the audit report;
the auditor's report cannot and should not be interpreted by the audited entity and interested users as a guarantee of the audit firm that other circumstances that have or could have an impact on the financial (accounting) statements do not exist.

The auditor's report includes:

name of the audited entity;
addressee's name;
information about the auditor: organizational and legal form and name, for an individual auditor - last name, first name, patronymic and indication of his activities without forming a legal entity; location; number and date of the state registration certificate; number, date of issue of the license to carry out auditing activities; name of the authority that issued the license and its validity period;
indication of membership in an accredited professional audit association;
information about the audited entity: legal form and name; location; number and date of state registration certificate; information about licenses for the types of activities carried out;
introductory part;
part describing the scope of the audit;
part containing the auditor's opinion;
date of the auditor's report;
auditor's signature.

The auditor's report should have the title "Audit's report on financial (accounting) statements" in order to distinguish the auditor's report from other types of reports, for example, reports of officials of the audited entity.

The audit report is addressed to the person specified in the audit agreement. As a rule, the audit report is addressed to the owner of the audited entity (shareholders), the board of directors, etc.

The report must contain a list of audited financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity, indicating the date, reporting period and composition of the statements.

The auditor's report indicates the fact that responsibility for maintaining accounting records, preparing and presenting financial (accounting) statements is assigned to the audited entity. And also a statement that the auditor’s responsibility is only to express an opinion on the reliability of these financial (accounting) statements in all material respects and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

An example of the presentation of information in the introductory part of the auditor's report

“We conducted an audit of the attached financial (accounting) statements of the organization “...” for the period from January 1 to December 31, 20 (...) inclusive. The financial (accounting) statements of the organization "..." consists of:

balance sheet;
profit and loss statement;
appendices to the balance sheet and profit and loss account;
explanatory note.

Responsibility for the preparation and presentation of these financial (accounting) statements is not the responsibility of the executive body of the organization

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the reliability in all essential respects of these statements and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation on the basis of the audit performed.”

The audit report describes the scope of the audit, and also indicates that the audit was conducted in accordance with federal laws, federal rules (standards) of auditing activities, and internal rules (standards) of the audit organization.

The scope of the audit is understood as the ability of the auditor to perform the audit procedures necessary in the given circumstances, based on an acceptable level of materiality. This is necessary to provide the user with confidence that the audit was carried out in accordance with the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, rules and standards.

The auditor's report must indicate that the audit was planned and conducted to provide reasonable assurance that the financial (accounting) statements do not contain material misstatements.

The conclusion also states that the audit was conducted on a sample basis and included:

study, based on testing, of evidence confirming digital data and information disclosed in financial (accounting) statements about the financial and economic activities of the audited entity;
assessment of accounting principles and methods used in the preparation of financial (accounting) statements;
study of significant estimates obtained by the management of the audited entity in the preparation of financial (accounting) statements;
assessment of the general understanding of financial (accounting) statements.

The audit report must contain clearly formulated evidence from the auditor that the audit conducted provides sufficient grounds for expressing an opinion on the reliability in all material respects of the financial (accounting) statements and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation -derations. To express the auditor's opinion, the following words are used: “In our opinion, the financial (accounting) statements of the organization “...” reflect reliably in all material respects...”

The auditor's report must clearly indicate the basic principles and methods of accounting and preparation of financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity, the essence of which is determined by the relevant regulatory documents of the Russian Federation.

The auditor's report is dated on the date when the audit was completed, since this fact indicates to the user that the auditor took into account the impact that events and transactions that took place from the date of completion of the audit to the date of signing had on the financial (accounting) statements auditor's report.

The auditor should not indicate in the report a date preceding the date of approval of the financial (accounting) statements by the management of the audited entity, since the auditor draws up an opinion on the financial (accounting) statements presented by the management of the audited entity.

The audit report is signed by the head of the audit organization or a person authorized by him and the auditor who conducted (headed) the audit, indicating the number and validity period of his qualification certificate. These signatures must be sealed. If the audit was carried out by an individual auditor, then the conclusion can only be signed by this auditor.

The auditor's report is accompanied by financial (accounting) statements in respect of which an opinion is expressed and which is dated, signed and sealed by the audited entity in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding the preparation of such statements. The auditor's report and the specified reporting must be bound in a single package, the sheets are numbered, laced, and sealed with the auditor's seal indicating the total number of sheets in the package. The audit report is prepared in the number of copies agreed upon by the auditor and the audited entity, but both the auditor and the audited entity must receive at least one copy of the audit report and the attached financial (accounting) statements.

The auditor's report expresses an unconditionally positive opinion only when the auditor comes to the conclusion that the financial (accounting) statements give a reliable view of the financial position and results of financial and economic activities of the audited entity in accordance with established principles and methods of maintaining accounting records and preparing financial (accounting) reporting in the Russian Federation. In other cases, a modified conclusion is issued.

In cases where the auditor does not receive enough information to confirm the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements, he may refuse to express an opinion or issue a negative audit report.

Modified auditor's report

The auditor's report is modified if:

facts that do not influence the auditor’s opinion, but are described in the auditor’s report in order to attract the attention of users to any situation that has arisen in the audited entity and disclosed in the financial (accounting) statements;
Factors influencing the auditor's opinion that could lead to a qualified opinion, disclaimer of opinion or an adverse opinion.

If these factors are present, the conclusion is modified by including a part that draws attention to the situation affecting the financial (accounting) statements, but is discussed in the notes to the financial (accounting) statements or indicates an aspect relating to compliance with the principle of going concern of the audited entity faces.

The auditor may also modify the auditor's report by including a part indicating a significant uncertainty (other than compliance with the going concern principle), the clarification of which depends on future events and which may have an impact on the financial (accounting) statements.

Information that does not affect the auditor's opinion may be included after the opinion portion and provides an indication that the situation does not warrant the inclusion of a qualification in the auditor's opinion.

Examples of an auditor's report that draws attention or describes problems are set out in the Federal Rule (standard) and may have the following content:

“Without changing our opinion about the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements, we draw attention to the information set out in the notes to the financial (accounting) statements (paragraph...), namely, that the judicial proceedings have not yet been completed proceedings between the organization "..." (defendant) and the tax authority (plaintiff) on the issue of the correct calculation of the tax base for income and value added taxes for 20. . . year. The amount of the claim is. . . thousand rubles Financial (accounting) statements do not provide for any reserves for the fulfillment of obligations that may arise as a result of a court decision not in favor of the organization.” . . ".

Including a part describing a going concern issue or significant uncertainty is usually sufficient. However, in some cases, for example, in the case of a large number of uncertainties that are significant to the financial (accounting) statements, the auditor may refuse to express an opinion on its reliability instead of including a part that draws attention to this problem.

Disclaimer of opinion also occurs in cases where the limitation of the scope of the audit is so significant and deep that the auditor cannot obtain sufficient evidence and, therefore, is unable to express an opinion on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements.

An adverse opinion is expressed when the effect of a factor is so material to the financial statements that the auditor concludes that qualifying the auditor's report is not sufficient to disclose the full extent of the misleading or insufficient evidence. the nature of financial (accounting) reporting.

When expressing any opinion other than an unconditionally positive one, the auditor's report describes all the reasons that led to this and, if possible, provides a quantitative assessment of their impact on the financial (accounting) statements.

All possible situations and examples of audit reports are discussed in the Federal Rule (Standard) “Audit Report on Financial (Accounting) Statements.”

The procedure for preparing the auditor's report is regulated by International Standards on Auditing ISA 700 and MCA 700A, as well as the Federal Law “On Auditing” and Federal Rule (Standard) of Auditing No. 6 “Audit's Report on Financial (Accounting) Statements.”

According to the federal law on auditing in the Russian Federation, an audit report is an official document intended for users of the financial (accounting) statements of audited entities, drawn up in accordance with the federal rules (standards) of auditing and containing the opinion of an audit organization or an individual auditor expressed in the prescribed form on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity and the compliance of the procedure for maintaining its accounting records with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The auditor's report on the financial statements of an economic entity contains the audit firm's opinion on the reliability of these statements, which should express the audit firm's assessment of compliance in all significant aspects of the financial statements with the regulatory act governing accounting and reporting in the Russian Federation.

As already mentioned in the previous chapter, if, as a result of an audit, the audit firm discovered that the property and financial position of an economic entity is such that serious doubt arises about the ability of this entity to continue its activities and fulfill its obligations for at least 12 months following reporting period, then the audit firm’s opinion on the reliability of the financial statements should reflect this doubt.

Based on the results of an audit of the financial statements of an economic entity, the audit firm expresses an opinion on the reliability of these statements in the form of an unconditionally positive or modified opinion.

A. name;
b. addressee;
c. the following information about the auditor:
organizational and legal form and name, for an individual auditor - last name, first name, patronymic and an indication of his activities without forming a legal entity;
location;
number and date of the state registration certificate;
number, date of granting the license to carry out auditing activities and the name of the body that granted the license, as well as the validity period of the license;
d. the following information about the audited entity:
location;
information about licenses for the types of activities carried out;
e. introductory part;
f. part describing the scope of the audit;
g. part containing the auditor's opinion;
h. date of the auditor's report;
i. auditor's signature.

Consistency in the form and content of the auditor's report should be maintained to facilitate the user's understanding of it and to help detect unusual circumstances should they arise.

The auditor's report must have the title "Audit's report on the financial (accounting) statements" in order to distinguish the auditor's report from opinions drawn up by other persons, for example, officials of the audited entity, the board of directors.

The audit report must be addressed to the person provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation and (or) the audit agreement. As a rule, the audit report is addressed to the owner of the audited entity (shareholders), the board of directors, etc.

The auditor's report must contain a list of audited financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity, indicating the reporting period and its composition.

The auditor's report must include a statement that the responsibility for maintaining accounting records, preparing and presenting financial (accounting) statements rests with the audited entity, and a statement that the auditor's responsibility is only to express, based on the audit, an opinion on the reliability of these financial (accounting) statements. accounting) statements in all material respects and compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The auditor's report must describe the scope of the audit, indicating that the audit was conducted in accordance with federal laws, federal rules (standards) of auditing, internal rules (standards) of auditing, operating in professional audit associations of which the auditor is a member, or in accordance with other documents. Audit scope refers to the auditor's ability to perform audit procedures considered necessary in the circumstances based on an acceptable level of materiality. This is necessary to provide the user with confidence that the audit was carried out in accordance with the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, rules and standards.

The auditor's report must contain a statement that the audit was planned and performed to provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement.

The auditor's report must state that the audit was conducted on a sample basis and included:

Study, based on testing, of evidence confirming the meaning and disclosure in financial (accounting) statements of information about the financial and economic activities of the audited entity;
assessment of accounting principles and methods, as well as rules for preparing financial (accounting) statements;
determination of the main estimated values obtained by the management of the audited entity in the preparation of financial (accounting) statements;
assessment of the overall presentation of the financial (accounting) statements.

The audit report must contain a statement by the auditor that the audit provides sufficient grounds for expressing an opinion on the reliability in all material respects of the financial (accounting) statements and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

To express the auditor's opinion, the following words are used: “In our opinion, the financial (accounting) statements of entity “Y” reflect fairly in all material respects...”.

The auditor's report must clearly indicate the basic principles and methods (applied procedure) of accounting and preparation of financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity.

The basic principles and methods of accounting and preparation of financial (accounting) statements are determined by the relevant regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation.

In addition to the opinion on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements, it may be necessary to express in the auditor’s report an opinion on the compliance of these statements with other requirements, as well as regarding other documents and transactions related to the financial and economic activities of the audited entity, if they are subject to mandatory audit in accordance with with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The auditor must indicate in the auditor's report the date on which the audit was completed, since this circumstance provides the user with reason to believe that the auditor took into account the impact that events and transactions had on the financial (accounting) statements that took place from the date of completion of the audit to the date of signing the audit report. conclusions.

Because the auditor is required to issue an audit report on the financial statements prepared and presented by management of the entity being audited, the auditor should not indicate in the report a date prior to the date on which the financial statements were signed or approved by management of the entity being audited.

The audit report must be signed by the head of the auditor or the person authorized by the head and the person who conducted the audit (the person who led the audit), indicating the number and validity period of his qualification certificate.

These signatures must be sealed. If the audit was carried out by an individual auditor who independently conducted the audit, the audit report can only be signed by this auditor.

The auditor's report and the specified reporting must be bound in a single package, the sheets are numbered, laced, sealed with the auditor's seal indicating the total number of sheets in the package. The audit report is prepared in the number of copies agreed upon by the auditor and the audited entity, but both the auditor and the audited entity must receive at least one copy of the audit report and the attached financial (accounting) statements.

Types of audit reports

According to Federal Rule (Standard) No. 6 “Audit Report on Financial (Accounting) Statements,” audit reports can be divided, depending on the auditors’ opinion on the reliability of the statements, into unconditionally positive and modified.

An unconditionally positive opinion contains the opinion of auditors without any comments or reservations.

An unconditional positive opinion in the auditor's report must be expressed when the auditor concludes that the financial (accounting) statements give a reliable view of the financial position and results of financial and economic activities of the audited entity in accordance with established principles and methods of accounting and preparation of financial (accounting) statements in the Russian Federation.

The non-opinion portion is usually included after the opinion portion and indicates that the situation does not warrant a qualified opinion.

Including a compelling portion describing a going concern issue or a significant uncertainty is usually sufficient to enable the auditor to discharge his or her responsibilities in preparing the auditor's report. However, in some cases, for example where there are a large number of uncertainties that are significant to the financial statements, the auditor may consider it appropriate to disclaim an opinion on its reliability rather than include a part drawing attention to that aspect.

The auditor should also modify the auditor's report by including a portion that draws attention to a situation that does not have a material effect on the financial statements and is not disclosed (not sufficiently fully disclosed) or disclosed incorrectly in the notes to the financial statements. For example, if, in the opinion of the auditor, it is necessary to change or supplement any explanations contained in the financial (accounting) statements, and the audited entity refuses to make such changes or additions, the auditor may include in the auditor's report a part that draws attention to such a situation. This part may also be included if there are additional requirements established by the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding the preparation of the audit report.

A. there is a limitation on the scope of the auditor's work;
b. there is a disagreement with management regarding:
method of its application;

The circumstances specified in paragraph “a” may lead to the expression of an opinion with a reservation or to a refusal to express an opinion.

The circumstances specified in paragraph “b” may lead to the expression of a qualified opinion or to a negative opinion.

A qualified opinion should be expressed when the auditor concludes that it is not possible to express an unqualified opinion, but the impact of a disagreement with management or a limitation on the scope of the audit is not sufficiently significant or profound to warrant an adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion. . A qualified opinion must contain the wording: “except for the influence of circumstances...” (indicate the circumstances to which the reservation applies).

An adverse opinion should be expressed only when the effect of a disagreement with management is so material to the financial statements that the auditor concludes that qualifying the auditor's report is not adequate to disclose the misleading or incomplete nature of financial (accounting) reporting.

If the auditor expresses anything other than an unqualified opinion, he should clearly describe all the reasons for this in the auditor's report and, if possible, quantify the possible effect on the financial statements. Typically, this information is presented in a separate paragraph preceding the statement of opinion or disclaimer of opinion, and may include a reference to more detailed information, if available, in the notes to the financial statements.

Auditor's report

When preparing financial statements, an organization must be sure that the information provided in it is complete and reliable. To confirm this, companies (they are called audited entities) engage audit organizations, i.e., independent persons who can express their professional and unbiased opinion on the reliability of the reports presented. We will tell you more about the auditor’s report on financial statements in our consultation.

The concept of an auditor's report is contained in Part 1 of Art. 6 of Federal Law No. 307-FZ “On Auditing Activities”. The auditor's report on the financial statements is an official document intended for users of the financial statements of the audited entities, containing the opinion of the audit organization or individual auditor on the reliability of such statements, expressed in the prescribed form.

An audit report confirming the reliability of financial statements must be drawn up in the case of a mandatory audit. Cases when an audit must be carried out are contained in Part 1 of Art. 5 of Federal Law No. 307-FZ. For example, all joint stock companies must conduct an annual audit. And those organizations whose revenue for the previous year exceeded 400 million rubles or whose assets at the end of the previous year exceeded 60 million rubles must also conduct an audit for the current year.

The obligation to conduct an audit may be provided for in the constituent documents of the organization, regardless of compliance with the criteria specified in Federal Law No. 307-FZ. But already in this case, from the point of view of the law, the audit will be considered not mandatory, but proactive, i.e., carried out at the request of the audited entity or its owners.

The composition of the financial statements is given in Art. 14 of Federal Law No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”. And the auditor's report on the reliability of the financial statements is not indicated there. Therefore, it is not entirely correct to talk about the auditor’s report as part of the financial statements. There is also no obligation for the organization to submit its audit report to the tax office (clause 5, clause 1, article 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Letter of the Ministry of Finance No. 03-02-07/1/1724).

However, things are different with Rosstat. If an audit report on financial accounting statements is drawn up due to the fact that the organization is subject to a mandatory audit, then such an audit report is submitted to the territorial statistics body along with the annual reports. And if at the time of submission of the financial statements to Rosstat the audit has not yet been completed, then the deadline for disclosing the auditor’s report on the financial statements is as follows. The audit report must be submitted to Rosstat no later than 10 business days following the date of the audit report, but no later than December 31 (Part 2, Article 18 of Federal Law No. 402-FZ).

Please note that the financial reporting forms for the auditor's report must not be machine-readable (you submit them to the tax office), but with a line containing the date of approval of the financial reporting. The form of such reporting is approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia No. 66n.

Information on the contents of the auditor's report can be found in Part 2 of Art. 6 of Federal Law No. 307-FZ.

The auditor's report must contain, in particular:

Title “Audit report”;
information about the audited entity: name, OGRN, location;
information about the audit organization, individual auditor;
a list of accounting (financial) statements that were audited;
the opinion of an audit organization or an individual auditor on the reliability of accounting (financial) statements;
indication of the date of conclusion.

At the same time, the requirements for the form, content, procedure for signing and submitting the audit report are established by auditing standards. In particular, the procedure for drawing up an auditor's report on financial statements is disclosed in the Federal Standard on Auditing (FSAD) “Audit's report on accounting (financial) statements and forming an opinion on their reliability” (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance No. 46n).

Audit conclusion

The final stage of the audit includes summarizing and assessing the results of checking the accuracy of the financial statements compiled by the client, the formation and presentation of the audit report. This is the most critical stage of the auditor’s complex and multifunctional work.

Audit report is an official document intended for users of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entities, drawn up in accordance with the federal rules (standards) of auditing activities and containing the opinion of the audit organization or individual auditor expressed in the prescribed form on the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements of the audited entity and compliance of the procedure for maintaining its accounting records with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The report is the official testimony of independent certified professional accountants, presented to the client: the board of directors and shareholders of the enterprise, as well as the bank, financial or tax authority and other interested parties. It provides a list of reporting forms that were examined as of a certain date, the period for which these reports were compiled, an indication of what standards the auditor was guided by, a conclusion on the merits of the audit results and an assessment of the accounting principles applied by the enterprise. A positive audit report ends with a statement that the financial statements of the enterprise reliably reflect its financial position and comply with the principles and rules of accounting in accordance with current legislation. An appendix to the auditor's report may include recommendations for improving accounting, the financial strategy of the enterprise, changing its organizational structure and management systems.

The auditor's report includes:

A) name;
b) addressee;
c) the following information about the auditor:
organizational and legal form and name, for an individual auditor - last name, first name, patronymic and an indication of his activities without forming a legal entity;
location;
number and date of the state registration certificate;
number, date of granting the license to carry out audit activities and the name of the body that granted the license, as well as the validity period of the license;
membership in an accredited professional audit association;
d) the following information about the audited entity:
organizational and legal form and name;
location;
number and date of the state registration certificate;
e) introductory part;
f) part describing the scope of the audit;
g) part containing the auditor’s opinion;
h) date of the auditor's report;
i) signature of the auditor.

The auditor should date the auditor's report to the date on which the audit was completed because this provides the user with reason to believe that the auditor has taken into account the effect that events and transactions known to the auditor that occurred before that date had on the financial statements and the auditor's report.

The auditor's report is accompanied by financial (accounting) statements in respect of which an opinion is expressed and which is dated, signed and sealed by the audited entity in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding the preparation of such statements. The auditor's report and the specified reporting must be bound in a single package, the sheets are numbered, laced, sealed with the auditor's seal indicating the total number of sheets in the package. The audit report is prepared in the number of copies agreed upon by the auditor and the audited entity, but both the auditor and the audited entity must receive at least one copy of the audit report and the attached financial (accounting) statements.

Types of audit reports:

1. Unconditionally positive audit opinion. An unconditionally positive opinion should be expressed when the auditor comes to the conclusion that the financial (accounting) statements give a reliable view of the financial position and results of financial and economic activities of the audited entity in accordance with established principles and methods of accounting and financial preparation. (accounting) reporting in the Russian Federation.
2. Modified auditor's report. The conclusion is considered modified if:
factors that do not influence the auditor's opinion, but are described in the auditor's report in order to attract the attention of users to any situation that has arisen in the audited entity and is disclosed in the financial (accounting) statements or does not have an impact on the financial (accounting) statements;
Factors affecting the auditor's opinion that could lead to a qualified opinion, disclaimer of opinion or an adverse opinion.

The auditor may not be able to express an unqualified opinion if at least one of the following circumstances exists and, in accordance with the auditor's judgment, this circumstance has or is likely to have a material effect on the reliability of the financial statements:

A) there is a limitation on the scope of the auditor's work: the circumstances specified in subparagraph "a" of this paragraph may lead to the expression of a qualified opinion or to a disclaimer of opinion.
b) there is a disagreement with management regarding the admissibility of the chosen accounting policy and (or) method of its application, as well as the adequacy of information disclosure in the financial (accounting) statements. The circumstances specified in subparagraph "b" of this paragraph may lead to the expression of a qualified opinion or to a negative opinion.

A disclaimer of opinion occurs when the limitation in the scope of the audit is so significant and profound that the auditor is unable to obtain sufficient evidence and, therefore, is unable to express an opinion on the reliability of the financial statements.

Audit report on statistics

Companies subject to mandatory audit have an obligation to submit an audit report, in which the auditor expresses an opinion on the reliability of the accounting (financial) statements of the audited company, to the territorial statistical authorities.

When submitting a legal copy of the compiled annual accounting (financial) statements, which are subject to mandatory audit, the auditor's report on it is submitted along with such statements no later than 10 business days from the day following the date of the auditor's report, but no later than December 31 following the reporting year (Clause 2 of Article 18 of Federal Law No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”).

The auditor's report on the reliability of the accounting (financial) statements is submitted to statistics no later than 10 business days from the day following the date of the audit report, but no later than December 31 of the year following the reporting year.

For failure to provide an audit report to a set of financial statements submitted to Rosstat (in the case of a mandatory audit), the organization and its official may face an administrative fine (Article 19.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation):

From 300 to 500 rubles (for officials);
from 3 thousand to 5 thousand rubles (for legal entities).

At the same time, the imposition of a fine does not relieve the organization from the obligation to submit an audit report to the statistical authorities (clause 4 of article 4.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

Audit report on statistics

Audit reports constitute a state information resource, user access to which is provided in accordance with the Administrative Regulations approved by Order No. 183 of Rosstat of the Russian Federation (registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation No. 30338).

The audit report must contain (clause 3 of standard No. 1 “audit report on the accounting (financial) statements and formation of an opinion on their reliability”):

Name (“Audit Report”);
indication of the addressee (shareholders of a JSC or PJSC, participants of an LLC, other persons);
information about the audited company (name, state registration number, location);
information about the audit company, individual auditor (name of the organization, full name of the individual auditor, state registration number, location, name of the SRO of which the auditor is a member, number in the register of auditors and audit organizations of the SRO);
a list of financial statements in respect of which the audit was carried out, indicating the period for which they were compiled;
distribution of responsibility in relation to the specified financial statements between the audited company and the auditor;
information about the work performed by the auditor to express an opinion (scope of the audit);
the auditor's opinion indicating the circumstances that have or may have a significant impact on the reliability of the audited financial statements;
auditor's signature;
date of the auditor's report.

The part of the audit report “responsibility of the audited entity for the financial statements” should include:

Indication of persons authorized by the audited company who are responsible for the preparation and reliability of financial statements in accordance with reporting rules;
a description of the responsibility of these persons for the preparation and reliability of financial statements in accordance with the reporting rules. Such description must include a statement that those persons are responsible for the preparation and accuracy of the financial statements in accordance with accounting rules and for the system of internal controls necessary to produce financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

The audit report is prepared in the number of copies agreed upon by the auditor and the audited entity. The audited company must order one copy of the audit report to submit it to the territorial statistical authorities.

If, based on the results of the audit, corrections were made to the accounting (financial) statements, then in accordance with clause 8 and clause 15 of PBU 22/2010 “Correcting errors in accounting and reporting” (approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 63n), it should information must be provided that these financial statements replace the originally presented accounting (financial) statements, as well as the grounds for drawing up the revised financial statements and the changes made.

The auditor's report is presented:

1) in the form of an electronic document, or its copy in electronic form with an extension (pdf, tif, jpg) via telecommunication channels to the territorial statistics body (the file name must contain the OKPO code of the economic entity that is subject to mandatory audit).
2) on paper (original) the following may be submitted:
directly to state statistics bodies;
in the form of registered mail with acknowledgment of delivery.

Timing of the auditor's report

If the company’s financial statements are subject to mandatory audit, the auditor’s report (hereinafter referred to as AZ) is submitted to the statistics body (clause 2 of article 18 of Federal Law No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”):

Either together with these statements (no later than three months after the end of the reporting year) until March 31;
- or no later than 10 working days from the day following the date of the audit report, but no later than December 31 of the year following the reporting year.

Organizations are not required to submit AZ to the Federal Tax Service along with their annual reports, since it is not included in the financial statements (Letter of the Federal Tax Service for Moscow No. 16-15/003855). Accordingly, to fine taxpayers under Art. 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, tax authorities have no right for failure to submit AZ.

The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted in the first reading amendments to Art. 15.11 of the current Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Draft No. 890123-6). The concept of gross violation of accounting requirements is expanding.

This action will include:

1) understatement of the amounts of accrued taxes and fees by at least 10% due to distortion of accounting data (this point is still present);
2) distortion of any financial reporting indicator expressed in monetary terms by no less than 10% (now this is “distortion of any article (line) of the accounting form by no less than 10%”);
3) registration of a fact of economic life that has not taken place, an imaginary, pretended object of accounting in the accounting registers;
4) maintaining accounting accounts outside the applicable accounting registers; drawing up financial statements not based on data from accounting registers;
5) the organization’s lack of primary accounting documents and (or) accounting registers and (or) accounting records and (or) an audit report on accounting records within the established storage periods for such documents.

The types of violations listed in paragraphs 3-5 are not provided for in the current version of Article 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

It is proposed to set the fine for officials in the range from 5 to 10 thousand rubles. (now - from 2 to 3 thousand rubles).

For repeated violations within a calendar year, it is proposed to establish a fine of 10 to 20 thousand rubles. or disqualification for a period of 1 to 3 years (in the current version, sanctions are not provided for repeated violations).

We remind you that this liability will not apply if the reporting is corrected in a timely manner, including through the submission of an updated tax return (revised financial statements).

Bill No. 957581-6 “Administrative Code of the Russian Federation” has been submitted to the State Duma. Article 29.30 of the draft new Administrative Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability for failure to submit or untimely submission (submission not in full) of the mandatory copy of the annual financial statements to the statistical authorities and other violations of the procedure for its submission; it is planned to introduce fines at the rate of:

For individual entrepreneurs from 2 to 5 thousand rubles;
- for officials - from 5 thousand to 10 thousand rubles;
- for legal entities - from 10 thousand to 30 thousand rubles.

It also stipulates that failure to submit (untimely submission) to Rosstat an audit report on financial statements subject to mandatory audit is planned to be punished with fines in the amounts of:

For individual entrepreneurs from 25 to 40 thousand rubles;
- for officials from 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles;
- for legal entities from 100 thousand to 200 thousand rubles.

Let us remind you that now in the Code of Administrative Offenses there are no direct sanctions for absence (untimely delivery of AZ). The fine is levied by the statistics body in accordance with the provisions of Art. 19.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - failure to submit or untimely submission to a state body (official), body (official) exercising (carrying out) state control (supervision), information (information), the submission of which is provided for by law and is necessary for the implementation of this body (official) ) his legal activities.

The specified act entails a warning or the imposition of an administrative fine:

For citizens in the amount of 100 to 300 rubles;
- for officials - from 300 to 500 rubles;
- for legal entities - from 3 thousand to 5 thousand rubles.

In addition, impressive administrative fines (up to 1 million rubles) are currently established for violations related to the presentation and disclosure of information about the company (clause 1, 2 of article 15.19, clause 2 of article 15.23.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

The state has taken a course to increase the requirements for accounting, the qualifications of accounting personnel, to suppress gross violations in accounting and reporting against the backdrop of numerous bankruptcies of enterprises and banks, the fight against fly-by-night companies, it is expected that administrative liability will be strengthened for violations in the field of accounting legislation, the presentation of accounting records and AZ . Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the above amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses.

Types of audit reports

When the planned audit of financial (accounting) statements is carried out, auditors must express their opinion on the correctness and reliability of reporting and accounting for the audited period of time, and formalize it in the auditor's report. Moreover, depending on what kind of opinion the conclusion expresses, the document is drawn up differently. The types of audit reports are specified in the legislative acts of the Russian Federation, and the procedure for their preparation is prescribed in the law “On Auditing Activities” and the federal rules and standards of auditing activities.

Unconditional positive audit report

If the auditors who audited the accounting documentation of an economic entity have no doubts or disagreements with the management regarding the truthfulness and correctness of accounting and reporting, an unconditionally positive audit report is drawn up.

Conditional positive conclusion

A conditionally positive opinion is drawn up when the auditors have insufficient grounds for either an unconditionally positive or a negative opinion. This situation arises when the auditor has doubts regarding the audit data, there are disagreements with management, and minor factors have been identified that prevent an absolutely positive conclusion from being drawn up.

Negative conclusion

A negative audit report can be drawn up if, during the audit, the auditor identified gross violations or serious shortcomings in accounting and reporting, including discrepancies with the established form for filling out documentation, inconsistency of financial information and data in reports.

Refusal to issue an audit report

A separate type of audit report is the auditor’s refusal to express his opinion after conducting an audit of the company. It may be caused by audit risks or serious factors that may distort the results of the audit in the future, the presence of compelling reasons that do not allow drawing any other conclusion.

Audit report of the organization

The auditor's report on financial accounting statements is an important source of information not only about the process and result of the audit, but also about the state of affairs in the company. Let's consider two models of interaction with auditors who will prepare an audit report on your company.

The Latin word "audit" means "to listen." This is precisely the essence of the auditor’s work: he listens, and therefore interacts with his client. We will discuss below how to make this interaction as effective as possible for both parties.

The independent auditor's opinion, that is, his audit report on the financial statements, is his professional judgment for which he is responsible. It does not depend on whether the management of the audited entity agrees with it. Similar to how the company's management is responsible for the accuracy of the annual reports and issues these reports regardless of the auditor's opinion.

Moreover, in most cases, the management of the audited company is interested in the fact that, based on the results of its audit, the auditor issues a positive opinion regarding the annual reporting. After all, the auditor's report on financial accounting statements is an important source of information for external users not only about the process and result of the audit, but also about the state of affairs in the company. For example, in the basis for expressing a qualified opinion, the auditor may indicate that the company does not have proper accounting for the movement of inventory or fixed assets. This information may be of interest to a tax inspector checking the income tax or property tax base, or an employee of bank credit departments, if goods or fixed assets on the company’s balance sheet were pledged as security for its obligations under the loan agreement. What can we say about shareholders/members of the company who make decisions on the distribution of profits generated on the basis of unreliable data.

There are two fundamentally different models of interaction with auditors when preparing an auditor's report on financial accounting statements. Both of them are viable, it all depends on the priorities of the company's management, investors and other stakeholders.

The first and most common in practice is an audit of annual reports until the moment when these reports are issued by the company's management and approved by shareholders/participants. Its undoubted advantage is that if the auditors identify a significant error in the accounting data and/or annual reporting, such an error can be eliminated before the release of the statements and, thus, the auditor will have no reason to modify his opinion. Often, a clean audit report on financial accounting statements is an absolute priority for the management and founders of the company, and the negative consequences of issuing a modified auditor’s report can be simply fatal for the company in the event, for example, of tightening the terms for repaying a loan provided by the main creditor.

At the same time, there are a number of factors that should be taken into account when building effective interaction with the auditor when preparing the auditor's report on the financial statements.

If we are talking about annual accounts, then the audit can be carried out in the period after the date of preparation of the first draft of the annual accounts or, at a minimum, the accounting registers of the company or group of companies (hereinafter referred to as the closing date) and the date when management is tasked with issuing the annual accounts. It is clear that, regardless of the length of this period of time, the auditor must obtain evidence during the audit that provides sufficient grounds for expressing an opinion on the reliability of the annual statements. Therefore, the timing and stages of the audit are one of the key parameters that the parties agree on when concluding an audit agreement.

How to solve the problem of limited time for conducting an audit and preparing an audit report on financial accounting statements? On the one hand, the company being the audited entity can compress the closing time until introducing a “fast close” system. Some companies push the deadline for quick closure even before the reporting date. Although in fairness it must be said that this is rather exotic in Russia and is used most often when preparing a set of financial information for the purpose of consolidation into a group. On the other hand, the auditor also divides his procedures into stages: intermediate and final.

As part of the interim audit, which is carried out for 9 or 11 months of the reporting year, the income and expenses of the organization are checked in order to minimize audit procedures in relation to the financial results statement at the final stage. In addition, atypical transactions that occurred at the time of the audit or are planned to be carried out before the end of the reporting year are identified; The management of the audited entity and the auditor agree on the reflection of these transactions in the annual reports.

If the company has a strong internal control system, then the entire audit process can be structured as follows. As part of the intermediate stage, test internal controls. This will significantly reduce the amount of detailed procedures in relation to the relevant accounting accounts during the final stage of the audit and preparation of the auditor's report on the financial statements.

At the final stage of the audit, mainly substantive audit procedures are carried out in relation to the balance sheet items of the annual statements. Objectively, they themselves can also take a significant amount of time.

Labor-intensive procedures may include, for example, the following substantive procedures:

Reconciliation of balances of accounts receivable, accounts payable, bank accounts, credits and loans with data confirmed by counterparties in reconciliation letters;
bringing together the results of the annual inventory with accounting data as of the reporting date.

Sometimes, in the case of an extremely short final stage of the audit, for example, less than a week, reconciliation procedures with debtors/creditors (except banks), inventory inventories are carried out by the auditor before the reporting date (as of September 30 or November 30 of the reporting year). After this, the auditor can only conduct a documentary check of the movement of balances on the relevant accounting accounts for the period from the date of confirmation to the reporting date. However, this approach can only be applied if the company has built effective processes and internal control systems.

As I already said, this model of interaction with the auditor is most often found in practice. It is for this reason that auditors traditionally call the period from December to April-May the “high busy season”, when the resources of audit companies are more than 100% occupied. During this period, the cost of a man-hour, on the basis of which the cost of an audit for the client is calculated, is maximum. It can be reduced by redistributing the auditor’s work hours from the final stage to the intermediate stage.

Often, when meeting with a potential client, auditors hear the wish “no surprises at the final stage of the audit.” “Surprises” here mean situations when, at the final stage of the audit, a certain fact of economic activity is revealed, the reflection of which in the annual reports requires additional reflection. Or the auditor’s understanding of this fact changed after he received some new information or performed relevant audit procedures. As a result, it may be necessary to make significant adjustments to the annual reports or even involve an expert to assess this fact of economic activity.

Examples of such “surprises” include the following:

New guarantees issued have been identified that require recording on the company's balance sheet at fair value and require their valuation;
financial leasing agreements have been identified that were previously classified as operating lease agreements - it is necessary to carry out new calculations and reflect their results in the annual reports;
independent appraisers provided a report on the assessment of the asset, where the auditors identified significant errors; accordingly, it is necessary to redo the report and reflect the new results in the annual reports;
schemes for paying management remuneration based on company shares have been identified - an assessment of the fair value of the obligation to pay this remuneration and its reflection in the statements is required;
a related party has been identified, transactions with which must be disclosed in the annual reports;
an event is identified after the reporting date that leads to the need to adjust the annual statements or requires disclosure in the explanations in these statements.

It is clear that each of these examples not only contains the threat of missing the deadline for issuing annual reports and completing the audit, but also creates tension both within the company and in the relationship between the auditor and the client. Therefore, before choosing an auditor, company management should ask him how he plans to minimize the risk of such “surprises” without compromising the quality of the audit itself. The qualifications of the audit team, their industry experience, timely involvement of senior members of the audit team (manager, partner) in the audit, discussion with the management of the audited entity of the intermediate audit results and understanding of significant business transactions - all these are factors that contribute to building effective relationships between the auditor and the client.

Audit of finished reports

Now let's consider the second model of interaction with auditors when preparing an auditor's report on financial accounting statements - annual reports are prepared and issued by the company before the start of the audit. Auditors check statements that have already been issued, to which no changes have been made, therefore, if significant errors are identified, a modified auditor's opinion is issued.

In very rare cases, an audit of annual reports is carried out after they have been approved by the owners of the company. There are also cases where the decision to pay dividends was made by the owners of the company based on data from unaudited annual reports. An audit is sometimes carried out in order to comply with the requirements of Russian legislation regarding the submission of audited annual financial statements of the company to state statistical authorities, the tax inspectorate, etc., when such reporting falls under the requirements of mandatory audit. In addition, a proactive audit of annual financial statements can be carried out in practice after the financial statements have already been issued by the company's management.

The undoubted advantages for the management and employees of the audited entity when using this model include:

More comfortable timing of the inspection;
more uniform workload of company employees throughout the year;
more attractive cost of audit in the context of the end of the busy season;
the ability to form a team of auditors for a project, taking into account the wishes of the client and the specifics of his business.

As for risks, as noted above, the main risk is that based on the results of the audit, the auditor will issue a modified opinion. This situation may arise even if the annual accounts are prepared by a strong team of accountants and historically the auditors have not identified material errors in the accounts. For example, after the release of annual reports, an event occurred after the reporting date, which led to the need to adjust some reporting item or is simply subject to disclosure in the explanations. In this case, the auditor's report on the financial statements will be modified.

How can you minimize the risk of negative consequences of choosing this approach? First, agree with the auditor to conduct an interim audit before the end of the reporting period (see detailed description above). Secondly, build such a relationship with the auditor that during the year you will be able to agree with him on the issue of reflecting some significant atypical transactions, as well as issues that involve the value judgments of the accountant and the company’s management. Thirdly, it is necessary to develop an internal control system within the company, which would allow accounting errors to be identified and eliminated in a timely manner.

Types of auditor's reports on financial accounting statements:

1. Unmodified opinion – “pure conclusion”, i.e. in the opinion of the auditor, the financial/accounting statements of the company, in all material respects, reliably reflect its financial position as of the reporting date, the results of its financial and economic activities and cash flows for the reporting period in accordance with accounting standards.
2. An unmodified opinion in the auditor's report, containing an attention-grabbing part or other information - the auditor draws the attention of users of the annual statements to a fact, without changing the opinion about the reliability of these statements. This fact, disclosed by the company in the notes to the financial statements, may indicate the presence of a material uncertainty that casts significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue its operations as a going concern; or a significant change in the company’s accounting policy, which caused a recalculation of the company’s opening balance sheet and other comparative information. The auditor may also include other information in the report, such as whether comparative figures included in the financial statements were audited by another auditor or were not audited.
3. Qualified opinion - in the opinion of the auditor, with the exception of the impact on the accounting/financial statements of the circumstance set forth in the part containing the basis for expressing a qualified opinion, the financial statements of the company attached to this auditor's report reflect reliably in all material respects its financial position according to as of the reporting date, the results of its financial and economic activities and cash flows for the reporting period in accordance with accounting standards. The impact of this circumstance can be either known and estimated in monetary terms, or possible, since the auditor was not able to obtain the necessary confirmation using alternative audit procedures. For example, the auditor was not able to confirm the existence of the company's reserves, since he was appointed as an auditor after the date of the inventory count; or the management of the audited entity denied the auditor access to presence/information, etc.
4. Negative opinion - in the opinion of the auditor, due to the materiality of the circumstances stated in the part containing the basis for expressing a negative opinion, the company’s annual statements do not reliably reflect in all material respects its financial position as of the reporting date, as well as the results of its financial and economic activities activities and cash flows for the reporting period in accordance with reporting standards.
5. Disclaimer of opinion - due to the materiality of the circumstances specified in the part containing the basis for the disclaimer of opinion, the auditor did not have the opportunity to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for expressing an opinion, and, accordingly, the auditor does not express an opinion on the reliability of the annual company reporting.

In auditor terminology:

Type 1–3 opinions are positive;
opinion types 3–5 are modified.

First of all, it should be noted that according to the accounting law, annual reporting does not include an auditor's report. All organizations submit annual financial statements in accordance with the constituent documents to the founders, members of the organization or owners of its property, as well as to the territorial bodies of state statistics at the place of their registration. Financial statements are presented to other executive authorities, banks and other users in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. Organizations are required to submit annual financial statements within 90 days after the end of the year, unless otherwise provided by the legislation of the Russian Federation. Within the specified time frame, the specific date for submitting financial statements is established by the founders (participants) of the organization or the general meeting (Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 34n).

Annual consolidated financial statements are presented before the general meeting of the organization's participants, but no later than 120 days after the end of the year for which these statements were prepared. The annual consolidated financial statements are subject to mandatory audit. The auditor's report on the financial statements is provided and published together with those consolidated financial statements.

Consolidated financial statements are considered published if they are posted in public information systems and (or) published in the media accessible to persons interested in them, and (or) other actions have been taken in relation to these statements to ensure their accessibility to all interested parties. of persons, regardless of the purpose of obtaining this reporting, according to a procedure that guarantees its location and receipt. Publication of consolidated financial statements is carried out by the organization no later than 30 days after the date of presentation of such statements to users provided for in Article 4 of this Federal Law. (Federal Law 208 “On Consolidated Financial Statements.”) This requirement applies to certain types of companies or a group of companies specified in 208-FZ.

The annual reporting of a limited liability company is approved at the general meeting of participants. The company's charter must determine the date for holding the next general meeting of the company's participants, at which the annual results of the company's activities are approved. The specified general meeting of company participants must be held no earlier than two months and no later than four months after the end of the financial year (Federal Law 14 “On Limited Liability Companies”).

Approval of the annual report, annual accounting (financial) statements of a joint-stock company, if the company's charter does not include the resolution of these issues within the competence of the board of directors (supervisory board) of the company, falls within the competence of the general meeting of shareholders. The annual general meeting of shareholders is held within the time limits established by the company's charter, but no earlier than two months and no later than six months after the end of the reporting year (Federal Law 208 “On Joint-Stock Companies”).

When providing audit services, an audit organization or an individual auditor is obliged to transfer, within the period established by the contract for the provision of audit services, the audit report to the audited entity, the person who entered into the contract for the provision of audit services (Federal Law 307 “On Auditing Activities”).

A mandatory copy of the prepared annual accounting (financial) statements is submitted no later than three months after the end of the reporting period. When submitting a legal copy of the compiled annual accounting (financial) statements, which are subject to mandatory audit, the auditor's report on it is presented together with such statements or no later than 10 business days from the day following the date of the auditor's report, but no later than December 31 of the year following reporting year (Federal Law 402 “On Accounting”).

Mandatory audit is carried out in the following cases:

1. If the organization has the legal form of a joint stock company.
2. If the organization’s securities are admitted to organized trading.
3. If the organization is a credit organization, a credit history bureau, an organization that is a professional participant in the securities market, an insurance organization, a clearing organization, a mutual insurance company, a trade organizer, a non-state pension or other fund, a joint-stock investment fund, a management company of a joint-stock investment fund, mutual investment fund or non-state pension fund (with the exception of state extra-budgetary funds).
4. If the volume of revenue from the sale of products (sale of goods, performance of work, provision of services) of an organization (except for state authorities, local governments, state and municipal institutions, state and municipal unitary enterprises, agricultural cooperatives, unions of these cooperatives) for the previous reporting year exceeds 400 million rubles or the amount of assets on the balance sheet as of the end of the previous reporting year exceeds 60 million rubles.
5. If 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.
6. In other cases established by federal laws (Federal Law 307 “On Auditing Activities”).

Forms of auditor's report

An unconditionally positive opinion should be expressed when the auditor comes to the conclusion that the financial (accounting) statements give a reliable view of the financial position and results of financial and economic activities of the audited entity in accordance with established principles and methods of accounting and financial preparation. accounting) reporting in the Russian Federation.

A qualified opinion should be expressed when the auditor concludes that it is not possible to express an unqualified opinion, but the impact of a disagreement with management or a limitation on the scope of the audit is not sufficiently significant or profound to warrant an adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion. A qualified opinion must contain the wording: “except for the influence of circumstances...” (indicate the circumstances to which the reservation applies).

Modified auditor's report.

The auditor's report is considered modified if the following factors arise:

1. not influencing the auditor’s opinion, but described in the auditor’s report in order to attract the attention of users to any situation that has arisen in the audited entity and disclosed in the financial (accounting) statements;
2. affecting the auditor's opinion, which could lead to a qualified opinion, disclaimer of opinion or an adverse opinion.

In certain circumstances, the auditor's report may be modified by including a portion that draws attention to a matter affecting the financial statements that is discussed in the notes to the financial statements.

There is a limitation on the scope of the auditor's work;
there is a disagreement with management regarding:
a) the admissibility of the chosen accounting policy and the method of its application;
b) adequacy of information disclosure in financial (accounting) statements.

Modified auditor's report

The auditor's report is considered modified if:

Factors that do not influence the auditor's opinion, but are described in the auditor's report in order to attract the attention of users to any situation that has arisen in the audited entity and disclosed in the financial (accounting) statements;
Factors affecting the auditor's opinion that could lead to a qualified opinion, disclaimer of opinion or an adverse opinion.

The auditor, if necessary, should modify the auditor's report by including a part indicating an aspect related to compliance with the principle of going concern of the audited entity.

The auditor should also consider modifying the auditor's report to include a portion that identifies a significant uncertainty (other than going concern) that depends on future events to resolve and that could affect the financial statements.

The non-opinion portion is usually included after the opinion portion and provides an indication that the situation does not warrant the inclusion of a qualification in the auditor's opinion.

An example of an auditor's report in the attention-grabbing part:

"We conducted an audit of the attached financial (accounting) statements of the organization "YYY" for the period from January 1 to December 31, 20 (XX) inclusive. The financial (accounting) statements of the organization "YYY" consist of:
balance sheet;
profit and loss statement;
appendices to the balance sheet and profit and loss account;
explanatory note.

Responsibility for the preparation and presentation of these financial (accounting) statements lies with the executive body of the YYY organization. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the reliability in all material respects of these statements and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation based on the audit performed.

We conducted an audit in accordance with:

Federal Law “On Auditing Activities”;
federal rules (standards) of auditing activities;
internal rules (standards) of auditing activities (specify the accredited professional association);
rules (standards) of the auditor's audit activities;
regulatory acts of the body that regulates the activities of the audited entity.

The audit was planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement. The audit was carried out on a sample basis and included a study, based on testing, of evidence confirming the meaning and disclosure of information on financial and economic activities in the financial (accounting) statements, assessment of the principles and methods of accounting, rules for the preparation of financial (accounting) statements, determination of the main estimates values obtained by the management of the audited entity, as well as an assessment of the overall presentation of the financial (accounting) statements. We believe that the audit provided sufficient grounds to express our opinion on the reliability in all material respects of the financial (accounting) statements and the compliance of the accounting procedure with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

In our opinion, the financial (accounting) statements of the organization "YYY" reflect reliably in all material respects the financial position as of December 31, 20(XX) and the results of financial and economic activities for the period from January 1 to December 31, 20(XX). inclusive.

Without changing our opinion about the reliability of the financial (accounting) statements, we draw attention to the information set out in the notes to the financial (accounting) statements (point X), namely, that the legal proceedings between the organization "YYY" have not yet been completed ( defendant) and the tax authority (plaintiff) on the issue of the correct calculation of the tax base for income and value added taxes for the year 20(XX). The amount of the claim is XXX thousand rubles. Financial (accounting) statements do not provide for any reserves for the fulfillment of obligations that may arise as a result of a court decision not in favor of the YYY organization.

Including a compelling portion describing a going concern issue or a significant uncertainty is usually sufficient to enable the auditor to discharge his or her responsibilities in preparing the auditor's report. However, in some cases, for example, where there are a large number of uncertainties that are significant to the financial statements, the auditor may consider it appropriate to disclaim an opinion on their reliability rather than include a portion drawing attention to that aspect.

The auditor may also modify the auditor's report by including (after the opinion portion) a portion that draws attention to a matter that does not affect the financial statements.

A) there is a limitation on the scope of the auditor’s work;
b) there is a disagreement with management regarding:
the acceptability of the chosen accounting policy;
method of its application;
adequacy of information disclosure in financial (accounting) statements.

The circumstances specified in subparagraph "a" of this paragraph may lead to the expression of an opinion with reservation or to a refusal to express an opinion.

The circumstances specified in subparagraph "b" of this paragraph may lead to the expression of a qualified opinion or to a negative opinion.

A qualified opinion should be expressed when the auditor concludes that it is not possible to express an unqualified opinion, but the impact of a disagreement with management or a limitation on the scope of the audit is not sufficiently significant or profound to warrant an adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion. A qualified opinion must contain the wording: “except for the influence of circumstances...” (indicate the circumstances to which the reservation applies).

An adverse opinion should be expressed only when the effect of any disagreement with management is so material to the financial statements that the auditor concludes that qualifying the auditor's report is not adequate to disclose the misleading or incomplete nature of the report. financial (accounting) statements.

If the auditor expresses an opinion other than an unqualified positive opinion, he should clearly describe all reasons for this in the auditor's report and, if possible, quantify the possible effect on the financial statements. Typically, this information is presented in a separate paragraph preceding the statement of opinion or disclaimer of opinion, and may include a reference to more detailed information, if available, in the notes to the financial statements.

Lack of auditor's report

Although all joint-stock companies are required to conduct an audit of annual reports (regardless of the volume of revenue and the size of assets) Part 1 of Art. 5 of Law No. 307-FZ, small joint-stock companies often do not want to do this. If owners trust each other and management, an audit often seems like a waste of money.

Let us remind you that for failure to submit a mandatory audit report to the Rosstat branch, it can collect a fine through the court, part 1 of Art. 14, part 1, 2 art. 18 of Law No. 402-FZ (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 402-FZ); Art. 19.7, part 1 art. 23.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation; Rosstat Letters No. 13-13-2/28-SMI, No. 1578/OG:

From the manager - from 300 to 500 rubles;
from the organization - from 3000 to 5000 rubles.

However, the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses that have entered into force force us to look again at the consequences of the absence of a mandatory audit report.

The amendments, in addition to increasing the fine for purely accounting errors, also added to the list of gross violations of accounting and reporting rules. Now, such a violation, among other things, is considered to be the absence of a company’s mandatory audit report on the accounting records of Art. 15.11 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Please note that the storage period for the auditor's report on the accounting (financial) statements is not limited by Part 1 of Art. 29 of Law No. 402-FZ; Art. 408 of the List, approved. Order of the Ministry of Culture No. 558. So during an audit it will not be possible to refer to the fact that the audit report, for example, was destroyed.

This means that the manager faces a fine if, during an audit, the tax authorities discover that the organization was obliged to conduct an audit, but there is no conclusion (there never was one at all and, accordingly, the organization cannot present it to the tax authorities). And this is despite the fact that it is still not required to present the audit report to the tax authorities along with the financial statements or in addition to them under Art. 14 Law No. 402-FZ; subp. 5 p. 1 art. 23 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The amount of the fine for a manager for lack of a conclusion ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles. And in case of repeated violation - from 10,000 to 20,000 rubles, or the manager faces disqualification for a period of 1 to 2 years, Art. 15.11 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

This is how a tax specialist commented on the situation.

After the entry into force of Law No. 77-FZ, heads of organizations that are required to undergo an audit of annual reports, but did not do so (and, accordingly, do not have an audit report), may be fined for the absence of such a report as a gross violation of accounting and reporting rules. Responsibility for this is provided for in Art. 15.11 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

So if you are still in doubt whether your organization needs an audit report or not, take these sanctions into account when making your decision. The final word belongs to the manager; he must be prepared for the consequences, including disqualification.

Limited liability companies are also required to undergo a mandatory audit of annual financial statements if Part 1 of Art. 5 of Law No. 307-FZ:

Or their revenue for the previous reporting year exceeds 400 million rubles;
or the amount of assets in the balance sheet as of the end of the year preceding the reporting year exceeds 60 million rubles.

The managers of such LLCs also face new administrative liability for the lack of a mandatory audit report.

After making changes to the Code of Administrative Offenses, our editorial office received a question: has administrative liability appeared for illegal accounting by the head of an organization? We would like to remind you that the Accounting Law gives managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (with the exception of those who do not have the right to apply the simplified accounting and reporting procedure) the opportunity to independently conduct accounting, Part 3 of Art. 7 of Law No. 402-FZ. If an organization does not have the right to conduct accounting in a simplified manner (and this, in particular, is a small joint-stock company), then the manager himself should not conduct accounting. It would seem that this is also a violation. However, as a tax specialist explained to us, there is still no administrative responsibility for this.

Administrative responsibility provided for in Art. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, applies only in cases of gross violation of accounting requirements, including accounting (financial) reporting, to which the maintenance of accounting records by the head of an economic entity without the grounds provided for by Law No. 402-FZ does not apply.

Anastasia Terekhina ACCA, senior manager of the audit department, Mazars Russia

Veronica Andreeva Audit Department Specialist (Banks), Mazars Russia

Magazine "Accounting and Control", No. 7 for 2016

The auditor's report represents the final result of the audit. Many users of financial statements and stakeholders have called for the auditor's report to be more informative and relevant. Criticism of the standardized wording of the auditor's opinion has increased, and there is a need for audit reports that are more transparent and take into account the individual characteristics of the client.

These requests were taken into account by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and a revised set of auditing standards on auditor reports was issued in 2015. They are applicable to companies whose financial year ends on or after 15 December 2016.

Main changes in the new auditor's report

Rice. 1. Key innovations

Main impact on the auditor's report in terms of time spent preparing it for publicly traded companies

One of the innovations in the revised set of auditing standards is the auditor's responsibility to communicate Key Audit Matters in the auditor's report, a topic addressed in the new ISA: ISA 701.

This new commitment is detailed in the next chapter, “Focus on Key Audit Matters.”

Focus on business continuity

We are now required to add additional information relating to going concern to the auditor's report.

Always:

A description of management's and the auditor's responsibilities with respect to going concern in the sections on management's responsibilities and the auditor's responsibilities;
- Management's responsibility for assessing the entity's ability to continue as a going concern and assessing whether the use of the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate and responsibility for disclosing going concern matters, if applicable;
- The auditor's responsibility to conclude on the appropriateness of management's use of the going concern basis and to decide, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a significant uncertainty exists about events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the entity's ability to continue as a going concern.

If the auditor has identified going concern issues, including "contingency concerns" (=if events or conditions have been identified that may cast significant doubt on the entity's ability to continue as a going concern, but based on the audit evidence obtained, the auditor concludes conclusion that there is no significant uncertainty).

The auditor may designate such matters as Key Audit Matters and then include them in the Key Audit Matters section of the auditor's report (Chapter II, Focus on Key Audit Matters).

When significant uncertainty exists and is adequately disclosed:

Additional separate section entitled “Material Uncertainty Regarding Going Concern.” This is by nature a Key Audit Matter, but is disclosed in the auditor's report only in the section entitled “Material Uncertainty About Going Concern.”

Focus on key audit issues

ISA 701 on Key Audit Matters applies to the audit of publicly traded companies and other cases where the auditor chooses to communicate Key Audit Matters in the auditor's report.

What is the definition of a Key Audit Matter?

Key audit matters are those matters that, in the auditor's judgment, were of most significance in the audit of the financial statements of the current period. Key audit matters are selected from those matters communicated to those charged with governance (ISA 701 §8).

What is the purpose of adding a Key Audit Matters section to the auditor's report?

The purpose of communicating Key Audit Matters is to enhance the communication value of the auditor's report by providing greater transparency regarding the audit performed.

The Statement of Key Audit Matters provides additional information to intended users of the financial statements to assist them in understanding those matters that, in the auditor's professional judgment, were of greatest significance in the audit of the current period's financial statements.

This communication may also assist intended users in understanding the company and the areas where management's significant estimates are contained in the audited financial statements (ISA 701 §2).

How does the auditor determine Key Audit Matters?

The auditor should identify, from the matters discussed with those charged with governance, those matters that require significant auditor attention during the audit. In making this determination, the auditor should consider the following:

areas of increased and significant risks of material misstatement;
Significant auditor judgments in areas requiring significant management judgment, including estimates identified as having high estimation uncertainty;
the impact of significant events or transactions that occurred during the period on the audit (ISA 701 §9).

The auditor shall determine which of the matters identified in accordance with paragraph 9 are of greatest significance in the audit of the current period's financial statements and, therefore, are Key Audit Matters (ISA 701 §10).

What should the auditor do for the Key Audit Matters section of the auditor's report?

Rice. 2. Key audit issues
Click on the image to enlarge it

The auditor's report must answer the following questions:

why the matter was considered a Key Audit Matter;
what approach was taken to the issue during the audit process;
links to relevant disclosures.

A description of how the matter was approached during the audit process may include:

aspects of the audit approach to the issue;
a brief overview of the procedures performed;
description of the results of audit procedures;
Key observations regarding the issue.

What does the new audit report look like?

Table 1

Models of the auditor's report in ISAs

ISA 700 (Formation and Presentation of an Report on Financial Statements) contains four examples of an auditor's report on financial statements.

An auditor's report on the financial statements of a publicly traded entity prepared in accordance with the fair presentation concept.
An auditor's report on the consolidated financial statements of a publicly traded entity prepared in accordance with the fair presentation concept.
An auditor's report on the financial statements of an unlisted entity prepared in accordance with the fair presentation framework (with reference to material available on the relevant authority's website).
An auditor's report on the financial statements of an unlisted entity prepared in accordance with a general purpose framework.

ISA 570 (Going Concern) contains three examples of an auditor's report on going concern.

An auditor's report containing an unmodified opinion when the auditor has concluded that a material uncertainty exists and the disclosures in the financial statements are adequate.
An auditor's report expressing a qualified opinion when the auditor has concluded that a material uncertainty exists and that the financial statements are materially misstated because of inadequate disclosure.
An auditor's report containing an adverse opinion when the auditor has concluded that a material uncertainty exists and that the financial statements do not provide the necessary disclosures that constitute a material uncertainty.

ISA 720 (The auditor's responsibility for other information in documents containing audited financial statements) contains seven more examples of the auditor's report.

New and revised standards that have not entered into force

ISA 260 Communicating Audit Matters to Those Charged with Governance (Revised)
ISA 570 Going concern (revised)
ISA 700 Formation and presentation of an opinion on financial statements
ISA 701 Communication of key audit matters in the auditor's report
ISA 705 Modified Independent Auditor's Opinion (Revised)
ISA 706 Salient and Miscellaneous Paragraphs in the Independent Auditor's Report (Revised)
ISA 720 The Auditor's Responsibility for Other Information in Documents Containing the Audited Financial Statements (Revised)

Experience of new audit reports in the UK

The UK anticipated changes to the audit report and adopted new auditing standards in 2013. Reading the 2014 audit reports of UK listed companies (especially the top 100 companies used to calculate the Financial Times stock index) gives an idea of what is expected in terms of reporting in the 2016 audit reports.

Note that UK regulation even goes beyond the requirements of ISAs: for example, UK auditors report materiality and audit scope for group audits in the audit report, which is not required by ISAs.

Examples of Key Audit Questions

Between July and September 2014, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) carried out a detailed analysis of 153 extended audit reports in the UK (63 of which were in the top 100 companies used to calculate the Financial Times stock index) that were issued to that time. The three main Key Audit Matters presented in the sample relate to the following topics:

impairment of assets;
taxes;
impairment of goodwill.

Mazars also conducted research into Key Audit Matters in Auditor Reports (2014 and 2014/2015 Reports) for the top 100 companies used to calculate the 2014 Financial Times UK stock index, covering a range of industries (Figure 3). .

Key audit questions cover the following topics (the size of the section is proportional to the frequency of the issue)

Rice. 3. Topics of key audit issues
Click on the image to enlarge it

Please note that some of the audit reports include a description of the scope of the Key Audit Matters and explain the reason for the deletion or addition of Key Audit Matters compared to the prior year.

Influence on management and those charged with governance

We have noted below some points that management/those charged with governance need to consider in order to assess the impact of the new auditor's report:

What matters may be Key Audit Matters in the auditor's report?
Are Key Audit Questions on the Enterprise Risk Map? If not, why not? Is there a need for the business to update its risk assessment?
What approach does the entity take to Key Audit Matters and is there an appropriate action plan?
Is the process of assessing the entity's ability to continue as a going concern appropriate and are there sufficient controls in place?
Are the disclosures in the financial statements sufficient and appropriate to provide appropriate information about the Key Audit Matters and the Going Concern Assumption, particularly in the event of a potential hazard?
What is the process for producing and managing “other information” presented to various stakeholders and the auditor? Is the schedule appropriate? Are there areas that can be addressed in the audit process?
Is there a designated person responsible for checking the consistency of the “other information”/“Management report” with the financial statements? When?
Audit committee meeting schedule and frequency: Are there enough meetings and at the right times to anticipate new reporting and audit process requirements?
When will the draft new auditor's report be ready so that management/those charged with governance have time to review it? Have you asked your auditor what your future audit report will look like?
Are potential Key Audit Matters the result of deficient controls or processes and can they be resolved? What is the impact of disclosing these issues on the views of investors and other stakeholders?

Focus on the need to address key audit and going concern issues

The idea is that, to anticipate a smooth transition, the auditors and the client should begin discussing the content of the Key Audit Matters section of the auditor's report on the 2016 financial statements at this time.

Key audit matters are likely to raise sensitive topics involving management's judgments and estimates, and in this context it is important that management continues to provide the auditor with sufficient and documented information about key assumptions, sensitivity analyses, uncertainties, etc.

Those charged with governance/audit committee may request additional information from management on the topics discussed in the Key Audit Matters section of the auditor's report.

Finally, because the “going concern assumption” will be highlighted separately in the new auditor's report, it is critical that management make a formal assessment of the appropriateness of the going concern assumption, even if there are no obvious indicators of a material uncertainty.

Additional requirements for European countries

The European Union has adopted new audit reporting requirements as part of its recent auditing law reform. The legislation will come into force for audits for the financial year ending 30 June 2017. The EU approach is consistent with that of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), but contains some requirements that go beyond those of the ISAs.

New European audit legislation includes updated European Union (EU) regulations regarding communication with the auditor.

Directive 2014/56/EU amending Statutory Audit Directive 2006/43/EC (2006 SAD) and containing a series of amended and new requirements governing all statutory audits in the EU;
Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 contains additional requirements that relate exclusively to the statutory audit of public interest entities, in addition to the requirements of the Directive.

Additional requirements for European countries are listed below.

The audit report must include a statement that no prohibited non-audit services were provided.
Key audit matters (“(i) a description of the most significant assessed risks of material misstatement, in particular the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud + (ii) a summary of the auditor’s response to those risks + (iii) key observations arising, as applicable, regarding these risks") should be described for socially significant economic entities, such as:
- companies whose securities are admitted to trading on organized markets in Europe;
- private credit organizations and insurance companies;
- companies defined by Member States as being of public interest, for example companies which have significant social relevance due to the nature, size of their business or number of employees.
The auditor must confirm that the audit report is consistent with the supplementary report to the audit committee (“The statutory auditor or audit firm performing a statutory audit of a public interest entity shall provide a supplementary report to the audit committee of the audited entity” (Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 537/ 2014).

Please note that the EU requirements for communications with the audit committee are much more detailed than those included in ISA 260. This topic is not covered in the material presented.

The need to disclose the name of the audit partner was contained in the requirements of the European Union even before the release of new requirements for the audit report (Directive 2006/43/EC - May 17, 2006).

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