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1.4. Principles of operational audit

Professional work plays the important role in a mankind life. At the same time conducted ' in company prompt structural transformations have affected the image which has developed for decades of any professional.
Despite increase of the general educational level, so, and professionalism in this or that sphere of activity, the company relation
To professionals including to auditors, became more sceptical.
In
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To significant measure it is connected with decrease in modern level of a professional etiquette which always served as the basic criterion of public trust to this or that trade. Practically all large bankruptcies of the western companies are accompanied by mullions-strong claims to auditors.
Scepticism of company and weakness of the ethical mechanism of regulation of audit is supported now with a series of the scandals which have occurred in 2001 - 2002 with the largest transnational auditor companies, and in particular with the company Arthur Andersen (Arthur Andersen) which many years booked poor-quality financial audit, infringing thus all basic ethical principles and norms that has led to crash of the company and absorption of its representations by competitors [154, 155, 162].
In modern company any trade requires behaviour ethical standards as each person attending to this or that professional work, is largely interested in trust of company to results of this activity and a choice quality of the services. For example, for auditors important that the users interested in their services could trust quality of audit.
If to evaluate any direction of audit on complexity degree such estimation will be biassed as to the unskilled user of these services, owing to the professional competence and availability of time, it is difficult enough to understand their quality.
The company trusts a choice quality of results of this or that trade only when exist not only criteria of its realisation, but also the legalised rules of professional behaviour of subjects.
Recognising growing responsibility of accounting professional community before company, the International federation of accountants has developed the Code of ethics defining norms of behaviour of the members and regulating mutual relations between following subjects: the user — the professional, the professional — the professional, the professional -
Company. The code defines and dictates a special orientation of behaviour for all members of professional association.
The international federation of accountants believes, that in the presence of national traditions, culture and other specific features of each state to working out of ethical standards directly public organisation of that state which is its member should attend. However if to recognise that essence of a trade of the accountant all over the world it is characterised by aspiration to supply achievement of the general purposes and observance of the uniform conventional fundamental principles there is a necessity of working out of the international Code of ethics of the professional accountants, called to form a basis for development of ethical requests directly in each state.
Proceeding from the above-stated, at realisation of the professional responsibilities, the auditor should be guided by first of all the ethical principles developed by the International federation of accountants and specified by national community which allow as it has been noted earlier, to evaluate quality of auditor services and to raise trust degree to audit.
These principles concern (fig. 1.1): independence; honesty; objectivity;
Professional competence and proper conscientiousness (due carefulness [30]); confidentiality; professional behaviour;
Following to regulating documents [30, 91, 140].
The first basic principle on which activity is under construction, the independence principle is. In traditional understanding the given principle assumes obligatory absence at the auditor, at fulfilment of the professional work any
Interest in affairs of the managing subject. Thus it is important not to suppose interference of any persons in audit scoping, in realisation of auditor checks and researches, and also formation of conclusions, forms of account and administrative recommendations. It is necessary to understand volume of the auditor procedures necessary for achievement of the purpose of audit in a concrete situation as audit volume.


Fig. 1.1. Principles of operational audit
Besides, it is obviously necessary to exclude material dependence of auditors, audirujushchih this or that direction of activity of the managing subject, from results of this activity.
The important condition promoting increase of level of independence of audit, the exception of its functions of responsibility for the organisation is and
Realisation of those or other updatings of administrative decisions which are possible after revealing of deviations, reserves and development of administrative recommendations.
The honesty principle represents not honesty in the usual sense this word, and, without delay, observance by the auditor of its professional duty and the general norms of morals, an openness, and also the validity of judgements. Observance of the given principle predetermines trust of company to auditor activity.
Following principle which is closely interconnected with independence and honesty principles, the principle of objectivity which requires of the auditor impartial and free from personal interests and conflicts of the parties of the approach to realisation of audition of any direction of activity of the managing subject is. According to this principle the auditor should not deform deliberately the existing facts and to form the conclusions and administrative recommendations, considering opinion of other persons.
The conscientiousness principle assumes compulsion of realisation of audit on the basis of the responsible relation of the auditor to the professional responsibilities and fulfilment of the functions with due carefulness, attentiveness and efficiency. At the same time the given principle cannot guarantee absolute accuracy of results of audition. It only reduces degree of information risk which is understood as risk of that any information subjected to audit, bears in itself a certain uncertainty in the form of the distortions arising owing to those or other objective and subjective factors.
The problems decided by auditors within the limits of operational audit, all spheres of activity of the managing subject, therefore the information investigated by them mention practically carries closed or, to tell more precisely, confidential character, both for an environment, and for a number of employees of the subject who does not have on a sort activity of access to the similar information.
For example, such information concern prognoznye indicators
Realisation or sales, the estimate on new production, the goods or services, publicity expenses, marketing, protection of the electronic information, reserves of efficiency of realisation of those or other business operations and business processes.
If to start with an independence principle it is possible to present the auditor as the foreign structure which has got access to confidential information streams that imposes on it certain functions of preservation of confidentiality. Thus, the auditor is obliged to observe a principle of confidentiality both at storage of archive of briefs by it, and at mutual relations with regular employees audiruemogo the subject and external environment. Differently, each auditor is obliged to understand all consequences of not authorised disclosure of any information connected with activity of the managing subject.
The principle of professional competence assumes fulfilment by auditors of the tasks at due professional level. The given principle provides necessity of constant increase of professionalism of all auditors that is caused by continuous change of conditions of modern development of managing systems, and also is standard - legal base which are a basis of auditor activity. Differently the auditor should have sufficient and proper knowledge on investigated aspect, is significant big, than a control system audiruemogo the subject. Besides it should have experience of the decision of similar problems, have sufficient erudition both in a problem subject domain, and in adjacent areas.
Leaning against experience of scientists and experts in the field of audit of the countries with the developed market economy [16, 27, 29], it is necessary to consider, that for bolshej for efficiency of observance of the given principle are necessary both constant increase of knowledge by all auditors, and constant quality assurance of various aspects of their work, allowing to stimulate increase of professionalism of auditor community. Thus follows
To conduct not only a self-assessment of works of auditors, but also an independent estimation of their activity and knowledge from the persons who are not employees audiruemogo of the economic subject.
And, at last, from fundamental principles of audit the principle of professional behaviour is last. In spite of the fact that the control system of the managing subject expects from audit of faultless results, it is necessary to remember: auditors cannot guarantee absolute accuracy of the conclusions and recommendations.
At the same time any auditor should observe a priority of interests of that social and economic system to which it serves, and to support high reputation of the trade. Thus it bears responsibility for:
Imprudent estimation (in reasonable limits) the amounts of works necessary for achievement of problems delivered before it; value judgment of complexity, importance or the importance of those or other aspects in which relation it forms the conclusions;
Adequacy and management efficiency estimation operational risks;
Probability of essential errors;
Expenses on represented proaudirovannuju the information and the administrative recommendations exceeding possible economic gains from administrative decisions generated on their basis.
Besides, the auditor is obliged at all stages of the work, deciding those or other problems delivered before it to start with a known item of professional scepticism, understanding, that all information received by it from various sources, can have some level of unauthenticity.
Thus, the carried out analysis of principles of audit as a whole and operational in particular allows to judge, that they are equally significant both for financial, and for operational audit, and also other kinds of audit
(Including efficiency audit).
At the same time, in spite of the fact that following to the principles considered above raises trust degree to auditor services, absence of the rules regulating an order of their practical application, allows to judge these principles only as about the high ethical intentions declared by the general norms of morals.
Such intentions do not allow:
To establish the general approaches to practical realisation of operational audit;
To define the conceptual base underlying a wide spectrum of services in the field of this direction of audit; to produce the basic criteria for an estimation of results of audition;
To promote perfection of those or other systems and processes of internal circle of the managing subject.
The important direction, allowing to lower degree of uncertainty of the above-stated restrictions, development of the principles defining practical aspects of operational audit is, in which auditions irrespective of an orientation the adequate understanding of essence audiruemyh systems (operating and operated), business processes, technologies and, as consequence, business - of operations should be mortgaged.
As efficiency is the estimated category shown in various subject domains of activity of the managing subject, that, as consequence, the significant share of an analytical component in total amount of the auditor procedures applied at audition of this or that subject domain of this subject is inherent in operational audit. For this reason the block of principles of a practical side of operational audit in a general view has something in common with similar principles of analytical work (complex economic analysis,
The administrative analysis and so forth), carried out within the limits of activity of the managing subject [36].
Thus, considering that operational audit is directed on check of operational efficiency and revealing of its reserves of any managing subject, and also development of the administrative recommendations adequate to conclusions generated as a result of audition, it is possible to consider as the most comprehensible principles of the indicated block (the appendix 2):
·sistemnost process of audition, which assumes research of any managing subject as the open managing system uniting in various structural links (subsystems and elements) and interacting with an environment or, more precisely, with an external environment;
The integrated approach assuming comprehensive audition of managing system, structural subsystems, business - of processes, technologies and business operations as research only separate element of the indicated system does not allow to evaluate efficiency of functioning of this system as a whole; periodicity which is established for each concrete object of audition depending on dynamism of its development and rates of its changes;
Scientific character which assumes disclosing and a scientific substantiation of economic essence audiruemyh the situations influencing efficiency of business operations and, as consequence, on efficiency of all activity audiruemogo of the subject. Thus the important component of the indicated principle is the scientifically-proved approach to audition process, that is to a choice adequate facing auditor to problems of auditor procedures; addressing which is expressed in a target orientation of audit. Data should be subject to operational audit,
Inherent only to the concrete object which is subject to audition at present to time;
Continuity of conclusions of operational audit which is realised by means of observance of uniform principles of audition and possibility of comparability of results of the check executed during the different periods of time.
The considered principles of operational audit, along with their ethical (standard) orientation, define also a practical component of the indicated direction of audit. Without their understanding and practical application proper fulfilment of process of operational audition of any subject domain of any managing subject is impossible.
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A source: Sitnov Alexey Aleksandrovich. Theory, organization and methodology of operational audit of business entities. 2009

More on topic 1.4. Principles of operational audit:

  1. Chapter 4. Principles of the organisation of operational audit
  2. 1.3. Problems of operational audit
  3. 4.3. The strategic model of operational audit
  4. 2.1. The General characteristic of a method of operational audit
  5. 4.1. The basic stages of operational audit and feature of their realisation
  6. 1.2. The role and a place of operational audit in upravleniihozjajstvujushchim the subject
  7. 5.2. Operational audit internal potentsialahozjajstvujushchego the subject
  8. 2.4. The tax of auditor proofs - maintenance of quality and reliability of information base of operational audit
  9. Chapter 2. A method of operational audit
  10. 1.1. The essence and a subject domain of operational audit
  11. 5.1. Operational audit of an external environment of the managing subject
  12. the Technique operational audit in land sphere of production
  13. Chapter 1. Methodological bases of operational audit in modern conditions
  14. З.1. Operational audit as the major form of the internal control
  15. 3.3. Operational audit - the tool of support of competitiveness of managing subjects
  16. Chapter 5. A technique of operational audit of efficiency of functioning hozjajstvujushchihsubektov
  17. 5.3. Operational audit of efficiency of innovative development of managing subjects
  18. 3.2. Operational audit as means of operative adaptation of managing economic systems
  19. Chapter 3. Operational audit as base of efficiency of functioning of managing economic systems