Audit AssistantSo we have a typical small not for profit: poor division of duties, no real controls apart from two signatories for payments, a review of financial results at irregular board meetings, and the annual Performance Report prepared by external accountants.
Read moreSo, you are preparing financial statements for a Tier 3 charity – or auditing them – and the board have come up with the bright idea that they will use a revalued amount for land and buildings. The financial position will look better, so funders and members will feel that the entity is secure. What […]
Read moreIn assisting a range of Audit firms with their Quality Control I get to see quite a few files for review, mostly Tier 3 charities. There are a number of common areas where improvements could be made. We explore some of these below: Identification of Key Personnel There is a question early in the workflow […]
Read moreAudit Assistant has been making online collaboration tools for auditors for many years, so we thought why not use this incredible functionality to help accountants who prepare financial statements as well? If you carry out the preparation of financial statements for audit, or review, or just want to have a great paperless compilation process to […]
Read moreIs this project that we have all eagerly anticipated actually going to happen? It appears so. I recently attended an IFAC webinar (recording is here) that explained the latest developments. I wrote about this back in 2021 when the draft standard was released. It seems that there has been a bit more clarity as to […]
Read moreWe’ve talked about risk assessment, professional scepticism, responding to identified risks, and the business model in terms of ISA 315 (revised 2019). But the bulk of the actual requirements of the standard (paragraphs 19-27) relate to, as the heading puts it: ‘Obtaining an Understanding of the Entity and Its Environment, the Applicable Financial Reporting Framework […]
Read moreEver wish you could take your current complex review and documentation processes and put them into one bespoke, secure, elegant online solution without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars? Now you can. Or go next level and become a provider of that content, reselling it to other firms in your industry? This is what ReviewTools […]
Read moreFor those who prepare and audit financial statements for “small” (under $2m expenditure) charities and other not-for-profits, there are some important changes coming up. We have made a summary with some commentary about how we think this will impact the sector. In New Zealand, these smaller entities are very common – there are about 30,000 […]
Read moreKaizen, also known as continuous improvement, is a long-term approach to work that systematically seeks to achieve small, incremental changes in processes in order to improve efficiency and quality. Kaizen can be applied to any kind of work, but it is perhaps best known for being used in lean manufacturing and lean programming. If a […]
Read moreThe concept of understanding an entity’s business model, including how it uses Information Technology (IT) is new in ISA 315 (Revised 2019). Understanding the business model sounds like child’s play, but in the context of exploring inherent risks, it presents a powerful tool to understand the entity. Paragraph 19(a)(i) tells us that: The auditor shall perform […]
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