Audit Programmes

Peter B

I work in the audit dept in a small accountancy firm. When completing audits I often find the filling in of the audit programmes take so long and often pushes the job over budget. We use the audit programmes from the Icai. They take ages and are complicated and don't seem to be a very good checklist. Anyone have any similar problems with the audit programmes or any solutions?

censuspro

Hi Peter

Many small accountancy practices have the same problemand expect it to get worse because there's going to be all types of new legislation introduced in light of the recent banking crisis. The problem is that the level of audit work imposed cannot be reflected in the charge out rate.


A few suggestions are:

1. Get the company audit exempt: No point in doing an audit if it's not required.
2. Get an excel copy of your audit programme AFAIK ICAI have one, CPA definetely have one. Alot of the audit schedules are the same for alot of clients or are inherent in each industry i.e. risk and planning. Type in the standard answer for each schedule,this will save alot of time.

Hope this helps.

Peter B

Thanks for your reply Census Pro. We currently do as you suggested but still find time pressure on audits.

Do other people find the same problems as I find? Any other solutions to this problem?

Anybody use checklists when completing an audit?

Stabshauptmann

Census_Pro wrote: »

Get an excel copy of your audit programme AFAIK ICAI have one, CPA definetely have one. Alot of the audit schedules are the same for alot of clients or are inherent in each industry i.e. risk and planning. Type in the standard answer for each schedule,this will save alot of time.

And undermine the point of the exercise...

censuspro

Try and get the client to have as much of the work done as possible. I might be stating the obvious but make sure they have completed:

1. Bank rec
2. Creditors rec
3. Debtors rec

For the Debtors and Creditors, send the client a spreadsheet with a list of Debtors/Creditors,and have the client type in the balance per the creditors statement or for debtors, the payments received after the year end.

Too often auditors end up preparing the accounts before they can be audited. The client wont understand the work you did and they wont pay you for it.

ams

the new excel ones seem to be better laid out than the word ones. Once you do a few of them and become familiar with the layout it gets quicker.

censuspro

Have a look at the previous years audit file, alot of the time it's the same issues that keep repeating themselves e.g. WIP, stock valuations, bad debt provisions. The more audits you practice the more familiar you will become with the work involved and you should be able to pre-empt the issues that are going to arise.

When you audit a company, you should start to become aware of the the types of risks inherent to the industry that the company operates in. For example, solicitors and client accounts, construction companies and the valuation of WIP, retail businesses and cash sales.

Again, get the client to do as much of the work as possible. Have a look at the previous years file and see what you requested from the client throughout the course of the audit and request the same info for the current year.

There are 2 reasons whay an audit can be delayed:

1. Waiting on info
2. The audit work is not being done by the staff