Audit is the review of accounts of a company or entity with the objective of investigating are in accordance with the provisions previously established and, in this way repair if they were implemented effectively. The term audit is of Latin origin of the verb “audire” which means “to hear” , this is due to the function of the first auditors was to listen and judge the truth or falsity of the facts that were submitted.
On the other hand, audit refers to the employment of the auditor and the auditor’s court or office, that is, his place of work. The auditor is the collegiate account reviewer who can be a person or company, such as: Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernst & Young, and so on.
The term audit is used in different contexts, with more emphasis on the administration of a company or entity, what is known as an accounting audit, it is a process performed by an independent auditor of the company, which uses the critical and systematic review of books , accounts and records of the same to corroborate if your financial statement is correct and if the vouchers are properly presented, according to the current accounting standards of each country.
Likewise, in a company, the legal audit of verifying all the legal aspects of the company or of specific situations is of utmost importance , in order to timely correct any legal breach, such as: the verification of the requirements for each economic activity, the labor relationship with the employees, the constitution of the company, among others.
The audits are confidential and, at the end of them, a detailed report is presented on which the legal diagnosis was examined, suggestions that allow the company to continue growing and achieve its economic objectives and, finally, the auditor’s conclusions.
In the area of information technology, the audit is responsible for collecting, grouping and evaluating evidence to determine if a computer system safeguards assets, maintains the integrity of the data, through the effective use of the organization’s purposes and resource efficiency. Therefore, the main objective of computer auditing is to protect assets and data integrity.
The tax audit, as indicated by its name, consists of a review of the tax situation of a person or company to verify whether they have complied with the declarations and the payment of taxes in relation to the finances of the company or individual audited. From time to time the State conducts audits to verify that the taxpayer has fulfilled its obligations and, in the case of an irregular situation or to verify tax evasion, it can be punished in different ways since this is a crime.
In relation to the foregoing, the forensic audit consists of preventing and detecting financial fraud and can be focused through a preventive forensic audit and a detective forensic audit. The first has the ability to detect, prevent and avoid financial fraud through controls and anti-fraud programs and, the second is aimed at identifying the existence of fraud and all its aspects, for example: alleged perpetrators, perpetrators and accomplices, possible classification, and so on, this audit helps to make decisions with the respective frauds.
The purpose of the management audit is to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness in the fulfillment of the company’s achievements through the correct use of resources, operation and compliance with an adequate policy.
External and internal audit
The internal audit is performed by an internal agent of the company whose function is to perform a professional, objective and critical analysis as a result of the evaluation of internal controls and the faithful compliance of programs or plans in order to improve financial operations and Administrative of the company. In turn, the external audit is carried out by an independent staff of the company and distributes its function in different management areas such as: human, financial, legal resources, all to determine the efficiency that a company has in the development of its functions.
The express audit auditor has time to issue a report and suggest solutions to solve business problems and recommendations to improve it. In comparison, the internal auditor who has knowledge of the company and time to perform its function.
Health audit
The health audit is responsible for investigating the quality of the services provided and whether they meet the established standards. Its main purpose is the evaluation of the quality system of the systems and the rationalization of resources in health care with the mission of improving them.
Environmental audit
The environmental audit consists in evaluating a company’s standards, the level of interaction with the environment and the environmental position of a company. The environmental audit evaluates the processes of a company in terms of pollution and environmental risk.
This audit allows us to observe if the company complies with the provisions of the environmental protection law and identifies the aspects that the company should improve.
