Audit and Consulting: Understanding the Boundary of Concepts

Many companies offer audit and consulting services. However, customer organizations of these services need to understand that there are differences between these concepts: from legislative regulation to responsibility for their results. vat consultants in Abu Dhabi- what exactly is the difference? In what situations can I apply for a service, and in which should?

Definition, concept, and types of audit

Audit - verification by an independent specialist of the accounting (financial) statements of the organization and the expression of his opinion on the reliability of indicators. Companies covered by Art. 5 of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated 30.12.2008 no. 307-ФЗ “On Auditing Activities”, the criteria and the obligation to submit an audit report as part of their annual financial statements, conduct an audit annually.

In particular, they require periodic mandatory audits:

• Legal entities whose revenue for the previous year exceeded 400 million rubles. or assets of the balance of which at the end of the year preceding the reporting year exceed 60 million rubles;
• joint-stock companies;
• companies publicly offering securities;
• companies preparing consolidated financial statements;
• Banks, insurance companies, and some other categories of organizations in cases provided for by laws No. 307-FZ “On Auditing,” 208-FZ “On Consolidated Reporting”.

The result of the audit is an official document - an audit a report in which the auditor summarizes the findings reflects significant issues and identified errors, thereby assessing the reliability of the organization’s reporting.


An audit can be conducted either by audit organizations that are a member of one of the self-regulatory organizations (SROs) of auditors, or individual auditors who have received a qualification certificate and who are members of one of the SROs.


The audit organization is required to comply with the rules of internal quality control of its services, as well as to conduct external quality control of work.


The following types of audit can be distinguished, which are carried out by specialists of our company:

• Comprehensive mandatory audit - procedures for the confirmation of accounting (financial) statements, as well as verification of the calculation of the tax base and the correct filling of declarations;

• System comprehensive audit - assessment of the reliability of accounting (financial) statements, systematic tracking of the accuracy of tax accounting, the search for legal, financial reserves, as well as guarantees and protection against claims of tax authorities;
• Tax audit - verification of tax accounting for compliance with tax legislation to identify errors, possible risks, and reserves;
• Financial audit - checking the correctness, completeness of the formation and execution of accounting, workflow, the reliability of financial statements;
• Personnel audit - Checking personnel documentation for compliance with applicable laws and internal requirements of the company;
• Audit of statements following IFRS - confirmation of the reliability of the prepared statements, audit report in accordance with IFRS;
• Initiative audit - voluntary verification of the accuracy of accounting by an independent auditors;
• Task audit - the development of an audit task, based on the goals of the company and providing for the performance of virtually any work based on accounting, tax or management accounting data;
• Business audit or legal audit - a comprehensive and objective analysis of the economic, financial and legal activities of the target business;
• Audit of consolidated financial statements - verification of socially significant organizations in accordance with Law No. 208-FZ;
• Inventory check - monitoring or conducting an inventory, confirming the existence of assets and rights to them;
• Audit of accounting policies - verification of accounting policies and recommendations for its updating, formed by our experts taking into account the wishes and needs of the organization.

In accordance with paragraph 7 of Art. 1 of Federal Law No. 307-FZ, audit organizations, in addition to auditing may provide other services related to this type of activity, in particular:

• Accounting and tax advice;
• Conducting accounting and tax accounting, reporting and declarations;
• Management consulting;
• Legal assistance and legal advice;
• Valuation activities;
• Drawing up business plans, etc.

We can say that audit activity is both audit and “audit consulting.” As you can see, an audit is a more comprehensive concept than just a “check”; it can also include consulting.

Also, the recommendations of the auditors presented during the audit to reduce or eliminate risks and shortcomings may not be enough, and company management may require specialist knowledge of experts in various areas of legislation or even production. In this case, there will no longer be an audit, but consulting in the areas of financial and economic activity.


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