Query is a method that is used to some extent in Ukraine.

Given the peculiarities of the market economy in Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine "On Auditing" The Law of Ukraine "On Accounting and Reporting in Ukraine" and foreign experience, in our opinion, the features and criteria for evaluating financial statements include:

completeness – checking the reflection of all assets and liabilities of the enterprise in full. The auditor should ensure that the client’s balance sheet shows all assets and liabilities; Valuation – the study of valuation of assets and liabilities during the year in accordance with the adopted accounting policy (including valuation methods), selected by the company at the beginning of the reporting period. For example, the auditor examines the application of inventory valuation methods, including the weighted average cost method, FIFO, LIFO, etc.; actual availability – control of the actual existence of assets and liabilities reflected in the balance sheet. Yes, the value of fixed assets may include the value of written-off or liquidated objects; the balance of the enterprise should not account for finished products sold to customers; Belonging – checking that all assets and liabilities shown in the balance sheet belong to the company being audited. Sometimes as part of own fixed assets can be reflected leased fixed assets, and as part of own inventories – materials in safekeeping; correctness of reflection – determination of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity of reflection of the position of the enterprise on the date of preparation of financial statements according to the approved standard forms of reporting.

Information not provided for in the reporting forms, such as events that occurred after the reporting date (natural disaster, loss of a regular customer or insolvency), which may significantly affect the future position of the company (jeopardize its activities, etc.), should be contained in the explanatory note to financial (accounting) statements. Checking the accuracy and objectivity of the display may consist of:

study of the correctness of accounting for the results of revaluation of fixed assets and other tangible assets; correct distribution of stocks into categories; correct classification of debtors (or selected individual debtors who have not repaid the debt for a period exceeding one year), etc.

Legality – control of observance by the enterprise at conducting accounting and drawing up of the financial reporting of norms of the current legislation and regulatory documents; determining the composition of the cost of production; calculation of value added tax and other operations related to economic and financial activities of the enterprise.

Caution – Checking the obligation to account for actual costs, actual revenues and estimated costs. When examining financial statements on the basis of prudence, the auditor should, for example, determine whether a provision has been made for bad debts that are expected to arise in the future, as well as for pending bad debts, and so on.

Consistency – checking compliance with the chosen accounting policy of the enterprise, as well as the continuity of its operation. This is a somewhat new criterion for Ukrainian enterprises and auditors. But it should can you write my lab report be taken into account because it is very important and meets the requirements of international accounting standards. Thus, when reviewing the continuity of the entity, the auditor should ensure that the entity will operate in the near future, for example under UK law one year after the balance sheet date or within six months of the issuance of the audit opinion.

Compliance (in foreign literature, "periodization") – the study of accounts and financial statements in terms of belonging to the reporting period being audited. Thus, some companies in order to improve financial performance attribute to the reporting period sales of products that occurred at the beginning of the next reporting period, or, conversely, unregistered debts of the current year are carried over to the next year. Such actions not only distort the real financial situation, but also affect the amount of budget taxes.

Features and criteria such as accuracy, objectivity, truthfulness, reliability are covered by the feature and the criterion of "correct display" of the accounting period – "compliance" of rights and obligations – "appropriate" classification and interpretation of the report are covered by the above criteria.

The proposed list of features and evaluation criteria by the auditor of the financial statements is the basis for determining:

a) methods and techniques of audit in general; b) methods and techniques that are most suitable for testing on a particular basis or criterion; c) methods and techniques depending on the objects of audit (for example, fixed assets should be checked primarily for the following features and criteria: completeness, actual availability, affiliation, assessment); d) methods and techniques that are most appropriate (effective) to use when inspecting a particular audit object.

Methods and techniques are defined in special domestic (M. Bilukha, B. Valuev, L. Kramarovsky, etc.) and foreign literature. Of particular note is their thorough classification by M. Bilukha. These methods and techniques are widely tested in the practice of auditing, control, as well as audit firms. These include: analysis, synthesis, observation, inventory, control measurements, examination, documentary verification, etc.

International auditing standards and foreign specialty literature set out specific methods and techniques of auditing, which are widely used in world practice, but little known in our country or have a different interpretation and features of application in auditing. These are such methods as surveys, inspections, inquiries, analytical reviews, and techniques – sample checking, questionnaires, testing, etc.

Consider briefly the characteristics of these methods and techniques.

The survey method involves obtaining written and oral information on the audit from employees of the enterprise – its head, managers, managers, chief accountant and other responsible persons. The answers received are part of the audit evidence.

The method of inspection in foreign literature and practice (in particular, in the UK) involves checking the physical availability of tangible assets, their need for business activities of the client, as well as checking the relevant accounts, calculations, etc.

Query is a method that is used to some extent in Ukraine. A written request can be sent to the bank servicing the company (to confirm the balance of money in the accounts), or to debtors and creditors. In foreign practice, the request to the bank is sent in the standard form "Standard letter-application for a bank report for audit purposes" which contains issues of interest to the auditor. In addition, the request to the lawyer who conducts the cases of the client company (on the presence or absence of court cases, the legality of the concluded contracts, etc.) is widely used.

The method of analytical review is not limited to the analysis of the financial statements of the enterprise, and even more so not to the traditional analysis by comparing the actual data with the data of the previous reporting period or planned (budget) indicators. The purpose and objectives of the analytical review are much broader. Thus, the auditor determines the trends, prospects of the client company not only according to its financial statements, but also the results of other related companies in this industry. And if many companies in the industry have gone bankrupt in the current economic conditions, it is possible that the same thing can happen to the company being audited. There are other areas of analytical review.

Acceptance of spot checks in foreign practice, in contrast to our traditional understanding, has a different technique (for example, from the totality of receivables check only those amounts that exceed a certain limit of their value). In domestic practice, a certain month or a certain part of each month is chosen.

Questionnaire reception is one of the survey methods. It consists in receiving from employees of the enterprise and third parties answers to pre-formulated questions.

Testing is the most common in foreign audit practice. In his working papers (documents), the auditor himself gives answers in the form of "yes" or "no" to a certain list of questions at each stage of the audit or from each audit object. Audit control tests are quite diverse: independent, compliance, cross-cutting, targeted, and so on.

There is no need to consider the methods and techniques widely used in our practice here.

Further selection of audit methods and techniques according to the characteristics and criteria for the objects of audit and the most effective of them is a problem of individual stages of the audit – verification of assets, capital, liabilities, profit, etc.

Audit sample. To reduce the volume of work and reduce their cost, auditors often use an audit sample. The auditors check only a part of the whole data set and extrapolate the obtained results so as to form their opinion on the set as a whole. Sampling never gives complete assurance about the reliability of the results due to the continuing existence of elements of audit risk.

If the auditor decides to conduct a sample survey, he should consider the following:

the main purpose (task) of the inspection and whether it can be done using sampling; the relative effectiveness of various audit methods and techniques; the nature of inaccuracies and errors that may be contained in the reporting, and the probability of their detection through a sample study of information.

Sampling can be carried out on the basis of two types of methods:

methods of statistical sampling; sampling techniques using professional judgment (non-statistical sampling).

Statistical sampling involves the use of statistical theory in the selection of units and the population. In turn, the statistical sample can be divided into the selection of features and variables.