The most common tool for controlling companies is audit. Let’s face it, it is it is an eagerly awaited event. It is also rarely associated with benefits. However, the situation does not have to be bad, because the visit of an auditor in the company may turn out to be very useful for her. A positive audit result is essential in shaping the image of a reliable partner who can properly use the entrusted financial or material resources. The audit should be an opportunity to independently verify what is happening inside the company. What exactly is an audit? Who is the Auditor? What are the types of audit and what are its costs? These questions are answered in this text.
Audit definition
By definition, an audit is a systematic and independent assessment of a selected organization, some system, a single project, and also a product. During an audit, a selected organization, process, project, system or product is examined for compliance with a specified benchmark. These items include, but are not limited to, norms, standards, laws, checklists, or the organisation’s internal regulations, policies, procedures.
Put simply, an audit is a way of checking companies through investing economic agents that the money invested is being used appropriately.
Auditor
The auditor is the person responsible for conducting the audit. It is obliged to independently evaluate the company, system, process, product, the purpose of which is to indicate whether a given company operates in accordance with the given assumptions. The auditor supervises, carries out research and prepares reports. He scrupulously analyzes all the company’s financial statements and checks whether the company is conducted in accordance with applicable legal regulations. It controls whether the data presented in the reports is true and fairly reflects the company’s operations.
Types of audit
There are two types of audit. It is an external and internal audit.
An external audit is an audit carried out by auditors independent of the audited entity, and its results are of interest primarily to the party commissioning the audits. It is rarely carried out. It is performed only by people with appropriate qualifications.
Internal audit is a constant element of the company. It is a source of independent assessments. It should bring measurable benefits or less measurable added value. It is helping the organization achieve its goals through a systematic and methodical approach to assessing and improving the effectiveness of the organization’s risk management, control and management processes.
A different breakdown of the audits carried out in units:
- activity audit
- ecological audit
- energy audit
- ethics audit
- financial audit
- IT audit
- quality audit
- marketing audit
- operational audit
- software audit
- personnel audit
- overhaul audit
- system audit
- environmental audit
- knowledge audit
- compliance audit
- clinical trial audit
Audit costs
The cost of conducting a survey is a big problem for many companies. It is difficult to find qualified auditors for little money. However, it is not impossible. Audit firms are reluctant to quote their prices, but most often they are negotiable.
The average range of audit prices hovers around:
- 2000 – PLN 4 500. The offer in this range applies rather to auditors operating independently in small towns.
- PLN 5,000 – 20,000. Optimal range for a medium-sized company. According to qualified auditors, a thorough analysis of the enterprise can be performed in this price offer.
- Over PLN 20,000. The offer is aimed at large enterprises with serious
and irregularities.
Each audit ends with a debriefing meeting presenting good practices
in the company, but also identifying non-conformities and the need to address corrective actions.
In conclusion, it is worth conducting an audit in the company. In order not to be too burdensome for work,
and at the same time bring the greatest benefits, the scope of one audit should be narrowed down, but their frequency increased. This contributes to regularity among employees and compliance with the accepted norms and principles. A short and clear scope of the audit is one of the elements of the company’s success.