Understanding a financial statement audit (2024)

FAQs

How do you analyze audited financial statements? ›

To enhance the degree of confidence in the financial statements, a qualified external party (an auditor) is engaged to examine the financial statements, including related disclosures produced by management, to give their professional opinion on whether they fairly reflect, in all material respects, the company's ...

The balance sheet is broken into two main areas. Assets are on the top or left, and below them or to the right are the company's liabilities and shareholders' equity. A balance sheet is also always in balance, where the value of the assets equals the combined value of the liabilities and shareholders' equity.

On the top half you have the company's assets and on the bottom half its liabilities and Shareholders' Equity (or Net Worth). The assets and liabilities are typically listed in order of liquidity and separated between current and non-current. The income statement covers a period of time, such as a quarter or year.

- Were any known errors not recorded and why? How did management assess materiality and control implications? - Have all significant subsequent events been properly reflected and / or disclosed in the financial statements? - Are there any special purpose entities that require consolidation by the company?

There are three phases to an audit: the planning phase, testing internal controls and substantive testing. Auditors check the accounting data using substantive testing, within the context of materiality and risk assessed during the planning phase, as well as the overall effectiveness of the control environment.

An audited profit and loss statement shows a summary of the revenue, expenses and total income or losses of a company for a certain period as reviewed by an independent certified public accountant.

Who signs audited financial statements? ›

So, once a company has prepared its yearly Financial Statements, before submitting them to the BIR, and then to the SEC, the Financial Statement must first be audited, certified, and signed off by an independent auditor.

Balance sheets are often used for ratio analysis, such as calculating a company's liquidity or solvency. Financial statements are used for trend analysis, such as comparing performance over time. Investors, creditors, and other stakeholders often use balance sheets to evaluate a company's financial health.

Several techniques are commonly used as part of financial statement analysis. Three of the most important techniques are horizontal analysis, vertical analysis, and ratio analysis. Horizontal analysis compares data horizontally, by analyzing values of line items across two or more years.

During the audit, we: examine evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements; ◆ assess the reasonableness and appropriateness of accounting policies used and estimates made; and ◆ evaluate the overall financial statement presentation.

The auditor will test for cash balances reflected on the client's balance sheet by applying two primary tests: Bank reconciliations – Bank reconciliations are used when testing for the various mentioned management assertions.

The primary objective of a financial audit is to provide regulators, investors, directors, and managers with reasonable assurance that financial statements are accurate and complete. That is, the financial statements have been prepared in line with accepted external and regulatory standards.

What are the five methods of financial statement analysis? There are five commonplace approaches to financial statement analysis: horizontal analysis, vertical analysis, ratio analysis, trend analysis and cost-volume profit analysis. Each technique allows the building of a more detailed and nuanced financial profile.