Fixed assets at the enterprise are the largest component of its assets at the cost, besides the least turnover. Accounting for fixed assets is related to accounting for operations such as their acquisition, depreciation and disposal thereof after the end of their useful life. In order to prevent the occurrence of errors and distortions, an audit of the accounting of fixed assets is carried out - checking the conformity of information about the operating system presented in the financial documents of the enterprise with the real situation.
Fixed assets go through three main stages: the acquisition of fixed assets associated with the formation of their initial cost, the use during which the depreciation, or, more simply, depreciation is accrued, and the disposal, in which the company sells existing obsolete fixed assets at the so-called residual value. It is also possible the movement of fixed assets - this term means the movement of OS between different departments and production sites, their transfer from one subject of the internal structure of the company to another. Since all OS objects have inventory cards and numbers, the movement of the OS object must be correctly documented so that later there is no confusion with its location. The audit of the movement of fixed assets, as a rule, is included in the OS audit program and is an important component of it. Checking the correct documentary display of the OS movement will help you not to get confused at the next stages of the check.
An audit of fixed assets involves checking the following points:
- The correctness of the acquisition of OS facilities - you need to make sure that the initial cost really includes all the costs associated with its acquisition, delivery, installation, installation work, preparation for launch and operation.
- The correctness of depreciation on fixed assets - in this case, you need to check whether the depreciation method corresponds to the one specified in the order on the accounting policy of the enterprise, issued every year at the beginning of the year. It is also important to check whether depreciation is accrued on time, whether deliberate accelerated depreciation is carried out on fixed assets for the purpose of their further sale at a knowingly low price.
- The audit of the disposal of fixed assets is the last stage of the OS audit. This check involves the identification of violations during the write-off of fixed assets and their sale at residual value. This item is inextricably linked with the first two, because if the primary cost was incorrectly formed or depreciation was incorrectly calculated, then, of course, the residual value will be formed incorrectly and the asset will be sold at a likely low price, which will result in an unused benefit for the enterprise. An audit of the accounting of fixed assets absolutely necessary implies an analysis of recent transactions for the sale of fixed assets and the identification of their legitimacy and compliance of sale prices.
The end of the accounting check of the operating system ends, as always, as standard - by writing a special letter. This letter describes how the audit of accounting for fixed assets was carried out, what methods were used to verify, and what results were achieved. Based on this report (conclusion), the management of the company can make its further decisions, being aware of the real financial picture of the enterprise. The auditor always bears full responsibility for the data that he presented in his report, that is, his clients can make claims against him in order to compensate for losses if these losses were caused by the negligence of the inspector. As a rule, such a case is fatal for the career of an unsuccessful auditor.