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Audit of consolidated statements. Review of consolidated and consolidated financial statements. What misstatements in reporting can the auditor detect?

Audit according to IFRS in 2019

The use of IFRS is in demand by foreign owners to understand their business in Russia, by banks to make decisions on issuing financing, and also by the state in accordance with Law No. 208 Federal Law “On Consolidated Companies”. financial statements» from 07/27/10

IFRS requirements assume that the transformation of reporting and further preparation of forms in accordance with IFRS is carried out by professional personnel. To prepare financial statements, it is not enough to know IFRS standards; you need to correctly interpret and apply them. Therefore, an audit of financial statements according to IFRS will be of great help.

IFRS audit is independent verification financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS standards of the audited entity for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the reliability of such statements.


Who needs an IFRS audit?

An important point is that according to Law No. 208 Federal Law, the reporting of companies such as credit organizations, insurance organizations, non-state pension funds, management companies investment funds, mutual investment funds and non-governmental pension funds, clearing organizations, a number of state-owned companies, other organizations whose securities are admitted to organized trading by including them in the quotation list are subject to mandatory audit.

Banks and company owners want to get an auditor's opinion on IFRS reporting, so auditing under IFRS is becoming increasingly in demand.

And of course, due to the fact that reporting under IFRS makes it possible to attract investors, many companies prepare reports under IFRS and confirm them with an audit report under IFRS.

Thus, in addition to Law No. 208 Federal Law, a number of companies prepare reports on a voluntary basis.

How is an IFRS audit carried out?

The audit is carried out in accordance with ISA (International Standards on Auditing) in accordance with the Law on Auditing Activities No. 307 Federal Law dated December 30, 2008.

Many people confuse ISA and IFRS; it should be noted here that ISA only applies to auditors. These are standards that regulate the work of auditors, that is, how the auditor will audit the organization. The statements that the auditor will check can be prepared in accordance with IFRS (or Russian standards accounting RAS, or any other).

Lyubov Reznikova
Head of IFRS and Management Accounting

The standards that are used when preparing financial statements under IFRS are universal. However, there are industries, such as insurance, that require the application of special standards, in particular IFRS 17 “Insurance Contracts”. It is therefore extremely important at the initial stage of audit planning to gain an understanding of:

  • what the company does
  • what transactions does he make?
  • whether securities or employee pensions are available, etc.
  • whether the company has controlled organizations, that is, whether it is a “Group” or one organization,
  • Has there been a previous audit, or is this the first time IFRS has been applied?

The duration of the audit and its price depend on all of the above factors. As a rule, a preliminary meeting is held with the head of the practice, where all the goals and wishes of the client are discussed. Next, the labor intensity is calculated, and the timing and cost of the audit are agreed upon.

The audit can be carried out either in one stage or in several. Conducting an audit in several stages allows the client to correct the errors found in a timely manner, that is, before passing annual audit.

Next, a team of auditors and assistants is formed and a head of the audit is appointed. The peculiarity and advantage of the organization Pravovest Audit LLC is that assistants have skills and knowledge within their competencies, they have work experience and the client does not have to teach them and waste their time. The team of auditors is professional employees with extensive experience and unique knowledge, so the audit process is a well-coordinated team effort, where everyone clearly understands their task.

The next step is start of check. It can be agreed upon either at the client’s office or remotely.

At this stage the auditor:

  • analyzes reports,
  • looks at the dynamics
  • studies databases
  • makes appropriate selections,
  • requests source documents,
  • analyzes management information,
  • conducts interviews if additional clarification is needed.

If we are talking about checking the transformation of reporting, then the incoming data is checked according to RAS. This is not an audit of RAS reporting, but serves as a need to confirm IFRS figures, which are obtained by adjusting RAS reporting. As the auditor completes his work, he completes working papers. They are the property of the audit company, and are subsequently provided to the quality controller along with the report.

A quality controller is a highly professional employee of an audit organization with a complex of knowledge who double-checks the work of the auditor. He is independent of the group of auditors involved in the audit. Thus, double control is carried out.

When preparing financial statements under IFRS, estimates and judgments of experts are used. IN in this case The auditor will review all assumptions and methodologies presented. Professional opinion plays a significant role in the preparation of IFRS reporting, but it must be justified.

A striking example of unfounded judgments can be given with a public company. In 2014, there was a sensational case with Transaero Aviation Company OJSC, when the auditors did not receive sufficient audit evidence to increase the cost of a trademark from 2,136,000 thousand rubles. up to 61,204,982 thousand rubles. and issued a qualified audit report. In 2015, Transaero was declared bankrupt.

Based on judgments, adjustments according to IFRS are formed. Checking adjustments will be the next stage of the audit of IFRS statements. Adjustments must be made taking into account all IFRS standards, that is, a company cannot ignore any standard. Adjustments will also include the reflection of transactions in the current period, if the transactions relate to this period, even if they are reflected in Russian accounting in the next year.

If auditors audit a Group of companies, then after analyzing each individual statement, the consolidation is carefully analyzed to ensure that intra-group transactions and capital transactions are correctly reflected.

Reporting in accordance with IFRS requires certain disclosures and explanations. The auditor checks textual explanations for:

  • completeness,
  • comparability,
  • reliability,
  • truthfulness.

Disclosures must reflect correct amounts and be consistent with each other.

On the last day of the inspection, a reporting meeting between the inspection manager and the client takes place, where the identified comments and prospects for improving the situation are discussed. And the final stage is obtaining an audit report, which is transmitted to end users.

What misstatements in financial statements can an auditor detect?

Due to the unstable economic situation Enterprises are forced to save and reduce personnel costs, so IFRS reporting is often prepared by employees who do not have the necessary competencies. Accordingly, errors may be in the amount, in the presentation, in the disclosure, in the classification.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the reconciliation of retained earnings and incoming balances previous period. retained earnings may change if changed accounting policy regarding the application of new standards (for example, in 2018 this may be when applying IFRS 15 “Revenue from contracts with customers”), and in the event of detection of significant errors. In other cases there should be no changes.

You should also pay attention to completeness of reporting.

Annual financial statements under IFRS must be presented in accordance with IAS 1 “Presentation of Financial Statements” and contain the necessary set of:

  1. statement of financial position at the end of the period;
  2. Report on total income during the period;
  3. statement of changes in equity for the period;
  4. traffic report Money;
  5. notes consisting of brief overview significant accounting policies and other explanatory information;
  6. The statement of financial position at the beginning of the earliest comparative period if an entity applies accounting policies retrospectively or restates items retrospectively in its financial statements, or if it reclassifies items in its financial statements.

In reporting forms, attention should be paid to classification and presentation, that is, to exclude the offset of assets against liabilities, to correctly determine current and fixed assets and obligations.

Disclosures are often incomplete, in particular there are no disclosures about related parties in accordance with IAS 24 “Related Party Disclosures” or disclosures related to financial instruments according to IFRS 9 “Financial Instruments”.

The main comments generally concern adjustments(sum expressions, or lack of necessary adjustments).

Thus, IFRS has many nuances and is by no means a simple area. To make sure that you have prepared such reports correctly, you should trust the professionals. An audit of financial statements in accordance with IFRS is necessary for companies preparing such statements, because allows you to verify its authenticity.

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Consolidated financial reporting as a type of accounting (financial) reporting is intended to characterize the financial position and financial results of the activities of a group of economic entities based on control relationships. That is, the reporting of a group of economic entities is prepared as if it were prepared by a single entity economic entity. Consolidated financial statements primarily perform information function and is made available to interested external users.

Federal Law No. 208-FZ of July 27, 2010 “On Consolidated Financial Statements” gives the following definition: “... systematized information reflecting the financial position, financial performance and changes in the financial position of an organization, which, together with other organizations and (or) foreign organizations is defined as a group in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). However, the above definition is applicable only for the purposes of the said law.

It should be noted that on the territory of the Russian Federation, IFRS and Interpretations of IFRS are applied, adopted by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation and recognized in the manner established by the Government of the Russian Federation in agreement with the Bank of Russia. This procedure involves the approval of the texts of IFRS and Explanations of IFRS by the Russian Ministry of Finance in the form of orders.

The consolidated financial statements of an organization are prepared along with the accounting (financial) statements of this organization, compiled in accordance with the Federal Law “On Accounting”.

Consolidated statements may also be prepared in accordance with national accounting rules and regulations, for example Russian rules, US rules (US GAAP) etc. In some Russian regulatory documents, such reporting may be called summary or summary (consolidated), due to historical reasons.

IN Russian practice The following classification of reporting types is quite often used:

  • consolidated reporting - compiled by combining (as a rule, by simple line-by-line summation) individual current reports (balance sheets, etc.) of the organization and its divisions; mainly compiled by executive authorities, government agencies, credit organizations in daily activities, etc.;
  • consolidated reporting - prepared by consolidating (consolidating, taking into account the share of ownership or control over assets, property) reports (balance sheets, etc.) of legally independent organizations that are economically interconnected; such reports are used by holding companies (owning controlling stakes shares of other companies), parent organizations in relations with their subsidiaries and affiliates. Most often, consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with IFRS requirements.

The main legislative and regulatory documents on the basis of which consolidated reporting is compiled and presented to users include:

  • 1) according to Russian standards: order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 30, 1996 No. 112 “On methodological recommendations on the preparation and presentation of a summary financial statements»;
  • 2) according to International Financial Reporting Standards:
    • - Federal Law “On Consolidated Financial Statements”;
    • - Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated February 25, 2011 No. 107 “On approval of the Regulations on the recognition of International Financial Reporting Standards and Explanations of International Financial Reporting Standards in the territory Russian Federation»;
    • - Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 25, 2011 No. 160n “On the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards and Explanations of International Financial Reporting Standards on the territory of the Russian Federation”;
    • - Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 18, 2012 No. 106n “On the introduction and termination of International Financial Reporting Standards on the territory of the Russian Federation”;
    • - Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated October 31, 2012 No. 143n “On the introduction and termination of International Financial Reporting Standards on the territory of the Russian Federation”;
    • - Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated April 2, 2013 No. 36n “On the introduction and termination of International Financial Reporting Standards on the territory of the Russian Federation”;
    • - Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 24, 2013 No. 135n “On the implementation of documents of International Financial Reporting Standards on the territory of the Russian Federation”;
    • - Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 21, 2015 No. 9n “On the entry into force and termination of the documents of International Financial Reporting Standards on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

In accordance with the provisions of section. V Regulations on accounting and reporting in the Russian Federation (clauses 91, 96, 97) if the organization has subsidiaries and dependent companies in addition to its own accounting report is also compiled consolidated financial statements, including indicators of reports of such companies located on the territory of the Russian Federation and beyond its borders. The procedure for drawing up these reports for most Russian organizations established by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 30, 1996 No. 112 “On methodological recommendations for the preparation and presentation of consolidated financial statements.”

Consolidated financial statements are a system of indicators reflecting the financial position of reporting date and financial results for the reporting period of a group of related organizations. The consolidated financial statements of the group combine the financial statements of the parent organization and its subsidiaries, and also include data on dependent companies. In relation to subsidiaries, the parent organization acts as the main company, in relation to dependent companies - as the predominant (participating) company. Consolidated financial statements combine the financial statements of subsidiaries and include data on dependent companies that are legal entities under the laws of the place of its state registration.

The financial statements of a subsidiary are combined into consolidated financial statements if:

  • 1) the parent organization owns more than 50% of the voting shares of the joint stock company or more than 50% authorized capital limited liability companies;
  • 2) the parent organization has the ability to determine decisions made subsidiary company, in accordance with the agreement concluded between the parent organization and the subsidiary;
  • 3) if the parent organization has other ways of determining decisions made by the subsidiary.

Data on dependent companies are included in the consolidated financial statements if the parent organization has more than 20% of the voting shares of a joint stock company or more than 20% of the authorized capital of a limited liability company.

The group may not prepare consolidated financial statements in accordance with the rules provided for regulations And methodological instructions according to the accounting of the Ministry of Finance of Russia, if the following conditions are simultaneously met:

  • consolidated financial statements are prepared on the basis of IFRS;
  • the group must ensure the reliability of consolidated financial statements prepared on the basis of IFRS;
  • explanations ( explanatory note) to the consolidated financial statements contains a list of applicable accounting requirements, discloses methods of accounting, including estimates that differ from the rules provided for by regulations and accounting guidelines of the Ministry of Finance of Russia.

Consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements of standards other than Russian accounting standards (regulations) (RAS), such as IFRS and GAAPK as noted above, it is usually called consolidated.

In light of the consistently carried out reform of Russian accounting and reporting standards by the Ministry of Finance of Russia, their convergence with IFRS, and also taking into account the fact that a significant number Russian companies(banks, large joint stock companies, implementing foreign economic activity, etc.) have been preparing statements in accordance with IFRS for a number of years, the most relevant, sought-after area of ​​the audit is the verification of consolidated financial statements compiled primarily in accordance with IFRS. Let's consider the purpose, composition and set of issues that arise during the audit of such reporting.

Consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS is left by a group of companies to satisfy the information needs of various stakeholders and serves as the basis for acceptance by such persons economic decisions. Consequently, such reporting must contain reliable information about the results of the financial and economic activities of the group of companies, and the reliability of such information must be confirmed by an independent audit. Currently, large Russian groups of companies prepare such reports upon request. various structures- banks, exchanges, shareholders.

In accordance with Federal law“On Consolidated Financial Statements”, IFRS statements are made up of:

  • 1) credit organizations;
  • 2) insurance organizations (except for insurance medical organizations operating exclusively in the field of compulsory health insurance);
  • 3) non-state pension funds;
  • 4) management companies of investment funds, mutual funds and non-state pension funds;
  • 5) clearing organizations;
  • 6) federal state unitary enterprises, the list of which is approved by the Government of the Russian Federation;
  • 7) open joint-stock companies, the shares of which are in federal ownership and the list of which is approved by the Government of the Russian Federation;
  • 8) other organizations whose securities are admitted to organized trading by including them in the quotation list.

If federal laws provide for the preparation, and (or) presentation, and (or) publication of consolidated financial statements (consolidated financial statements, summary (consolidated) statements and balance sheet) or if the constituent documents of an organization not specified in the above list provide for the presentation and (or) publication of consolidated financial statements, such statements are also prepared in accordance with the Federal Law “On Consolidated Financial Statements”.

In addition, it should be noted that this law also applies to the preparation, presentation and publication of financial statements by organizations that do not create a group. The word “consolidated” is not used in the title of such financial statements.

Currently, the Federal Law “On Consolidated Financial Statements” does not apply to organizations public sector, and also does not apply to consolidated (consolidated) budget reporting, consolidated reporting of state (municipal) institutions, formed in accordance with the budget legislation of the Russian Federation.

The organization must publish annual consolidated financial statements, which are subject to statutory audit. The auditor's report is provided and published together with these consolidated financial statements.

According to Federal Law "ABOUT consolidated financial statements”, organizations whose securities are admitted to organized trading by including them in the quotation list and which prepare consolidated financial statements according to internationally accepted rules other than IFRS, are required to present and publish consolidated financial statements starting with reporting for 2015.

If only the bonds of an organization are admitted to organized trading by including them in the quotation list, such organization is obliged to prepare, present and publish consolidated financial statements starting with reporting for 2014.

The organizations specified in paragraphs 3-5 of the above list are required to prepare, present and publish consolidated financial statements starting with reporting for 2015, and the organizations specified in paragraphs 6 and 7, starting with reporting for the year following the year , in which they are included in the lists approved by the Government of the Russian Federation.

All other organizations prepare, present and publish consolidated financial statements starting with reporting for the year following the year in which IFRS is recognized for application in the Russian Federation, i.e. starting with reporting for 2012

Purpose of verification and sources of information. The purpose of an audit of consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS is to express the auditor's opinion on whether the consolidated financial statements are prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with IFRS.

The subject of the opinion is the consolidated financial statements as a whole, i.e. the totality of all its constituent elements. Consequently, the consolidated financial statements under IFRS do not contain misstatements if the following conditions are met:

  • the composition of the group of companies is determined based on the requirements of IFRS;
  • the unified accounting policy of the group of companies for consolidation purposes was drawn up taking into account all the requirements and changes in IFRS;
  • IFRS reporting of subsidiaries is based on RAS reporting, which does not contain distortions, taking into account the requirements of a unified accounting policy;
  • the consolidation process went without errors, taking into account all IFRS requirements;
  • disclosed in the consolidated financial statements Additional Information according to IFRS requirements.

During the audit of consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS, the following main tasks must be resolved:

  • 1) checking the rationale for including subsidiaries in a group of companies for consolidation purposes;
  • 2) checking the reflection of IFRS principles in the unified accounting policy of a group of companies for consolidation purposes;
  • 3) checking the correctness of the preparation of financial statements by the group’s subsidiaries:
    • accounting (financial) statements according to Russian accounting standards (RAS);
    • financial statements according to IFRS;
  • 4) checking the correctness of the consolidation process and obtaining consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS;
  • 5) checking the completeness of information disclosure in the notes to the consolidated financial statements under IFRS.

When reviewing consolidated financial statements under IFRS, sources of information are used.

I. Organizational and administrative documents.

  • charter of the parent company, charters of subsidiaries;
  • accounting policies (accounting policies) of the parent company and subsidiaries, accounting policies for the purpose of consolidating the financial statements of a group of companies under IFRS;
  • chart(s) of accounts of the parent company and subsidiaries;
  • intragroup procedures for documentation, processing accounting information, preparation of financial statements, consolidation of financial statements.

II. Group of companies reporting:

  • financial statements according to RAS of companies included in the group of companies for the reporting and previous periods;
  • financial statements according to IFRS of companies included in the group of companies for the reporting and previous periods;
  • consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS for the reporting and previous periods.

III. Supporting information:

  • oral and written statements and explanations from the management of the group of companies, top management of the parent and (or) subsidiaries;
  • auditor's working papers and correspondence with the client for prior periods, if the audit is recurring (i.e. the client is a regular);
  • client correspondence with tax authorities, acts tax audits;
  • accounting data and supporting information, including contracts, source documents and confirmations from third parties;
  • audit reports and reports (written information) for past reporting periods.

Let us consider in more detail the procedures for verifying consolidated financial statements under IFRS at each stage.

  • 1. Checking the structure of a group of companies. At this stage, the auditor’s task is to build a diagram of the companies included in the group. Associated companies must also be included in this scheme. The working document should highlight the following data for each of the subsidiaries:
    • name of the subsidiary;
    • address;
    • country of location;
    • the parent company's share of control over the subsidiary;
    • types and details of documents confirming the control of the parent company over the subsidiary. In case of a complex control scheme, a description and documentary evidence of the presence of control. In case of control without documents - confirmation of the facts of control. In cases of lack of control, subject to all formal signs of control, a statement from management with a detailed explanation of the situation;
    • date of purchase;
    • date of planned sale;
    • date of planned termination of activity;
    • the last period in which the official accounting (financial) statements were audited;
    • share in the group’s income;
    • share in the group’s assets;
    • share in the group's liabilities;
    • the auditor's opinion on the legality of including a subsidiary in a group of companies.

After constructing a group of companies diagram, the auditor should receive answers to the following key questions:

  • whether all subsidiaries took part in the consolidation process;
  • what is the exact geographical spread of the group, i.e. in which countries are the companies included in the group of companies located;
  • what is the state of the official financial statements - based on the reports of the auditors of the subsidiaries;
  • what is the share of subsidiaries in the main items of financial statements.

Based on this data, the auditor can include subsidiaries in the audit program of consolidated financial statements or exclude them from the program.

The summary results of this procedure are documented in the auditor’s working document, which contains information about all subsidiaries.

2. Review of the accounting policies of a group of companies for consolidation purposes. To assess the principles on which the consolidated financial statements are based and to assess whether the accounting policies of a group of companies comply with IFRS principles, the auditor must obtain an understanding of the accounting policies of the group of companies being audited.

The analysis of accounting policies is carried out:

  • in order to establish discrepancies in determining financial reporting indicators according to the accounting policies of the group of companies and IFRS;
  • identifying key risk elements;
  • expressing an opinion on the applied accounting policies of the audited group of companies.

If a discrepancy between the principles specified in the group's accounting policies and the principles of IFRS is identified for consolidation purposes, the auditor must indicate in his working documentation discrepancies discovered and the impact of such discrepancies on the consolidated financial statements.

  • 3. Checking the reporting of subsidiaries. At this stage, the auditor needs to obtain evidence that the preparation of separate financial statements of subsidiaries under IFRS is organized at the proper level, the statements do not contain significant distortions, and are built on the basis of accounting policies for the purpose of consolidating a group of companies. For subsidiaries that the auditor selects to conduct the audit, it is necessary to obtain assurance that:
    • the subsidiary prepares financial statements in accordance with IFRS, taking into account all the requirements of IFRS and the accounting policies of the group of companies for consolidation purposes;
    • the financial statements of the subsidiary do not contain any distortions. If such statements have been audited, re-auditing is often impractical;
    • to eliminate discrepancies between accounting accounting policy the subsidiary company and the accounting policy for the purpose of consolidating the group under IFRS apply a set of adjusting entries that eliminates these discrepancies;
    • computer Information Systems, applied in the subsidiary, comply with intragroup standards, which are drawn up with the requirements of IFRS;
    • management personnel do not have a hidden interest in deliberately distorting the results of financial statements under IFRS in order to receive remuneration. For example, the annual bonus for management personnel is calculated based on the results of reporting under IFRS;
    • The personnel preparing IFRS reports have sufficient qualifications and knowledge in this area.

Based on my professional opinion and taking into account the specifics of the subsidiary, the auditor selects the procedures that need to be performed to verify the correctness of the IFRS reporting of the subsidiaries.

After completing this stage, the auditor will form an opinion that the group of companies was formed on the basis of IFRS requirements and the reporting of subsidiaries under IFRS is based on financial statements, the reliability of which has been confirmed by an independent auditor, taking into account the requirements of the accounting policy for the purposes of consolidation in accordance with the requirements of IFRS.

4. Review of the financial statement consolidation process. First of all, it is necessary to check the compliance of the eliminated (eliminate) indicators and use a single exchange rate. In practice, when preparing consolidated financial statements, one of the most common errors is the inconsistency of balances in the accounts of intra-group transactions of subsidiaries. This error occurs especially often in cases where the group contains companies that keep records in different currencies. During the consolidation process, such inconsistency leads to incomplete reconciliation of intragroup results and the appearance of distortions in the consolidated financial statements.

After this, the correctness of the consolidation procedure according to IFRS is checked. At this stage, the auditor needs to obtain confidence that the consolidation procedure was carried out in accordance with the requirements of IFRS. The main questions at this stage for the auditor will be:

  • application of uniform exchange rates by all subsidiaries;
  • preparation of IFRS statements by subsidiaries on a single date with consolidated financial statements;
  • calculation of minority interest in accordance with IFRS requirements;
  • elimination of balances on intragroup transactions;
  • absence of arithmetic errors when summing up the reporting indicators of subsidiaries;
  • replacement of the value of the parent company's investments in subsidiaries with part equity subsidiary company.

In the practice of companies preparing consolidated financial statements, various computer information systems are most often used to prepare consolidated statements. The purpose of such systems is to carry out consolidation based on the reporting of subsidiaries. In such systems, the input is the reporting of subsidiaries in the form of specially created files, and the output is consolidated reporting. Examples of such systems are “INEK-Analyst” of INEC company, “ AuditExpertProfessional" companies Expert Systems etc. In the case of using systems created individually for a group of companies, the auditor needs to obtain evidence that the system carries out the consolidation process in accordance with IFRS requirements. In this case, in accordance with the requirements of FPSAD No. 32 “The auditor’s use of the results of an expert’s work” / MCA 620 “The use of an expert’s work,” the work of an expert in the field of information technology should be used.

5. Reviewing the completeness of disclosure in the notes to the consolidated financial statements. At this stage, the completeness of information disclosure in the notes (notes) to the consolidated financial statements is checked.

IFRS (IAS) 1 Presentation of Financial Statements defines the information contained in the notes to the financial statements as “information that is supplementary to the statement of financial position, the statement(s) of profit or loss and other comprehensive income, the separate income statement, and the statement of changes.” in capital and cash flow statement. The notes include descriptions or detailed explanations of items disclosed in these financial statements, as well as information about items that are not subject to recognition in the financial statements.”

Many group companies, in addition to financial statements, provide a so-called financial review to the management of the organization, which describes and explains the main characteristics of the organization's results of operations, its financial position and the main uncertainties it faces. Such a report may contain an overview of:

  • the main factors and influences that determine financial results, including changes in the environment in which the organization operates, the organization's response to these changes and their impacts, as well as investment policy an organization aimed at maintaining and improving financial results, including its dividend policy;
  • sources of financing for the organization and its planned indicators ratio of liabilities and equity;
  • funds of the organization that are not recognized on the balance sheet in accordance with IFRS.

In the process of auditing consolidated financial statements, disclosing the completeness of information in the notes to the financial statements plays an important role, since each group of companies develops forms of consolidated statements for itself individually, depending on the type of business, the structure of the group, and the purposes of preparing consolidated statements under IFRS.

Non-financial information is often included in the notes (notes) to consolidated financial statements. The auditor, in turn, must be confident that any additional information presented in the financial statements that is not covered by the auditor's opinion is clearly and clearly separated from the information verified during the audit of the financial statements. If the auditor concludes that any unaudited information is not clearly differentiated from the financial statements, the auditor should include in the auditor's report an explanation that this information was not subject to verification.

The fact that additional information is not verifiable does not relieve the auditor of the need to review that information to identify material inconsistencies with the financial statements. The auditor’s responsibilities with respect to additional information are established by FPSAD No. 27 “Other information in documents containing audited financial (accounting) statements” / MCA 720 “Auditor’s responsibilities for considering other information in documents containing audited financial statements.”

  • From English Generally Accepted Accounting Principles - “generally accepted accounting principles”, the name of the accounting standards in force in the United States.
  • Approved by order Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 25, 2011 No. 160n.

One of the labor-intensive and urgent tasks of auditing in light of recent changes in legislation and the economic situation in the Russian Federation is the audit of consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Let's consider the purpose, composition and set of issues that arise during the audit of such reporting.

Consolidated financial statements compiled by a group of companies to meet the information needs of various stakeholders and serves as the basis for such persons to make economic decisions. Consequently, such reporting must contain reliable information about the results of the financial and economic activities of the group of companies, and the reliability of such information must be confirmed by an independent audit.

Currently, large Russian groups of companies prepare such reports at the request of various structures - banks, exchanges, shareholders. In the near future, with the adoption of the Law “On Consolidated Financial Reporting”, such reporting will be mandatory for groups of companies whose shares are listed on the stock exchange. Also, according to the draft law, such reporting will have to be mandatory undergo an audit.

The International Standards on Auditing (ISA) expresses the objective of an audit as follows: “The objective of an audit of financial statements is to enable the auditor to express an opinion on whether the financial statements are prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with stated fundamental principles of financial reporting.” According to the provisions of IFRS, consolidated financial statements fall within the definition of financial statements. Therefore, the purpose of an audit of consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS is to express the auditor's opinion on whether the consolidated financial statements are prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with IFRS.

The subject of the opinion is the consolidated financial statements as a whole, i.e. the totality of all its constituent elements. Consequently, the consolidated financial statements under IFRS do not contain misstatements if the following conditions are met:

The composition of the group of companies is determined based on the requirements of IFRS;

The unified accounting policy of the group of companies for consolidation purposes is drawn up taking into account all the requirements and changes in IFRS;

IFRS reporting of subsidiaries is based on RAS reporting, which does not contain distortions, taking into account the requirements of a unified accounting policy;

The consolidation process went without errors, taking into account all IFRS requirements;


The consolidated financial statements disclose additional information in accordance with the requirements of IFRS.

During the audit of consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS, the following main tasks must be resolved.

1.Checking the rationale for including subsidiaries in a group of companies for consolidation purposes.

2.Checking the reflection of IFRS principles in the unified accounting policy of the group of companies for consolidation purposes.

3.Checking the correctness of preparation of financial statements by the group’s subsidiaries:

Financial reporting according to Russian accounting standards (RAS);

Financial statements according to IFRS.

4.Checking the correctness of the consolidation process and obtaining consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS.

5.Checking the completeness of information disclosure in the notes to the consolidated financial statements under IFRS.

Auditing consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS are carried out on the basis of the following legislative and regulatory documents that form information base checks.

1.International auditing standards.

2.International financial reporting standards.

3. Civil Code of the Russian Federation 4 hours.

4. Tax Code of the Russian Federation, parts 1 and 2.

5.Federal Law “On Auditing Activities” No. 307-FZ dated December 30, 2008 (as amended on December 28, 2010)

6.Federal Law “On Accounting” No. 129-FZ of November 21, 1996 (as amended on September 28, 2010)

7. Regulations on accounting and financial reporting in the Russian Federation (Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 34n dated July 29, 1998) (as amended on October 25, 2010)

8.PBU 1/08 “Accounting policy of the organization”, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 10/06/2008 No. 106n (as amended on 11/08/10)

9. Chart of accounts for accounting of financial and economic activities of organizations and Instructions for its application (Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 94n dated October 31, 2000) (as amended on 08.11.10.)

10.Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation “On the forms of financial reporting of organizations” No. 67n dated July 22, 2003 (as amended on November 8, 2010) (for reporting for 2010 and earlier years).

11.Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation “On the forms of financial statements of organizations” No. 66n dated July 2, 2010.

Sources of information used in auditing consolidated financial statements under IFRS:

I. Organizational and administrative documents:

Charter of the parent company, charters of subsidiaries;

Accounting policies of subsidiaries and parent companies, accounting policies for the purpose of consolidating the financial statements of a group of companies under IFRS;

Chart of accounts of subsidiaries and parent companies;

Intragroup procedures for documentation, processing of accounting information, preparation of financial statements, consolidation of financial statements.

II. Group of companies reporting:

Financial statements according to RAS of companies included in the group of companies for the reporting and previous periods;

Financial statements according to IFRS of companies included in the group of companies for the reporting and previous periods;

Consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS for the reporting and previous periods.

III. Supporting information:

Oral and written approvals from the management of the group of companies, top management of the parent and (or) subsidiaries;

The auditor’s working papers and correspondence with the client for previous years, if the client is permanent;

Client correspondence with tax authorities, tax audit reports;

Accounting data and supporting information, including contracts, source documents and confirmations from third parties;

Audit reports previous years.

When preparing consolidated financial statements under IFRS, various omissions, errors, and inaccuracies are possible.

Basic common mistakes when determining the structure of a group of companies are given below.

1. Inclusion of only national subsidiaries into the group of companies.

2. Exclusion from the group of companies of subsidiaries in which the parent company does not own more than 50% of the shares, but there is clear control over the subsidiary.

3. Inclusion in the group of companies of subsidiaries in which the parent company owns more than 50% of the shares, but there is no control over the subsidiary company.

4. Inclusion in the group of subsidiaries, control over which is temporary.

5. Inclusion in the group of subsidiaries that operate under strict long-term restrictions that significantly reduce control.

Exclusion of subsidiaries from the group due to differences in their activities from the activities of other companies in the group.

At maintaining financial statements according to IFRS by companies included in the group of companies, The following errors are possible.

1. When accounting for fixed assets, the requirements of the accounting policy for consolidation purposes in the area of ​​the minimum cost of fixed assets, which differs from the requirements of RAS, are not taken into account.

2. When calculating depreciation, the same method is used as in RAS. Depreciation is also charged on those fixed assets that are not fixed assets according to IFRS.

3. When accounting for inventories, adjustments were not recalculated in accordance with the accounting policy for consolidation purposes.

4.When transferring business transactions An incorrect transfer to the IFRS chart of accounts occurs when one RAS account corresponds to several IFRS accounts.

5.When converting transactions into foreign currency the requirements of IFRS standards and accounting policies for consolidation purposes are not observed.

6. When calculating reserves (for dishonest debtors, for depreciation of securities, for guaranteed return of goods), the requirements of IFRS standards and accounting policies for consolidation purposes are not observed.

7.When calculating deferred income tax, errors occur due to incorrect determination of the components of deferred tax.

8. In relation to business transactions, the principle of their reflection in that reporting period, in which they are actually carried out. Especially for business transactions for which invoices are issued late.

9. In accounting for leased fixed assets, which in RAS are accounted for on the lessee’s off-balance sheet accounts, IFRS requirements are not taken into account.

10. In the interpretation of restricted funds, a failure to comply with the IFRS requirement to account for such funds in a separate account for long-term assets.

11. When carrying out transactions with securities with the conditions for their repurchase - failure to comply with IFRS requirements for accounting for such transactions as transactions for obtaining a loan.

When using IFRS principles in the consolidation process the mistakes are like this.

1. Companies included in a group of companies do not summarize the reconciliation of balances on intra-group settlement accounts.

2. Arithmetic errors when summarizing the reporting of subsidiaries on an itemized basis.

3. Errors in the process of calculating minority interest due to changes in the equity capital of the subsidiary.

4.Errors when folding book value investment by the parent company in subsidiaries and replacing it with the value of part of the subsidiary.

5.Inaccuracies in the CFO due to errors in automated system reporting.

6. The notes to the financial statements do not disclose events after the reporting date.

7. The notes to the CFR do not disclose the nature of the relationship between related parties.

8. The notes to the CFD do not disclose in full information about the group of companies.

The notes to the CFR do not fully disclose information about the functional currency and the reasons for reporting in a currency other than the functional currency.

IN modern conditions management, more complex organizational systems are created - groups of companies for which the consolidation of financial statements is an important condition for doing business.

Accounting in accordance with international standards and consolidation of financial statements are becoming more advanced as the need for investors to obtain complete and reliable information about a group of companies as a single economic entity increases in order to make a reasoned investment decision.

In accordance with the international financial reporting standard (IFRS) IFRS 10 “Consolidated Financial Statements”, originally put into effect on the territory of the Russian Federation by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated July 18, 2012 No. 106n (and currently in force on the basis of the order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated December 28, 2015 . No. 217n), “consolidated financial statements are the financial statements of a group in which the assets, liabilities, capital, income, expenses and cash flows of the parent enterprise and its subsidiaries are presented as assets, liabilities, capital, income, expenses and cash flows funds of a single entity economic activity. Thus, IFRS 10 defines the principles for the presentation and preparation of consolidated financial statements in cases where several legal entities are presented as a single economic entity (group) and independent entity controls one or more other independent legal entities.

According to the Federal Law of July 27, 2010 N 208-FZ “On Consolidated Financial Statements” (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 208-FZ), consolidated financial statements mean systematized information reflecting the financial position, financial performance and changes in the financial position of the organization, which, together with other organizations and (or) foreign organizations in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards is defined as a group. In international practice of presentation financial information A group usually means a parent company and its subsidiaries.

Features of the preparation and audit of consolidated financial statements

IN modern society The main task of consolidating financial information is to ensure that all users have access to information about the activities of groups, as well as financial information for making economic decisions by investors and other external users.

The main distinguishing features of the consolidated statements are that they represent financial information about the results of the group's activities as a single economic entity; is formed by a group of companies that are legally separate, but united under the control of a common parent company. The main method of reporting is the summation of the reporting data of all group members with the mutual exclusion of intra-group transactions.

When preparing consolidated financial statements, the following basic principles must be observed:

The principle of completeness, which means the acceptance in full of all assets, liabilities, income and deferred expenses of the consolidated group, regardless of the share of the parent company. In this case, the minority share is reflected in the balance sheet as a separate item;

The principle of equity capital, which is implemented by determining equity capital based on the book value of shares of consolidated enterprises, as well as financial results activities of these enterprises and reserves;

The principle of fair and reliable valuation, which means the presentation of reliable information about the assets, liabilities, financial position, profits and losses of enterprises included in the group and considered as a whole;

The principle of consistency in the use of consolidation and evaluation methods;

The principle of materiality, which involves the disclosure of items whose magnitude may affect users' decision-making;

Uniform methods for assessing assets, liabilities, income and expenses of future periods of members of a consolidated group;

A single reporting date for all enterprises included in the group.

The basis for the formation of the group's consolidated financial statements is the combination of information contained in the statements of the parent and subsidiary companies. Most general processes formation of consolidated statements are: elimination of intragroup transactions, calculation of goodwill, calculation of accumulated capital, calculation of minority rights and direct generation of reports.

When preparing reporting according to the rules of its consolidation, the nature of the merger of companies into a group (acquisition or consolidation of interests) should be taken into account.

The following three stages can be distinguished in the process of preparing consolidated financial statements of a group of companies: methodological, organizational and final.

Audit

The first stage, methodological, involves the development and determination of a methodology for the preparation of consolidated financial statements, which, as a rule, is based on external standards and uniform methodological documents used in the group. At this stage, the following procedures are carried out. Initially, you need to select the consolidation perimeter. Next, a unified chart of accounts and a unified accounting policy are developed for all entities included in the group.

At the second stage, organizational, the method of generating consolidated financial statements is selected. The choice of method is due to the availability of the following approaches to the formation in accordance with international standards of consolidated financial reporting. This may be the organization of parallel accounting, or the use of information transformation tables, or perhaps the use of special software products.

The choice of one of the listed approaches should be made by the parent company. However, it should be borne in mind that the first approach is long and costly, although it makes it possible to analyze the consolidated statements not only of the group as a whole, but also the separate statements of each member of this group.

At the third stage, the implementation of the methodology and method of consolidating financial information that were determined in the previous stages should take place.

The process of preparing consolidated financial statements in accordance with the accepted methodology may include the following stages:

Generation and provision of data for reporting according to international standards;

Formation of transformational data packages according to international standards;

Formation of preliminary consolidated financial information according to IFRS;

Formation of preliminary consolidated financial information according to IFRS, taking into account segment breakdown;

Formation and transfer to an external independent auditor of draft reporting under IFRS;

Fixing the figures of the consolidated financial data package according to IFRS;

reconciliation of notes to the consolidated financial statements under IFRS;

Preparation of final consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS.

According to Russian regulatory framework annual consolidated financial statements are subject to mandatory audit and must be presented to interested users (shareholders, founders or owners of the organization’s property) before the annual general meeting of shareholders (the next general meeting members of the company) and must be published no later than 30 days after the date of presentation to users.

An audit of consolidated financial statements is carried out to express an opinion on the reliability of financial statements and compliance of the procedure for their preparation with established rules. The audit process itself includes three stages - planning the audit, performing a substantive audit of the consolidated statements and forming an opinion on the degree of reliability of the consolidated statements with the issuance of an audit report.

Sources of information that are used when checking consolidated financial statements according to international rules for their preparation are:

Constituent documents;

Minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors, etc.;

Internal documents of an organizational and administrative nature that apply to the activities of the group;

Internal and external reporting of a group of companies;

Various types of supporting information, such as oral and written statements from the management of the group of companies, correspondence with counterparties and tax authorities;

Audit reports from previous years.

Preparation of consolidated financial statements

does not exclude the preparation by each member of the group of financial statements provided for by Federal Law No. 402-FZ dated December 6, 2011 “On Accounting”; moreover, Article 3 of Law No. 208-FZ provides for the preparation of both consolidated financial and accounting statements.

In this regard, before conducting an audit of consolidated financial statements, as a rule, a preliminary audit of statements compiled according to Russian rules in order to confirm its accuracy and compliance with Russian legislation.

The main stage of the audit of financial statements includes the study of the composition and content of financial statements. The compliance of the organization's financial statements with the requirements of regulatory documents is checked.

Errors that are most common when preparing consolidated financial statements are the following:

Incorrect determination of the composition of a group of interdependent organizations;

The presence of distortions in the accounting (financial statements) prepared by group members according to Russian standards;

Formation and use of accounting policies that do not meet the requirements of international standards;

Errors and distortions in the transformation of reporting prepared in accordance with Russian standards into reporting prepared in accordance with international rules;

Violations in the consolidation of financial information.

In conclusion, it should be noted that giving official status to consolidated financial statements is one of the key tasks of international integration and the continuation of the process of harmonization of national and international systems accounting. Thanks to the principle of priority of content over form, reporting under IFRS is more informative and transparent, which can enhance the company’s image and attract additional investment from foreign partners.

SAFINA Rezeda Raisovna
Associate Professor, Department of Accounting and Auditing, Ufa State Petroleum Technical University, professional auditor

FAMUTDINOVA Aigul Gainetdinovna
Master's student at the Department of Accounting and Auditing, Ufa State Petroleum Technical University

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