All changes to the auditor's code of ethics. Professional ethics of the auditor. Principles Every Auditor Should Follow

Approved

Audit Chamber of Russia

CODE OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FOR AUDITORS

Article 1. General provisions

1.1. The Code summarizes the ethical standards of professional conduct of independent auditors united by the Audit Chamber of Russia.

1.2. The ethics of professional behavior of auditors determines the moral values that the audit community affirms in its environment, ready to protect them from all possible violations and attacks.

1.3. Each auditor who has been criticized by his own for violating ethical professional conduct has the right to an objective public investigation into deviations from the norms provided for by this Code. If the auditor so desires, the investigation may be conducted confidentially.

Article 2. Generally accepted moral norms and principles

Auditors are obliged to adhere to universal moral rules and moral standards in your actions and decisions, live and work according to your conscience.

Article 3. Public interests

3.1. The external auditor is required to act in the interests of all users financial statements, and not just the customer of audit services (client).

3.2. When protecting the client’s interests in tax, judicial and other authorities, as well as in his relationships with other legal entities and individuals, the auditor must be convinced that the protected interests arose on legal and fair grounds. As soon as the auditor becomes aware that the client’s protected interests arose in violation of the law or justice, he is obliged to refuse to protect them.

Article 4. Objectivity and attentiveness of the auditor

4.1. An objective basis for the auditor's conclusions, recommendations and conclusions can only be a sufficient amount of the required information.

4.2. When providing any professional services, auditors are required to objectively consider all emerging situations and real facts, and not allow personal bias, prejudice or outside pressure to affect the objectivity of their judgments and conclusions.

4.3. The auditor should avoid relationships with persons who could affect the objectivity of his judgments and conclusions, or immediately terminate them, indicating the inadmissibility of pressure on the auditor in any form.

4.4. When performing professional services, utmost care should be taken. Auditors must take their responsibilities carefully and seriously, comply with approved auditing standards, adequately plan and control work, and check subordinate specialists.

Article 5. Auditor independence

5.1. Auditors are required to refuse to provide professional services if there is reasonable doubt about their independence from the client organization and its officials in all respects.

The independence of the auditor in the context of this article is considered both in formal and factual circumstances.

5.2. In the report or other document resulting from the professional services rendered, the auditor must consciously and without qualification declare his or her independence with respect to the client.

5.3. The following are the main circumstances that impair the independence of the auditor or cast doubt on his actual independence:

a) upcoming (possible) or ongoing legal (arbitration) cases with the client’s organization;

b) financial participation of the auditor in the affairs of the client’s organization in any form;

c) financial and property dependence of the auditor on the client (joint participation in investments in other organizations, lending, except for banking, etc.);

d) indirect financial participation (financial dependence) in the client’s organization through relatives, employees of the company, through main and subsidiary organizations, etc.;

e) family and personal friendly relations with directors and senior management personnel of the client’s organization;

f) excessive hospitality of the client, as well as receiving goods and services from him at prices significantly reduced relative to real market prices;

g) participation of the auditor (managers of the audit firm) in any management bodies of the client’s organization, its main and subsidiaries;

i) previous work of the auditor in the client’s organization or in its management organization, in any positions;

j) if the issue of appointing an auditor to a managerial or other position in the client’s organization is being considered.

5.4. Under the circumstances given in paragraph 5.3 of this article, independence is considered violated if they arose, continued to exist or were terminated during the period for which professional audit services must be performed.

5.5. The independence of an audit firm is questionable if:

a) if it participates in a financial-industrial group, a group of credit organizations or a holding company and provides professional audit services to organizations included in this financial-industrial or banking group (holding);

b) if the audit firm arose on the basis structural unit a former or current ministry (committee) or with the direct or indirect participation of a former or current ministry (committee) and provides services to organizations previously or currently subordinate to this ministry (committee);

c) if the audit firm arose with the direct or indirect participation of banks, insurance companies or investment institutions and provides services to organizations whose shares are owned, acquired or acquired by the above-mentioned structures during the period for which the audit firm must provide services.

5.6. In cases where the auditor performs other services on behalf of the client (consulting, reporting, maintaining accounting etc.), it is necessary to ensure that they do not violate the independence of the auditor. Auditor independence is ensured when:

a) the auditor’s consultations do not develop into services for the management of the organization;

b) there are no reasons or situations affecting the objectivity of the auditor’s judgments;

c) personnel involved in accounting and reporting are not involved in the audit of the client’s organization;

d) the client’s organization assumes responsibility for the content of accounting and reporting.

Article 6. Professional competence of the auditor

6.1. The auditor is obliged to refrain from providing professional services that go beyond the scope of his professional competence, as well as those that do not correspond to his qualification certificate.

An audit firm can attract competent specialists to assist the auditor in solving specific tasks.

The auditor must strive to carry out his professional activities in a team of specialists organizationally united in an audit firm.

6.2. The auditor is obliged to constantly update his professional knowledge in the field of accounting, taxation, financial activities And civil law, organization and methods of auditing, legislation, Russian and international norms and standards of accounting and auditing.

Article 7. Confidential information of clients

7.1. The auditor is required to maintain confidential information about clients' affairs obtained in the provision of professional services, without limitation in time and regardless of the continuation or termination of direct relations with them.

7.2. The auditor should not use the client's confidential information, which became known to him in the performance of professional services, for his own benefit or for the benefit of any third party, or to the detriment of the client's interests.

7.3. Publication or other disclosure of confidential client information is not a violation of professional ethics in the following cases:

a) when the client allows it, taking into account the interests of all parties that it may affect;

b) when it is provided for by legislative acts or decisions of judicial authorities;

c) to protect the auditor's professional interests in the course of an official investigation or private proceeding conducted by directors or authorized representatives of clients;

d) when the client intentionally and unlawfully involved the auditor in actions contrary to professional standards.

7.4. The auditor is responsible for maintaining confidential information among assistants and all firm personnel.

Article 8. Tax relations

8.1. Auditors are required to strictly comply with tax laws in all aspects; they must not knowingly hide their income from taxation or otherwise violate tax laws for their own benefit or for the benefit of others.

8.2. When providing professional tax services, the auditor is guided by the interests of the client. At the same time, he is obliged to comply with tax laws and must not contribute to falsifications in order to evade the client from paying taxes and deceive the tax service.

8.3. The auditor is obliged to inform the client’s administration in writing about violations of tax legislation, errors in calculations and payment of taxes identified during a mandatory audit and audit commission joint-stock (business) company and warn them about the possible consequences and ways to correct violations and errors.

8.4. The auditor is obliged to provide recommendations and advice in the field of taxation to the client only in writing. At the same time, he strives not to reassure the client that his recommendations exclude any problems with the tax authorities, and must also warn the client that responsibility for the preparation and content of tax returns and other tax reporting lies with the client himself.

Article 9. Fees for professional services

9.1. An auditor's professional fees are consistent with professional ethics if they are paid based on the volume and quality of services provided. It may depend on the complexity of the services provided, qualifications, experience, professional authority and degree of responsibility of the auditor.

9.2. The amount of payment for the auditor’s professional services should not depend on the achievement of any specific result or be determined by circumstances other than those specified in clause 9.1.

9.3. The auditor has no right to receive payment for professional services in cash in excess of the generally established norms for cash payments.

9.4. The auditor is required to refrain from paying or receiving commissions for acquiring or transferring clients or transferring third party services to anyone.

9.5. The auditor is obliged to negotiate in advance with the client and establish in writing the terms and procedure for payment for his professional services.

9.6. Doubts about compliance with professional ethics are raised by the situation when the fee of one client constitutes all or a large part of the auditor’s annual revenue for the professional services provided.

Article 10. Relations between auditors

10.1. Auditors are required to treat other auditors kindly, refrain from unfounded criticism of their activities and other deliberate actions that cause harm to colleagues in the profession.

10.2. The auditor must refrain from disloyal actions towards a colleague when the client replaces the auditor, and assist the newly appointed auditor in obtaining information about the client and the reasons for replacing the auditor.

The newly appointed auditor is informed in writing in compliance with the ethical standards on confidentiality set out in Article 7 of this Code.

10.3. A newly invited auditor, if such an invitation was not made based on the results of a competition held by the client, before agreeing to the proposal, is obliged to inquire about the previous auditor and make sure that there is no professional reasons to refuse it.

A newly invited auditor who has not received a response from the previous auditor within an acceptable time and, despite the efforts made, has no other information about the circumstances that impede his cooperation with this client, has the right to give a positive response to the proposal received.

10.4. The auditor has the right, in the interests of his client and with his consent, to invite other auditors and other specialists to provide professional services. Relations with other auditors (specialists) involved additionally must be businesslike and correct.

Auditors (specialists) additionally involved in the provision of services are required to refrain from discussing business and professional qualities main auditors, show maximum loyalty to the colleagues who invited them.

Article 11. Relations of employees with the audit firm

11.1. Certified auditors who have agreed to become employees of an audit firm are obliged to be loyal to it, contribute to the authority and further development of the firm with all their activities, and maintain business-friendly, friendly relations with managers and other employees of the firm, managers and staff of clients.

11.2. The relationship between employees and the audit firm should be based on mutual responsibility for the implementation professional responsibilities, dedication and open-mindedness, constant improvement of the organization of audit services and their professional content.

The audit firm is required to develop methods professional activity, summarize regulations, supply them to their employees, and constantly take care of improving their professional knowledge and qualities.

Auditors collaborating in an audit firm are required to perform their work conscientiously, carefully and carefully approach the content of documents sent to clients, and in their relationships with them be guided by professional standards and the interests of the firm.

11.3. A certified auditor who frequently changes audit firms or suddenly leaves one, thereby causing certain damage to the firm, violates professional ethics.

Specialists who have moved to another audit firm are required to refrain from condemning or praising their former managers and colleagues, or from discussing with anyone the organization and methods of work in the previous firm. They must not disclose confidential information known to them and documents of the audit firm with which they have terminated their employment.

Managers (employees) of an audit firm refrain from discussing with third parties the professional and personal qualities of their former employees and colleagues, except in cases where these former employees by their actions caused significant damage to the profession and the legitimate interests of the company.

At the request of the head of the audit firm in which the auditor is applying for a job, the head of the audit firm where the auditor was previously an employee may give a written recommendation indicating the professional and personal qualities of the auditor.

11.4. An auditor who, for one reason or another, leaves an audit firm is obliged to faithfully and in full transfer to the firm all documentary and other information available to him. professional information, without keeping copies, draft notes, working documents related to audits.

12.1. Public information about auditors and advertising of audit services can be presented in the media, special publications of auditors, in address and telephone directories, in public speeches and other publications of auditors, managers and employees of audit firms.

There are no restrictions regarding the place and frequency of advertising, the size and design of the advertisement.

12.2. Advertising of auditing professional services must be informative, direct and honest, in good taste, excluding any possibility of deception and confusion of potential clients or arousing their distrust of other auditors.

12.3. Advertising and publications containing:

a) a direct indication or hint that instills unreasonable expectations (confidence) of clients in the favorable results of professional audit services;

b) unfounded self-praise and comparisons with other auditors;

d) information that may reveal the client’s confidential data or biasedly misrepresent him;

e) unfounded claims to be a specialist in a certain field of professional activity;

f) information intended to mislead or put pressure on judicial, tax and other government bodies.

12.4. Auditors are required to refrain from participating in various types of comparative studies and ratings, the results of which are supposed to be published for public information, or from paying for the services of journalists who publish favorable information about them.

Article 13. Incompatible actions of the auditor

13.1. The auditor should not, simultaneously with his main professional practice, engage in activities that affect or may affect his objectivity and independence, compliance with the priority of public interests, or the reputation of the profession as a whole and therefore incompatible with the provision of professional audit services.

13.2. Engaging in any activity prohibited by practicing auditors in accordance with the law is considered to be an incompatible activity of the auditor, violating the law and professional ethical standards.

13.3. The performance by an auditor of two or more professional services and assignments simultaneously cannot be considered incompatible activities.

Article 14. Audit services in other states

14.1. Regardless of where the auditor provides professional services, in his own state or in another, the ethical standards of his conduct remain unchanged.

14.2. To ensure the quality of professional services provided in other states, the auditor is required to know and apply in his work international auditing standards and standards in force in the state in which he carries out professional activities.

14.3. When providing professional services in another state, you must adhere to the following rules:

a) if the ethical standards of professional conduct established in the state in which the auditor provides professional services are less stringent than those provided for by this Code, it is necessary to be guided by the Code;

b) if the ethical standards of professional conduct in the state in which the auditor provides professional services are more stringent than those provided for by this Code, the auditor must be guided by the ethical standards adopted in this state;

c) if international ethical standards for the professional conduct of auditors exceed the requirements of this Code, the auditor must be guided by international standards, taking into account the content of this article of the Code.

Article 15. Compliance of this Code with international standards

The standards of professional conduct defined by this Code are based on international ethical standards developed by the International Federation of Accountants (IFA).

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Code of Ethics for Auditors

The need for a code of ethical conduct exists mainly for professions that are characterized by increased responsibility to society and certain specifics in the manifestation of this responsibility. These include doctors, judges, government workers, law enforcement officers and some other professions.

Auditors annually check the accuracy of accounting and financial reporting for most large and medium-sized business organizations in all sectors of the economy, assess the effectiveness of internal control systems of multi-million dollar turnover in organizations of various organizational forms and types of ownership. Such checks and assessments must be completely independent, objective, and honest. At the same time, it is necessary that the auditor be trusted and convinced that deception and abuse for representatives of this profession are, in principle, excluded.

When auditing the accuracy of accounting and financial reporting, auditors must be free from any dependence or interest that may be found to be inconsistent with the principles of auditing. This also applies to the implementation work financial accounting and reporting performed on behalf of clients by audit firms or individual auditors.

These and other points gave rise to the need for special rules of conduct - the code of ethics for auditors of Russia.

Approved
Audit Council
under the Ministry of Finance of Russia
(Minutes No. 56 of May 31, 2007)

According to the Code

The auditor is required to comply with the following basic principles of conduct:

a) honesty;

b) objectivity;

c) professional competence and due care;

d) confidentiality;

e) professional behavior.

Honesty

The auditor must act openly and honestly in all professional and business relationships. The principle of integrity also involves honest dealing and truthfulness.

The auditor should not be associated with reports, documents, communications or other information if there is reason to believe that:

c) they omit or distort necessary data where the omissions or distortions could be misleading.

Objectivity

The auditor should not allow bias, conflicts of interest or others to influence the objectivity of his professional judgment.

The auditor should avoid relationships that may distort or influence his professional judgment.

Professional competence and due care

The auditor is obliged to constantly maintain his knowledge and skills at a level that ensures the provision of qualified professional services to clients or employers based on the latest developments in practice and modern legislation. When providing professional services, the auditor must act with due diligence and in accordance with applicable technical and professional standards.

Ensuring professional competence can be divided into two independent stages:

a) achieving the required level of professional competence;

b) maintaining professional competence at the proper level.

Maintaining professional competence requires ongoing awareness and understanding of relevant technical, professional and business developments. Continuous professional development develops and maintains the abilities that enable the auditor to work competently in a professional environment.

Diligence refers to the obligation to act in accordance with the requirements of the assignment (contract), carefully, thoroughly and in a timely manner.

The auditor should ensure that persons working under him in a professional capacity are appropriately trained and supervised.

Where appropriate, the auditor should advise clients, employers or other users of professional services of the limitations inherent in those services to ensure that the auditor's opinions are not interpreted as statements of fact.

Confidentiality

The auditor should maintain the confidentiality of information obtained as a result of professional or business relationships and should not disclose such information to third parties who do not have proper and specific authority, unless the auditor has a legal or professional right or obligation to disclose such information. Confidential information obtained as a result of professional or business relationships should not be used by the auditor to obtain any advantage for him or others.

The auditor must maintain confidentiality even outside the professional environment. The auditor should be aware of the possibility of inadvertent disclosure of information, especially in the context of maintaining long-term relationships with business partners or their close relatives or family members.

The need to maintain confidentiality continues even after the end of the relationship between the auditor and the client or employer. When changing jobs or starting to work with a new client, the auditor has the right to use previous experience. However, the auditor should not use or disclose confidential information collected or received as a result of professional or business relationships.

In the following circumstances, the auditor should or may be required to disclose confidential information, or such disclosure may be appropriate:

a) disclosure is permitted by law and/or authorized by the client or employer;

b) disclosure is required by law, for example:

when preparing documents or presenting evidence in any other form during legal proceedings;

when reporting facts of violation of the law that have become known to the appropriate authorities state power;

c) disclosure is a professional duty or right (unless prohibited by law):

when checking the quality of work carried out internally audit organization or a self-regulatory organization of auditors;

when responding to a request or during an investigation within an audit organization, self-regulatory organization of auditors or supervisory authority;

when the auditor protects his professional interests in legal proceedings;

to comply with the rules (standards) and norms of professional ethics.

When deciding whether to disclose confidential information, the auditor should consider the following:

a) whether the interests of any party, including third parties whose interests may also be affected, would be harmed if the client or employer has permission to disclose the information;

b) whether the relevant information is sufficiently known and reasonably substantiated. In situations where there are unsubstantiated facts, incomplete information, or unfounded conclusions, professional judgment must be used to determine what type of information to disclose (if necessary);

c) the nature of the intended message and its addressee. In particular, the auditor must be confident that the persons to whom the communication is addressed are the proper recipients.

Professional Conduct

The auditor must comply with relevant laws and regulations and avoid any action that discredits or may discredit the profession or is action that a reasonable and knowledgeable third party, having all the necessary information, would consider to have an adverse effect on the profession. good reputation professions.

When offering and promoting his or her candidacy and services, the auditor must not discredit the profession. The auditor must be honest, truthful and must not:

a) make statements exaggerating the level of services that he can provide, his qualifications and the experience he has acquired;

b) make disparaging comments about the work of other auditors or make unfounded comparisons of their work with the work of other auditors.

Compliance with fundamental principles may be threatened by a wide range of circumstances. Most threats can be divided into the following categories:

a) self-interest threats that may arise from the financial or other interests of the auditor, his immediate family or family members; (having a close business relationship with the client; concern about the possibility of losing the client; the opportunity to become an employee of the client; contingent fee depending on the results of the verification of information;)

b) self-review threats that may arise when a previous judgment must be re-evaluated by the auditor who previously made that judgment; (discovery of a significant error during re-examination of the auditor’s work; a member of the audit team is or has recently been a director or officer of the client; provision of a service to the client that directly affects the subject of the audit)

c) threats of advocacy, which may arise when, in promoting a position or opinion, the auditor goes to some extent beyond which his objectivity may be questioned; (acting as a client's defense attorney for verification during proceedings or disputes with a third party)

d) familiarity threats, which may arise if, as a result of a close relationship, the auditor becomes overly sympathetic to the interests of others (a member of the team responsible for the engagement has a close family or family relationship with a director or other official of the client; accepting gifts or special consideration from the client, unless their value is clearly insignificant; long-term business relationship between senior personnel of the audit firm and the client)

e) threats of blackmail, which can arise when threats (real or perceived) are used to prevent the auditor from acting objectively. (threat of dismissal or removal from performing an assignment for a client; threat of legal proceedings;)

Safeguards that can eliminate these threats or reduce them to an acceptable level fall into two general groups:

a) precautions required by the profession, law or regulations;

requirements for education, training and experience necessary to engage in a profession;

requirements for continuous professional development;

guidelines on corporate conduct (governance);

professional rules (standards);

control of the procedure by the profession and supervisory authorities, as well as the quality of work and compliance with disciplinary procedures;

external audits by legally authorized third parties of reports, documents, communications and other information prepared by the auditor.

b) precautions required by the working environment.

The auditor must make a judgment about how best to respond to the identified threat. In doing so, the auditor should consider what a reasonable and well-informed third party with all the necessary information (including the significance of the threat and the precautions taken) would consider acceptable. This review should take into account factors such as the materiality of the threat, the nature of the engagement and the structure of the audit firm.

Task-specific precautions may include:

a) engaging another auditor to check the work done or obtain the necessary advice;

b) obtaining advice from an independent third party (for example, a client's audit committee), a professional audit body or other auditors;

c) discussing ethical issues with the client's management;

d) disclosure to the client’s management employees of the nature of the services provided and the amount of the fee charged;

e) engaging another audit organization to perform (re-execute) part of the assignment;

f) rotation of management personnel of the inspection group.

In an effort to implement the large-scale task of developing and implementing coordinated and interconnected standards of professional ethics for auditors, the Audit Council under the Ministry of Finance is currently Russian Federation With the active participation of professional audit associations accredited by the Ministry of Finance of Russia, a Code of Ethical Standards for the Professional Activity of Auditors was developed and adopted by the Council on August 28, 2003.

Code of Ethics for Auditors is a detailed official list of values and principles that guide Russian auditors when carrying out their professional activities.

In accordance with the terms of the code, it is necessary to recognize that the main goal of the auditing profession is the activity of specialists at the highest professional level, ensuring high-quality performance of tasks and satisfaction of public interests.

Compliance with ethical standards of professional behavior is achieved by the high responsibility of auditors. Compliance with universal and professional ethical standards is an indispensable responsibility and the highest duty of every auditor, manager and employee of an audit firm.

Principles Every Auditor Should Follow

In the Code of Ethics for Auditors provides fundamental principles that every auditor must adhere to: honesty, independence, objectivity, professional competence and due diligence, confidentiality, adherence to regulatory documents and other principles.

Under honesty not only truthfulness is understood, but also impartiality and reliability. In accordance with the principle of objectivity, all auditors should act fairly, honestly and have no conflict of interest.

In performing their functions, auditors must exercise objectivity. Objectivity means impartiality, impartiality and freedom from any influence when considering professional issues and forming conclusions and conclusions.

Subject to ethical requirements objectivity should:

avoid relationships that allow bias, partiality, or the influence of others to the detriment of objectivity;
not accept or offer gifts or hospitality that can reasonably be expected to materially and improperly influence the auditors' professional judgment.

When agreeing to provide services, the auditor must be confident that he will perform the work at a high professional level. The auditor should refrain from providing services in an area where he is not competent unless he receives the assistance of appropriate specialists. Auditors must perform audit services with due care, competence and diligence. It is their responsibility to continually ensure that their knowledge and experience is updated to a level that gives both management and clients confidence in high quality professional services based on constantly updated information in the field of legislation, methodology and audit practice.

Professional competence— possession of the necessary amount of knowledge and skills that allows the auditor to provide professional services in a qualified and high-quality manner.

Auditors should not exaggerate their knowledge and experience.

Confidentiality- one of the principles of auditing, which is that auditors (audit organizations) are obliged to ensure the safety of documents received or compiled by them in the course of auditing activities, and do not have the right to transfer these documents or their copies (either in whole or in part) in any way either to third parties or to disclose information contained therein orally without the consent of the owner (manager) of the audited entity, except for cases provided for by legislative acts of the Russian Federation.

Data obtained during an audit conducted on behalf of the inquiry body, prosecutor, investigator, court and arbitration court can be made public only with the permission of the said bodies and in the form in which the mentioned bodies recognize this as possible.

The principle of confidentiality must be strictly observed, even if the disclosure or dissemination of information about the economic entity being inspected does not cause material or other damage to it.

In accordance with the terms of Article 8 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On Auditing Activities,” audit organizations and individual auditors are required to keep secret about transactions in organizations where audits were carried out or to which audit-related services were provided. Confidentiality implies a duty to protect information from disclosure and includes a requirement for an auditor who obtains information in the course of performing professional services not to use that information for personal gain or for the benefit of a third party.

The Code of Ethics for Auditors stipulates the following basic professional confidentiality requirements, which include non-disclosure of information of the following nature:

information about facts, events and circumstances of a citizen’s private life, allowing his identity to be identified (personal data), with the exception of information that is subject to dissemination in the media in cases established by federal laws;
information constituting the secret of investigation and legal proceedings;
official information, access to which is limited by government authorities in accordance with federal laws and regulations(official secret);
information related to professional activities, access to which is limited in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws (medical, audit, notarial, attorney-client confidentiality, confidentiality of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal items, telegraphic or other messages, and so on);
information related to commercial activities, access to which is limited in accordance with federal laws and regulations (trade secret);
information about the essence of the invention, utility model or industrial design before the official publication of information about them.

Independence- this is a mandatory lack of interest (financial, property, related or any other) on the part of the auditor when forming his opinion in the affairs of the audited organization or dependence on third parties.

In the interests of society, all auditors and audit organizations should be independent of audited organizations and third parties.

The most effective audit is carried out by independent auditors. In the current legislation (Article 12 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On Auditing”) there are restrictions that stipulate the conditions for the independence of audits. The table below indicates the basic requirements for legal and individuals in restrictions during the audit:

Audit firm reputation

In their activities, auditors must comply with a number of prerequisites or basic principles that not only create a good reputation for the audit firm and its employees, but are also generally accepted ethical standards of behavior in this field. These principles include Integrity and Professional Conduct.

Integrity— involves the provision of professional services by the auditor with due care and attention, efficiency and proper use of their abilities. At the same time, the diligent and responsible attitude of the auditor to his work should not be taken as a guarantee of error-free auditing activities.

Professional Conduct— observance of the priority of public interests and the obligation of the auditor to maintain the high reputation of his profession, to refrain from committing acts incompatible with the provision of audit services

The professional ethics of an auditor is not limited to these few rules of conduct. The concept of professional conduct applies to all areas of the auditor's activity. Ethics and its disciplinary influence are the basis for self-regulation of their activities. Auditors must always be mindful of the interests of others. No matter how difficult their solution may be, it is necessary, given technical details remember the essence of the problem. The importance for accountants and auditors to recognize the very spirit of the profession as having an impact on others cannot be overstated.

Code of Professional Ethics for Auditors establishes standards of conduct for auditors, defines the fundamental principles that must be observed by him in the performance of his professional functions.

To develop professional ethics, the provisions of general ethics are used. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the systematic study of the problem of human choice, the concepts of good and bad by which a person is guided, and the meaning that ultimately has. Need for regulation ethical behavior professional groups arose in connection with the responsibility of its representatives to society.

Auditors have a responsibility to the public, including everyone who relies on them for objectivity, integrity, and independence to help maintain the smooth functioning of business.

Professional ethics includes set of standards, which are of a framework nature, but even if they are present, the problem of choice in a particular case remains with the professional:

imperative- built on strict rules that must be followed, disadvantage - only compliance with the rules is considered, and not the consequences of actions;
utilitarian- the consequences of actions are studied, rather than compliance with the rules (i.e. exceptions to the rules are allowed), disadvantage - this approach gives a positive effect if everyone else follows the norm, if not, then the exception to the rules becomes the rule for everyone and the norm of behavior are not respected;
generalization- a reasonable combination of imperative and utilitarian approaches, involves solving the problem of choice by answering the question: “What would happen if everyone acted the same way in the same circumstances?” If the results of an action are undesirable, then the action is unethical and should not be performed.

Highlight international, national and domestic codes of professional ethics for auditors.

International Code professional ethics adopted by the IFAC. It contains standards both generally for all professional accountants and separately for independent professional accountants (auditors).

Code of Professional Ethics for Auditors of Russia as a national one, it was approved by the Council on Auditing Activities under the Ministry of Finance of Russia on August 28, 2003, by Protocol No. 16 and agreed upon with the Coordination Council of Russian Professional Associations of Auditors and Accountants. It was prepared taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation based on the recommendations of the IFAC Code of Ethics with maximum preservation of its conceptual approaches and sections. This code establishes the rules of conduct for auditors in Russia and defines the basic principles that they must observe when carrying out their professional activities. In Russia, accredited professional audit associations have been required since 2001 to establish requirements for professional ethics and carry out systematic monitoring of their compliance. Code of Ethics in force in professional association, belongs to the group of internal codes. In accordance with the rules of continuity, its norms should not contradict the national code and contain requirements lower than the national one.

Some Russian audit associations before entry into force Federal Law dated 08/07/2001 No. 119-FZ “On Auditing Activities”, they themselves developed and adopted an internal code of professional ethics for auditors. In particular, such a code was approved in December 1996 by the Audit Chamber of Russia. It summarized the ethical standards of professional conduct of independent auditors united by the Audit Chamber of Russia, based on the international ethical standards of the IFAC.

The presence of codes of ethics at different levels can lead to certain contradictions. The international code regarding this issue provides the following: if any provision of the national code of ethics contradicts the provision of the international code of ethics, then the national requirement must be met. When providing services in another country, you should be guided by the following: ethical code, which defines more stringent (strict) requirements.

Failure to comply with the code of ethics is determined by a professional audit association.

Auditing in Russia has long ceased to be an exotic type of professional activity, and its need is increasingly recognized both at the level state standards- and at the level of management personnel and company founders, who are increasingly turning to the services of audit companies, conducting proactive audits. However, the concept still raises a lot of controversy and questions professional competencies and ethical standards in the activities of auditors. As a result, in order to unify and standardize these concepts, on March 22, 2012, the Audit Council adopted the Code of Professional Ethics for Auditors.

This document is a set of rules of conduct that must be observed by audit organizations and auditors when carrying out audit activities.
In many ways, the Code of Professional Ethics for Auditors (hereinafter referred to as the Code) is declarative in nature, which, for example, is confirmed by the basic principles audit ethics: Honesty, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, professional conduct. At the same time, the Code provides a detailed explanation of each of these principles, which is of a general nature. So, compliance with the principle of confidentiality obliges the auditor:
- ensure the confidentiality of information obtained as a result of professional or business relationships and not disclose this information to third parties who do not have proper and specific authority, unless the auditor has a legal or professional right or duty to disclose such information;
- not to use confidential information obtained as a result of professional or business relationships to obtain any advantages for him or third parties.
Or, for example, the auditor must be honest, truthful and must not:
- make statements exaggerating the level of services that he can provide, his qualifications and acquired experience;
- give disparaging comments about the work of other auditors or make unfounded comparisons of your work with the work of other auditors.
Thus, in many ways the Code is a framework document that has nothing to do with practical activities auditor. However, the document in question also contains provisions of a practical nature. In particular, the Code sets out the circumstances in which auditor self-interest threat, such as:
- a member of the group performing the task has a financial interest in the client;
- excessive dependence of the audit organization on the total amount of remuneration received from one client;
- a member of the group performing the task has a close business relationship with the client;
- the audit organization’s concern about the possibility of losing a significant client;
- a real opportunity for a member of the audit team to become an employee of the audited entity;
- conditional remuneration depending on the result of the assignment, provided for in the contract between the audit organization and the client;
- discovery by the auditor when assessing the results of previously provided services on behalf of the audit organization in which the auditor works.
The Code also addresses the circumstances in which threat of loss of self-control, in particular:
- issuance by the audit organization of a report on operational efficiency financial systems, the development or implementation of which she also carried out;
- execution by the audit organization that prepared the initial data for the client’s compilation of accounts, a task the subject of which is the verification of these same accounts;
- the presence in the audit team performing the assignment of a participant who is or in the recent past was a manager or other official of this client;
- the presence in the audit team performing the engagement of a participant who works or has recently worked for the client in a position that allows him to have a direct and significant influence on the subject of the audit;
- provision by an audit organization to a client of services that have a direct impact on the subject of the assignment performed for the same client.
In turn, examples of circumstances under which it may arise blackmail threat, are:
- threat of removal of the audit organization from performing the client’s assignment;
- the client’s threat to initiate legal proceedings against the audit organization;
- exerting pressure by the client on the audit organization for the purpose of unreasonably reducing the volume of work performed to reduce remuneration;
- putting pressure on the auditor to force him to agree with the opinion of the client’s employee on a certain issue only because this employee has more experience in resolving similar issues;
- addiction career growth auditor from the auditor's agreement with an inappropriate approach to accounting.

Auditor Precautions

An important point of the Code is the definition of auditor precautions, which are divided into general intra-company and task-specific. Yes, general in-house precautions may include:
- management style of the audit organization, which emphasizes the importance of compliance with the basic principles of ethics;
- management style of the audit organization, which implies that the members of the team performing the assignment act in the public interest;
- rules and procedures for monitoring and monitoring the quality of assignments;
- documented rules that require identifying threats to violations of basic ethical principles, assessing their significance and applying precautions to eliminate them or reduce them to an acceptable level, or in cases where adequate precautions cannot be taken or do not exist at all, termination of implementation assignments or refusal of such an assignment at the stage of its acceptance;
- documented internal rules and procedures requiring compliance with basic principles of ethics;
— rules and procedures to identify the interests and relationships between the firm or engagement team members and clients; rules and procedures for monitoring the dependence of the audit organization’s income on proceeds from one client and, if necessary, reducing such dependence;
- involvement of other managers and groups to perform tasks that do not provide assurance to the audited entity;
— policies and procedures that prohibit persons who are not members of the team performing the assignment from improperly influencing the outcome of the assignment;
- timely communication of information about the rules and procedures of the audit organization and changes in them to the attention of all engagement managers and professional workers and proper provision of training on these rules and procedures;
- appointment of a person responsible for the proper functioning of the internal quality control system from among the heads of the audit organization;
- informing all managers and employees of the audit organization about all audited entities and related parties, independence in relation to which all managers and employees must respect;
- a disciplinary mechanism that encourages compliance with the rules and procedures of the audit organization;
- officially announced rules and procedures that encourage and empower employees to report to management of the audit organization any problems related to compliance with the basic principles of ethics.
Of course, all these precautions are superficial and do not contain specific mechanisms of action, but they allow us to determine the list of documents that need to be developed and accepted in the audit company to improve the quality of work and reduce risks in the process of the auditor’s professional activities. In addition, the Code formulates task-specific precautions, including:
- engaging an auditor who did not participate in the assignment to check the work performed, or contacting him to obtain the necessary advice;
- obtaining advice from an independent third party, such as a client's audit committee, self-regulatory organization of auditors or other third party auditors;
- discussion of ethical issues with representatives of the client’s owner;
- disclosure to representatives of the client’s owner of the nature of the services provided and the amount of remuneration for them;
- engaging another audit organization to perform (re-execute) part of the assignment;
- rotation management team group performing the task.

The procedure for interaction between the audit company and clients

The Code addresses and procedure for interaction between an audit company and clients.
Thus, before entering into a relationship with a new client, the auditor should consider whether the choice of this client could create threats to violate basic ethical principles. A potential threat to integrity or professional conduct may, for example, arise if there are questionable characteristics of the client (its owners, management or activities), such as:
- client’s participation in illegal activities (legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, corruption, commercial bribery);
- reputation of a dishonest counterparty;
- questionable practices in preparing accounting (financial) statements.
In doing so, the auditor must assess the significance of any threats to the fundamental principles of ethics and, as necessary, take precautions to eliminate them or reduce them to an acceptable level.
Such precautions may include:
- understanding of the client’s activities;
- obtaining information about owners, managers and persons responsible for administrative and commercial activities client;
- obtaining guaranteed assurances from the client to improve the practice of corporate behavior (governance) or the internal control system.
One of important issues auditing activities also include determining the amount of remuneration for services provided, its correctness, reality and validity.
Therefore, this issue is discussed in detail in the Auditor Code.
Thus, when negotiating professional services, the auditor may charge whatever remuneration he deems appropriate for his services. The charging by one auditor of remuneration less than that of another auditor is not, in itself, considered unethical. However, such a situation may lead to the threat of violation of basic ethical principles. For example, if the amount of the assigned fee is so small that it would not allow the auditor to perform the engagement in accordance with professional standards, then the threat of self-interest may lead to a threat of violation of the principle of professional competence and due care.
The occurrence and significance of these threats depend on factors such as the size of the assigned remuneration and the parameters of the services to which it relates.
In certain circumstances, the auditor may also receive remuneration for brokerage or commissions associated with his work with the client.
For example, if the auditor is unable to provide the specific services requested, he may receive a fee for referring his client to another auditor or expert.
In addition, the auditor may himself pay fees in order to obtain a client who continues to be a client of another auditor who does not provide the services requested in the audit. this moment by this client.
Moreover, in these situations, the auditor must assess the significance of any threats of violation of the basic principles of ethics and, as necessary, take precautions to eliminate them or reduce them to an acceptable level.
In particular, such precautions may include:
- disclosure to the client of any agreements on the payment of intermediary fees to another auditor for work transferred to him;
- disclosure to the client of any agreements to receive an intermediary fee for transferring work with that client to another auditor;
- pre-obtained consent of the client for the provision by the auditor of commission services related to the sale of goods to the client, or the provision of services by a third party.
Separately, the Auditor Code states that he should not accept for storage cash and other assets of the client, except for cases permitted by law, because In this situation, there is a threat to self-interest in relation to the principle of professional conduct and the principle of objectivity.
An auditor entrusted with assets owned by others must:
- store such assets separately from your own assets or the assets of the audit organization;
- use such assets exclusively for their intended purpose;
- always be ready to account for such assets to any person entitled to this information;
- comply with all requirements of regulatory legal acts related to the storage and accounting of such assets.
In general, the Code of Professional Ethics for Auditors is common document, characterizing the basic principles of audit ethics. This document most likely will not have much practical significance, but its adoption may serve as a motivating factor for the development of more specific and detailed codes of professional activity in self-regulatory organizations of auditors and audit firms.

September 2012

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