All changes to the auditor's code of ethics. Professional ethics of the auditor. Principles to be followed by every auditor

Approved

Audit Chamber of Russia

AUDITOR CODE OF ETHICS

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, moral values that the audit community asserts in its environment, ready to protect them from all possible violations and encroachments.

1.3. Each auditor who has been criticized by his colleagues for violation of the ethics of professional conduct has the right to an objective public investigation of 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 required to adhere to universal moral rules and moral standards in their actions and decisions, to live and work according to their conscience.

Article 3. Public interests

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

3.2. Defending the interests of the client in tax, judicial and other authorities, as well as in his relationship 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 protected interests of the client 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 conclusions, recommendations and conclusions of the auditor can only be a sufficient amount of required information.

4.2. When providing any professional services, auditors are required to objectively consider all emerging situations and real facts, not to 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 that 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, maximum care must be taken. Auditors must be attentive and serious about their duties, 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 are reasonable doubts 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 for formal and actual circumstances.

5.2. In an opinion or other document drawn up as a result of the rendered professional services, the auditor must knowingly and without any reservations declare his independence in relation to the client.

5.3. The following are the main circumstances that impair the independence of the auditor or give rise to doubts about his actual independence:

a) upcoming (possible) or ongoing litigation (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 the main and subsidiaries, etc.;

e) family and personal friendships with the directors and senior management 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 (heads 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 organization of the client or in its managing organization, in any positions;

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

5.4. According to the circumstances specified in paragraph 5.3 of this article, independence is considered violated if they arose, continued to exist or were terminated in 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, in 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 of structural unit 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 has arisen 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 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 advice does not develop into services for the management of the organization;

b) there are no reasons and situations that affect the objectivity of the auditor's judgments;

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

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

Article 6. Professional competence of the auditor

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

The audit firm can attract competent professionals to assist the auditor in solving specific tasks.

The auditor is obliged to 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 audit, legislation, Russian and international norms and standards of accounting and auditing.

Article 7. Confidential information of clients

7.1. The auditor is obliged to keep confidential information about the affairs of clients obtained in the course of providing professional services, indefinitely and regardless of the continuation or termination of direct relations with them.

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

7.3. Publication or other disclosure of clients' confidential 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 professional interests of the auditor in the course of a formal investigation or private proceedings conducted by managers 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 by assistants and all personnel of the firm.

Article 8. Tax relations

8.1. Auditors are required to strictly comply with the legislation on taxation 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 should 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 notify the administration of the client in writing about the facts of violation of tax legislation, errors in calculations and payment of taxes revealed during the statutory audit. audit commission joint-stock (economic) company and warn them about the possible consequences and ways to correct violations and errors.

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

Article 9. Fee for professional services

9.1. The auditor's professional fees are ethical if they are paid based on the scope and quality of the services provided. It may depend on the complexity of the services provided, qualifications, experience, professional authority and the degree of responsibility of the auditor.

9.2. The amount of remuneration for professional services of the auditor should not depend on the achievement of any specific result or be conditioned by other circumstances, except for those specified in clause 9.1.

9.3. The auditor is not entitled to receive payment for professional services in cash in excess of the generally established norms for cash payments.

9.4. The auditor must 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 agree in advance with the client and fix in writing the conditions and procedure for paying for his professional services.

9.6. Doubts about the observance of professional ethics are caused by the situation when the payment of one client is all or most of the annual revenue of the auditor for the rendered professional services.

Article 10. Relations between auditors

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

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

Informing the newly appointed auditor is made in writing in compliance with the ethical standards of confidentiality set forth in Article 7 of this Code.

10.3. The newly invited auditor, if such an invitation was not made as a result of a tender held by the client, before agreeing to the proposal, is obliged to request 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 a reasonable time and, despite the efforts made, who does not have other information about the circumstances that prevent him from working 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 obliged to refrain from discussing business and professional qualities principal auditors, to show maximum loyalty to the colleagues who invited them.

Article 11. Relations of employees with an audit firm

11.1. Certified auditors who have agreed to become employees of an audit firm are obliged to be loyal to it, to contribute to the authority and further development of the firm with all their activities, to maintain business, 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 duties, dedication and open-mindedness, continuous improvement of the organization of audit services, their professional content.

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

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

11.3. A certified auditor, who often changes auditing firms or suddenly leaves it and thereby causes some 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, from discussing with anyone the organization and methods of work in the former firm. They must not disclose confidential information known to them and documents of the audit firm with which they have terminated their employment relationship.

The heads (employees) of an audit firm refrain from discussing with third parties the professional and personal qualities of their former employees and colleagues, unless these former employees caused by their actions 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 employed, the head of the audit firm, of which the auditor previously worked, may give a written recommendation indicating the professional and personal qualities of the auditor.

11.4. The auditor, for one reason or another, leaving the audit firm, is obliged in good faith and in full to transfer to the firm all the documentary and other documents he has. professional information without leaving copies, draft notes, working papers related to audits.

12.1. Public information about auditors and advertising of audit services may be presented in the media, special editions 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 for auditing professional services should be informative, direct and honest, and in good taste, excluding any possibility of deceiving and misleading potential clients or arousing distrust in them of other auditors.

12.3. Advertisements and publications containing:

a) a direct indication or a hint that inspires 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 disclose the confidential data of the client or bias him in a false light;

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

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

12.4. Auditors are required to refrain from participating in various kinds of comparative studies and ratings, the results of which are supposed to be published to the public, 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, concurrently with the main professional practice, engage in activities that affect or may affect his objectivity and independence, respect for the priority of the public interest, or the reputation of the profession as a whole and therefore incompatible with the provision of professional audit services.

13.2. Engagement in any activity prohibited by practicing auditors in accordance with the law is considered as incompatible actions of the auditor, violating the law and professional ethical standards.

13.3. The performance by the auditor of two or more professional services and assignments at the same time cannot be considered incompatible actions.

Article 14. Auditing services in other states

14.1. Regardless of where the auditor provides professional services, in his country or in another, the ethical standards of his behavior remain unchanged.

14.2. To ensure the quality of professional services provided in other states, the auditor must know and apply in his work the 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 be guided by 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, the Code must be followed;

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 the international ethical standards of professional behavior 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 ethics of conduct exists mainly for professions that are characterized by increased responsibility to society and a certain specificity in the manifestation of this responsibility. These include doctors, judges, civil servants, law enforcement officers and some other professions.

Auditors annually check the correctness of accounting and financial reporting for most large and medium-sized economic organizations in all sectors of the economy, evaluate the effectiveness of internal control systems for multimillion-dollar turnovers in organizations of various organizational forms and types of ownership. Such inspections and evaluations must be completely independent, objective and honest. At the same time, it is necessary for the auditor to believe and be convinced that deceit and abuse for representatives of this profession are in principle excluded.

When embarking on an audit of the correctness of accounting and financial reporting, auditors should 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 financial accounting and preparation of reports performed on behalf of clients by audit firms or individual auditors.

These and other moments caused the need for special rules of conduct - a code of ethics for Russian auditors.

Approved
Audit Council
under the Ministry of Finance of Russia
(minutes N 56 dated May 31, 2007)

According to the Code

The auditor must observe the following basic principles of conduct:

a) honesty;

b) objectivity;

c) professional competence and due diligence;

d) confidentiality;

e) professional behavior.

Honesty

The auditor must act openly and honestly in all professional and business relationships. The principle of honesty also implies fair 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 omissions or distortions may be misleading.

Objectivity

The auditor should not allow bias, conflict of interest or other persons to influence the objectivity of his professional judgments.

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

Professional competence and due diligence

The auditor must 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 achievements in practice and modern legislation. In the performance of professional services, the auditor should 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 proper level of professional competence;

b) maintaining professional competence at the proper level.

Maintaining professional competence requires constant awareness and understanding of relevant technical, professional and business innovations. Continuing professional development develops and maintains the abilities that enable the auditor to perform competently in a professional environment.

Diligence is understood as the obligation to act in accordance with the requirements of the task (contract), carefully, carefully and in a timely manner.

The auditor should take steps to ensure that those working under him in a professional capacity are properly trained and properly supervised.

Where appropriate, the auditor should make clients, employers or other users of professional services aware of the limitations of those services in order to avoid construing the auditor's opinion as a statement of fact.

Confidentiality

The auditor should maintain the confidentiality of information obtained as a result of professional or business relationships and should not disclose this information to third parties who do not have appropriate 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 a professional or business relationship should not be used by the auditor to obtain any advantage for him or third parties.

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 respect the principle of confidentiality remains even after the end of the relationship between the auditor and the client or employer. When changing jobs or starting 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 obtained from a professional or business relationship.

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

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

b) disclosure is required by law, for example:

when preparing documents or presenting evidence in a different form during the trial;

when reporting the 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 inside audit organization or a self-regulatory organization of auditors;

in response to an inquiry or in the course of an investigation within an audit firm, SRO, or supervisory authority;

when the auditor defends his professional interests in legal proceedings;

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

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

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

b) whether the relevant information is sufficiently known and reasonably substantiated. In a situation where there are unsubstantiated facts, incomplete information or unreasonable conclusions, professional judgment should be used to determine in what form to disclose information (if necessary);

c) the nature of the intended message and its addressee. In particular, the auditor must be satisfied that the persons to whom the communication is addressed are the intended 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 an action that a reasonable and knowledgeable third party in possession of all relevant information would consider to adversely affect good reputation professions.

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

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

b) give disparaging reviews of the work of other auditors or make unreasonable comparisons of their work with the work of other auditors.

Compliance with the basic principles can 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 a client; Concern about losing a client; Opportunity to become an employee of a client; contingent fee dependent on results of verification of information;)

b) self-control threats that may arise when a previous judgment needs to be reassessed by the auditor who previously made that judgment; (detection of a material error when re-auditing the work of the auditor; a member of the audit team is or in the recent past was a director or officer of the client; providing the client with a service that directly affects the subject of the audit)

c) threats of intercession that may arise when, in advancing any position or opinion, the auditor reaches a certain limit beyond which his objectivity may be questioned; (acting as a verification counsel for a client in a proceeding or dispute with a third party)

d) familiarity threats that may arise if, as a result of close relationships, the auditor becomes overly sympathetic to the interests of others (a member of the engagement team is in a close family or family relationship with a director or other officer of the client; accepting gifts or courtesies from the client, unless their value is clearly insignificant; a long-term business relationship between senior personnel of the firm and the client)

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

The safeguards that can eliminate these threats or mitigate them to an acceptable level fall into two general groups:

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

requirements for education, training and experience necessary for the profession;

requirements for continuous professional development;

guidance on corporate behavior (management);

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

b) precautions due to the working environment.

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

Specific safeguards relevant to the assignment may include:

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

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

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

d) disclosure to the client's executives of the nature of the services provided and the amount of the fee (fee) charged;

e) involvement of another audit organization to perform (re-perform) part of the task;

e) rotation of the management personnel of the review team.

In an effort to implement the large-scale task of developing and implementing coordinated and interrelated standards of professional ethics for auditors, the Audit Council under the Ministry of Finance Russian Federation with the active participation of professional audit associations accredited by the Ministry of Finance of Russia, the Code of Ethical Standards for the Professional Activities 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 Russian auditors are guided by in their professional activities.

In accordance with the terms of the code, it must be recognized that the main goal of the audit profession is the activity of specialists at the highest professional level, ensuring the quality of the performance of tasks and the 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 duty and the highest duty of every auditor, manager and employee of an audit firm.

Principles to be followed by every auditor

The Code of Ethics for Auditors sets out the fundamental principles that every auditor must comply with: honesty, independence, objectivity, professional competence and due diligence, confidentiality, management of 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 must act fairly, honestly and have no conflict of interest.

Auditors must exercise objectivity in the performance of their functions. Objectivity means impartiality, impartiality and not subject to 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 have a material and inappropriate effect on auditors' professional judgment.

When expressing consent to the provision of services, the auditor must be sure that he will perform the work at a high professional level. The auditor should refrain from providing services in an area where he is incompetent unless he is assisted by appropriate specialists. Auditors must perform audit services with due diligence, competence and diligence. It is their responsibility to constantly improve their knowledge and experience at a level that gives both management and the client 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, allowing 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 audit principles, which is that auditors (audit organizations) are obliged to ensure the safety of documents received or compiled by them in the course of audit activities, and are not entitled to transfer these documents or their copies (both in full or in part) to any either to third parties or to disclose the information contained therein orally without the consent of the owner (manager) of the audited entity, with the exception of cases provided for by legislative acts of the Russian Federation.

The data obtained in the course of an audit carried out on behalf of the body of inquiry, the prosecutor, the investigator, the court and the arbitration court may be made public only with the permission of the said bodies and in the form in which the said bodies recognize it as possible.

The principle of confidentiality must be strictly observed, even if the disclosure or dissemination of information about the inspected economic entity 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 services related to the audit were provided. Confidentiality includes a duty to keep information from being disclosed and includes a requirement for an auditor who receives information in the course of performing professional services not to use that information for personal purposes or for the benefit of a third party.

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

information about the facts, events and circumstances of the private life of a citizen, allowing to identify his personality (personal data), with the exception of information to be disseminated in the media in cases established by federal laws;
information constituting the secret of the investigation and legal proceedings;
official information, access to which is restricted by public authorities in accordance with federal laws and regulations(official secret);
information related to professional activities, access to which is restricted in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws (medical, audit, notarial, lawyer secrecy, secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal items, telegraphic or other messages, and so on);
information related to commercial activities, access to which is restricted in accordance with federal laws and regulations (commercial secret);
information about the essence of an 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) from the auditor when forming his opinion in the affairs of the audited organization or dependence on third parties.

It is in the public interest that all auditors and audit firms should be independent of audited entities 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 following table indicates the main requirements for legal and individuals in the limitations during the audit:

Reputation of the audit firm

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

good faith- involves the provision of professional services by the auditor with due diligence, promptness 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.

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

The professional ethics of the auditor is not limited to these few rules of conduct. The concept of professional conduct extends to all areas of the auditor's activity. Ethics and its disciplinary influence are the basis of self-regulation of their activities. Auditors must keep the interests of others in mind at all times. No matter how difficult their decision may be, it is necessary, given technical details remember the essence of the problem. It is impossible to overestimate the importance for accountants and auditors of understanding the very spirit of the profession that influences other people.

Auditor Code of Ethics establishes standards of conduct for auditors, defines the fundamental principles that must be observed by him in the course of 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 that a person is guided by, 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 society, including to all who rely on their objectivity, honesty, independence, which contributes to the maintenance of the normal functioning of commercial activities.

Professional ethics includes code of practice, which are of a framework nature, however, even if they exist, the problem of choice in a particular case remains with the professional:

imperative- is based on strict rules that should be followed, the disadvantage is that only compliance with the rules is considered, and not the consequences of actions;
utilitarian- the consequences as a result of actions are studied, and not compliance with the rules (i.e. exceptions to the rules are allowed), the disadvantage is that 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, answering the question: "What would happen if everyone acted the same way in the same circumstances?" If the results of actions are undesirable, then such actions are unethical and should not be carried out.

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

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

Code of Professional Ethics for Russian Auditors as a national one was approved by the Audit Council under the Ministry of Finance of Russia on August 28, 2003 by protocol No. 16 and agreed with the Coordinating Council of Russian professional associations of auditors and accountants. It was prepared taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the basis of the recommendations of the IFAC Code of Ethics with the maximum preservation of its conceptual approaches and sections. This code establishes the rules of conduct for Russian auditors and defines the basic principles that must be observed by them in the exercise of their professional activities. Since 2001, accredited professional audit associations in Russia have been obliged to establish requirements for professional ethics and systematically monitor their observance. Code of Ethics in force in professional association, belongs to the group of internal codes. In accordance with the rules of succession, its norms should not contradict the national code and contain requirements below the national one.

Some Russian audit associations before entry into force federal law dated 07.08.2001 No. 119-FZ “On Auditing Activities”, they themselves developed and adopted an internal code of professional ethics for the auditor. 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, on the basis of international ethical standards of the IFAC.

The presence of codes of ethics of different levels can lead to certain contradictions. The international code regarding this problem 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 state, one should be guided by the code of ethics, which defines more stringent (hard) requirements.

For non-compliance 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 the founders of the company, who increasingly turn to the services of audit companies, conducting an initiative audit. However, there is still a lot of controversy and questions about the concepts 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 are mandatory for compliance with audit organizations and auditors in their 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 diligence, confidentiality, professional conduct. At the same time, the Code provides a detailed decoding of each of these principles, which is of a general nature. So, observance of the principle of confidentiality obliges the auditor:
- maintain 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 appropriate and specific authority, except when the auditor has a legal or professional right or duty to disclose such information;
- not use confidential information obtained as a result of professional or business relationships to obtain any advantages for them or third parties.
Or, for example, the auditor must be honest, truthful and must not:
- make statements that exaggerate the level of services he can provide, his qualifications and experience gained;
- give disparaging reviews of the work of other auditors or make unreasonable comparisons of their 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 under consideration also contains provisions of a practical nature. In particular, the Code sets out the circumstances under which auditor self-interest threat, such as:
- financial interest in the client from a member of the group performing the task;
- excessive dependence of the audit organization on the total amount of remuneration received from one client;
- close business relationship with the client from a member of the group performing the task;
- Concern of the audit organization 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;
- contingent remuneration, depending on the result of the assignment, provided for by the agreement between the audit organization and the client;
- detection by the auditor when evaluating the results of previously rendered services on behalf of the audit organization in which the auditor works.
The Code also addresses circumstances in which threat of loss of self-control, in particular:
- issuance by the audit organization of an opinion on the effectiveness of the functioning financial systems, the development or implementation of which she also carried out;
- performance by the audit organization, which prepared the initial data for the preparation of accounts by the client, of the task, the subject of which is the verification of the same accounts;
- the presence in the audit team performing the task of a participant who is or in the recent past was the head or other official of this client;
- the presence in the audit team performing the engagement of a member who works or in the recent past worked for the client in a position that allows him to have a direct and significant influence on the subject matter of the audit;
- the 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 a threat of blackmail, are:
- the threat of removal of the audit organization from the performance of the client's task;
- the threat of the client to initiate legal proceedings against the audit organization;
- exerting pressure by the client on the audit organization in order to unreasonably reduce the amount of work performed in order to reduce remuneration;
- putting pressure on the auditor in order 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 such issues;
- addiction career development the auditor from the auditor's agreement with an improper accounting approach.

Auditor Precautions

An important point of the Code is the definition of the auditor's precautionary measures, which are divided into general intra-company and related to a specific assignment. Yes, common internal precautions may include:
- the style of management of the audit organization, which emphasizes the importance of observing the basic principles of ethics;
— a management style of the audit firm that assumes that the members of the engagement team act in the public interest;
- rules and procedures for controlling and monitoring the quality of assignments;
- documented rules providing for the need to identify threats of violation of the basic principles of ethics, assess their significance and apply precautions to eliminate them or reduce them to an acceptable level, or in cases where appropriate precautions cannot be taken or they do not exist at all, termination of implementation task or refusal of such task at the stage of its acceptance;
- documented internal rules and procedures requiring compliance with the basic principles of ethics;
— rules and procedures to identify the interests and relationships between the firm or members of the engagement team and clients; rules and procedures for controlling the dependence of the audit organization's income on receipts from one client and, if necessary, reducing such dependence;
— engaging other managers and groups to perform tasks that do not provide assurance to the entity being audited;
— rules and procedures that prohibit persons who are not members of the engagement team from inappropriately influencing the results of the engagement;
- timely communication of information about the rules and procedures of the audit organization and changes therein to the attention of all engagement leaders and professional workers and proper organization of training in 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 observe;
- 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 the management of the audit organization about 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, however, they allow us to determine the list of documents that need to be developed and adopted in an audit company to improve the quality of work and reduce risks in the course of the auditor's professional activities. In addition, the Code contains job-specific precautions, including:
- involvement in the audit of the work performed by an auditor who did not participate in the assignment, or contacting him to obtain the necessary advice;
- obtaining advice from an independent third party, such as the client's audit committee, a self-regulatory organization of auditors, or other third-party auditors;
- discussion of ethical issues with representatives of the owner of the client;
- disclosure to representatives of the owner of the client of the nature of the services provided and the amount of remuneration for them;
- involvement of another audit organization to perform (re-perform) part of the task;
- rotation management team group doing the task.

The procedure for interaction between an audit company and clients

The Code considers and the procedure for interaction between the audit company and clients.
So, before establishing a relationship with a new client, the auditor should consider whether the choice of this client may lead to threats of violation of the basic principles of ethics. A potential threat to integrity or professional conduct may, for example, arise from the presence of questionable characteristics of the client (its owners, directors or activities), such as:
- participation of the client in illegal activities (legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, corruption, commercial bribery);
- reputation of a dishonest counterparty;
- dubious practice of compiling accounting (financial) statements.
In doing so, the auditor should evaluate the significance of any threats of violation of the fundamental principles of ethics and, as necessary, take precautions to eliminate them or reduce them to an acceptable level.
These precautions may include:
- understanding of the client's activities;
- obtaining information about the owners, managers and persons responsible for the administrative and commercial activity client;
- obtaining guaranteed assurances from the client to improve the practice of corporate behavior (management) or the internal control system.
One of important issues in audit activity is also the determination of the amount of remuneration for the services provided, its correctness, reality and validity.
Therefore, this issue is considered in detail in the Auditor's Code.
Thus, in negotiating professional services, the auditor may charge any remuneration that he deems appropriate for his services. Charging by one auditor less than another auditor is not in itself considered unethical. However, such a situation may lead to the threat of violating the basic principles of ethics. For example, if the amount of the fee charged is so low as to prevent the auditor from performing the engagement in accordance with professional standards, then the emerging threat of self-interest may lead to the threat of violating the principle of professional competence and due diligence.
The occurrence and significance of these threats depend on such factors as the size of the award and the parameters of the services to which it relates.
In certain circumstances, the auditor may also receive remuneration for mediation or commission related to his work with the client.
For example, if the auditor is unable to provide the specific services requested, he may be paid to refer his client to another auditor or expert.
In addition, the auditor may pay remuneration himself in order to obtain a client who continues to be a client of another auditor who does not provide the services requested in this moment by this client.
However, in these situations, the auditor should assess the significance of any threats of violation of the basic principles of ethics and, as necessary, take precautionary measures to eliminate them or reduce them to an acceptable level.
Specifically, these precautions may include:
- disclosure to the client of any agreements for the payment of intermediary remuneration to another auditor for the work transferred to him;
- disclosure to the client of any agreements to receive intermediary remuneration for the transfer of work with this client to another auditor;
- previously received consent of the client to 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's Code notes that he should not accept for storage cash and other assets of the client, with the exception of cases permitted by law, t.to. in this situation there is a threat of self-interest in relation to the principle of professional conduct and the principle of objectivity.
An auditor entrusted with assets belonging to others should:
- keep such assets separate from their own assets or assets of the audit organization;
- use such assets solely 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 be of great practical importance, 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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