Internal Audit

Internal-Audit

Accountants at Profits Plus mainly focus on providing assurance and consultant service through internal audit to help your Dubai-based business achieve its ultimate goal; to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the procedures and policies adopted by an organization. Internal audit plays a vital role in examining the effect of these plans on the business. Internal audit helps in evaluating and resolving the risk factors so the business can grow to achieve its goals and objective without difficulty. It is also beneficent for examining the efficiency of operations like financial operations, management reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. These are integral parts of internal audit in Dubai. Profits plus promises to provide you excellent risk advisory by following a complete step by step procedure which includes:

  • Preparation of process notes for each financial statement area.
  • What could go wrong (WCGW) analysis and identify the potential risk of the respective WCGW.
  • Identification of the controls that can address the WCGW.
  • Testing of controls.
  • Report and recommendation along with the implementation support.

 

Internal audit is important as it adds value to business by helping it in achieving it’s goals. It is important to design internal audit activities in a systematic way. Internal audit gives you the opportunity of keeping an internal control over financial reporting. Profits Plus’s mission is to minimize risk of errors and fraud through its internal audit service.

Profits plus’s internal audit service is designed to serve the following purposes:

  • Detect Fraud and Errors
  • Improve the reliability over financial statements, and internal control of financial reporting
  • Three E audit: Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Economy
  • Improve operational internal control
  • Review compliant: Both Internal policies and External Policies ( Law and Regulation)
  • Manage risks

Profits Plus, Dubai can provide you recommendations and solutions according to your business needs by designing the right strategy for your business to help you in achieving your organizational objectives.

Budgeting

Budgeting holds great importance as it is essential for setting financial goals for a company along with a formal plan to achieve those goals. It also helps in establishing performance goals and planning future business activities accordingly.  Budgeting is done while keeping in mind two main prospects; what markets you want to exploit and what products you want to create. It is a long-term planning for your company’s growth in coming years. Budgeting is the fundamental key to planning ways of creating opportunities that may help in company’s progress. Profits plus accountants get going with budgeting by analysing the past performance of the company and by making assumptions regarding projected sales trends, cost trends and the overall economic outlook of the market, industry or sector. Once the assumptions are made than the next step is to specify all possible factors that might affect potential expenses.

Sales budget is prioritised because everything else is of secondary importance as com pare to future cash flow. Perhaps, budgets are also developed for all the different subsidiaries, divisions and departments within an organization. All the budgets fir different departments are summed up in a master budgets which includes budgeted financial statements, forecasts of cash inflows and outflows, and an overall financing plan.

Following are the fundamental steps towards budgeting:

  • Calculate expenses
  • Determine the company or organization’s income
  • Setting savings and debt payoff goals
  • Record spending and track progress

Is not limited to creating a report at the beginning of any period rather it is an ongoing process that is modified in order to improve performance of the company while keeping a complete track of the results and goals. Budget needs to be compiled and re-evaluated on a periodic basis. Profits plus’s budgeting services can fulfil all your financial needs that will eventually help you in achieving your objectives.

Internal control assessment and creation of financial reporting controls

Profits Plus Accountants’ target is to provide risk management and internal control services to assist business areas in their internal control work. We work by creating annual reviews and taking precautionary measures for a constant development and improvement of internal controls for financial reporting. Internal control’s focus is to ensure that rules and procedures are implemented which are essential for maintenance of integrity of financial and accounting information. It helps in promotion of accountability. Our accounting services are reliable as it involves following processes:

  • Risk assessment and management:

Profits Plus’s risk management process is supervised by team of expert accountants. In order to enhance productivity, we offer timely and authentic risk management services. Our risk management process involves services like; business risk and control reviews, preparation of risk control matrix, develop a risk management strategy and develop a strategy to minimize the risk in future.

  • Control activities:

Controlling activities includes all the policies, procedures and daily activities that occur within an internal control system. Profits plus assists in designing preventive control activities as a precautionary measure to avoid risk of errors or fraud. These activities go through an in-depth process of documentation and authorization practices. It includes well thought out processes and risk identification to avoid undesirable “activities” from happening.

  • Monitoring and Reviewing:

Profits Plus helps in keeping a check on internal control system by a closely monitoring activities followed by periodic assessments. It is beneficial for keeping a check on internal control activities and assuring that they are being followed regularly and that these activities are ideal for risk management.

  • Information and communication:

Information and communication have a prime importance in maintaining a good internal control system. An evident communicating plan to ensure that information is conveyed evidently, it is beneficial for setting up expectations and responsibilities clearly.

FAQs

What are the types of internal audits?

Compliance audits – To ensure that the company’s processes and practices are fully compliant with policies, laws, and regulations standardized by either industry or government.

Operational audits – A comprehensive overview of fundamental processes and vital systems for enhancing productivity, improving operational efficiency, and evaluating if resources are utilized efficiently.

Financial audits – All focused on scrutinizing accounting and bookkeeping practices, financial reporting and statements, and transactions for maintaining fair and authentic data.

Information technology audits – A real-time system assessment for checking whether management controls are up-to-date. It ensures that each I.T. application and automated information processing system performs at full capacity and in compliance.

What are audit criteria or the Professional Standards in an internal audit?

Every company must follow the “International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF)” – an internationally recognized framework including each obligatory and strongly recommended guidance. It is proposed by the Institute of Internal Auditors (I.I.A.) for internal auditing.

How can internal audit add value to the business? What is the role of internal audit?

Internal auditing helps organizations ensure that their processes are carried out effectively, systems are running accurately, resources are utilized cost-effectively, strategic needs of an organization are met, and governance complies with standardized policies and regulations. An internal audit is necessary to introduce a systematic approach to improving productivity.

You can identify your strengths and weaknesses and correct them before an external audit carried out by an outside firm highlights them. It adds value to your company by protecting organizational assets and obtaining independent assurance that your risk management processes are in place, safeguarding your firm against potential fraud.

What are the 5 C's of observation in an internal audit?

  1. Criteria
  2. Condition
  3. Cause
  4. Consequence
  5. Corrective Action Plans/Recommendations

What are the key phases/stages of an internal audit? How to conduct an internal audit?

Planning/Survey/Preliminary Review – To define the scope and primary purpose, fix a timeline and budget, set fundamental requirements per the regulated laws, lay out the plan to be implemented, assign duties, and review previous audit reports.

Fieldwork – Execution of decided steps in the audit plan by the audit team that may include communicating with managers for feedback, investigating the company’s documents, understanding and testing management controls, writing all the procedures being followed, and suggesting possible changes.

Audit Report – Most critical stage as you will be drafting the report and reviewing it with the management to eliminate mistakes and bring accuracy with process improvements.

Follow-up Review – Make sure that recommendations made after addressing organizational issues in the audit are properly implemented and followed.