System of quality controlAO BST believes an effective system of quality control is crucial for the consistent performance of high-quality audit engagements and continues to make investments in people, processes and technology underlying quality control processes.
The system of quality control includes the following elements:
- Management responsibility for the system of quality control;
- Ethics and independence requirements;
- Risk management, including acceptance of new clients and engagements;
- Human resources;
- Engagement performance;
- Quality monitoring.
Management responsibility for the system of quality controlPolicies and procedures effective in AO BST are aimed to support the internal culture based on quality as the priority. Management of AO BST is responsible for the system of quality control and has sufficient appropriate experience, competency and authority to perform this function.
Ethics and independence requirementsAll professionals are expected to act with integrity in accordance with high ethical standards. AO BST has appropriate policies and procedures to obtain reasonable assurance that AO BST, its management and employees comply with the relevant ethical requirements.
AO BST has policies and procedures designed to address compliance with applicable professional standards that relate to independence.
Risk management, including acceptance of new clients and engagementsAO BST has an established a system of risk management which involves a dedicated risk management group and relevant risk management policies and procedures, including the process of acceptance of new clients and engagements. In accordance with the established policies and procedures the following steps should be performed for acceptance of new clients and engagements:
- background check for a client;
- assessment of client and engagement risks and risk mitigation plan;
- analysis of the conflicts of interest;
- anti-corruption and anti-money laundering analysis;
- approvals for the client and engagement acceptance depending on the risk level.
Human resourcesOur professionals are technically proficient with high levels of ethics, integrity, professional skepticism, and objectivity, and are continuously enhancing their skillset and experience. AO BST has established policies and procedures to ensure that AO BST has sufficient amount of partners and professional staff with relevant knowledge and experience and compliant with ethical requirements to perform audit engagements. The resources applied by professionals in the performance of their audits include the proprietary tools, guidance, materials, and practice aids used in conducting audits, which are available to all our professionals in the centralized library. AO BST regularly issues accounting and auditing guidance to our professionals and communicates developments that may affect audit quality.
Engagement performanceThe consistency in audits is brought by operational discipline, effective management of the business, and the development of a singular approach to doing audits.
Our approach to a high-quality audit involves an audit methodology supplemented by audit tools used by our professionals to plan, perform, supervise, review, document, conclude, and communicate the results of each audit. The audit approach of AO BST is underpinned by professional standards.
Quality monitoringA continued focus on audit quality is of a significant importance to AO BST. For monitoring engagement quality AO BST has the Audit Quality Monitoring and Measurement (AQMM) program in place. It is focused on driving continuous and consistent monitoring of completed and in-process engagements to timely identify quality issues and implement real time corrective actions to remediate them. Engagement reviews (internal practice review) are performed annually, engagements for review are selected on a risk-based approach and cover all major industries served by AO BST, moderation panels to drive consistency in findings and engagement ratings are mandatory.
Audit Quality Indicators (AQIs), used in conjunction with other metrics, further assist AO BST in developing and monitoring audit quality action plans and reporting on the progress in audit quality. AQIs are the part of the audit quality monitoring program. In addition, proper timing and sequencing of audit activities, including timely reviews of work performed and the resolution of matters identified, are closely associated with high quality audits. Audit Quality Milestones (AQMs) are intended to drive consistency of engagement teams in project management, timing of when work is done, and necessary focus on engagement staffing, including sufficiency and the skills, knowledge, or experience of assigned resources.