Related Research Articles
Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activities and conveys this information to a variety of stakeholders, including investors, creditors, management, and regulators. Practitioners of accounting are known as accountants. The terms "accounting" and "financial reporting" are often used interchangeably.
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that mandates certain practices in financial record keeping and reporting for corporations. The act, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law 107–204 (text)(PDF), 116 Stat. 745, enacted July 30, 2002, also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act" and "Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act" and more commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley, SOX or Sarbox, contains eleven sections that place requirements on all U.S. public company boards of directors and management and public accounting firms. A number of provisions of the Act also apply to privately held companies, such as the willful destruction of evidence to impede a federal investigation.
An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing also attempts to ensure that the books of accounts are properly maintained by the concern as required by law. Auditors consider the propositions before them, obtain evidence, roll forward prior year working papers, and evaluate the propositions in their auditing report.
A financial audit is conducted to provide an opinion whether "financial statements" are stated in accordance with specified criteria. Normally, the criteria are international accounting standards, although auditors may conduct audits of financial statements prepared using the cash basis or some other basis of accounting appropriate for the organization. In providing an opinion whether financial statements are fairly stated in accordance with accounting standards, the auditor gathers evidence to determine whether the statements contain material errors or other misstatements.
The European Court of Auditors is the supreme audit institution of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg and is one of the seven EU institutions. The Court comprises one member from each EU member state supported by approximately 800 civil servants.
Chartered accountants were the first accountants to form a professional accounting body, initially established in Scotland in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants (1854), the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries (1854) and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants (1867) were each granted a royal charter almost from their inception. The title is an internationally recognised professional designation; the certified public accountant designation is generally equivalent to it. Women were able to become chartered accountants only following the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 after which, in 1920, Mary Harris Smith was recognised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and became the first woman chartered accountant in the world.
An auditor's report is a formal opinion, or disclaimer thereof, issued by either an internal auditor or an independent external auditor as a result of an internal or external audit, as an assurance service in order for the user to make decisions based on the results of the audit.
Founded in 1904, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is the global professional accounting body offering the Chartered Certified Accountant qualification (ACCA). It has 240,952 members and 541,930 future members worldwide. ACCA's headquarters are in London with principal administrative office in Glasgow. ACCA works through a network of over 110 offices and centres in 51 countries - with 346 Approved Learning Partners (ALP) and more than 7,600 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide employee development.
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), South Africa’s pre-eminent accountancy body, is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading accounting institutes. The institute provides a wide range of support services to more than 48,000 members and associates who are chartered accountants (CAs(SA)), as well as associate general accountants (AGAs(SA)) and accounting technicians (ATs(SA)).
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador is appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council and confirmed by a resolution of the House of Assembly
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is the supreme audit institution of Australia, functioning as the national auditor for the Parliament of Australia and Government of Australia. It reports directly to the Australian Parliament via the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate. Administratively, the ANAO is located in the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio.
The Court of Auditors is the supreme governmental accounting body of Spain responsible of the comptrolling of the public accounts and the auditing of the accountancy of the political parties, in accordance with the Constitution and its Organic Act.
The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) is an intergovernmental organization whose members are supreme audit institutions. Nearly every supreme audit institution in the world is a member of INTOSAI. Depending on the type of system used in their home country, the members of INTOSAI may be variously titled the Chief Financial Controller, the Office of the Comptroller General, the Office of the Auditor General, the Court of Accounts, or the Board of Audit.
In Bangladesh, the profession of accountancy was developed during the British colonial period. The basic requirements for financial reporting by all companies in Bangladesh were provided by the Companies Act of 1994. Today, it is represented by two professional bodies, the Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB).
The auditor-general of New South Wales helps the Parliament of New South Wales hold government accountable for its use of public resources.
Corruption in Somalia pertains to purported levels of corruption within Somalia's public and private sectors according to official metrics, anti-graft measures aimed at addressing those issues, as well as political dispensations and structural changes in government affecting transparency. Owing to a reported lack of accountability in the receipt and expenditure of public funds by the Transitional Federal Government, a federal Anti-Corruption Commission was put into place in 2011 so as to deter and eliminate graft. On Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, Somalia scored 11 on a scale from 0 to 100. When ranked by score, Somalia ranked last among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90, the average score was 43, and the worst score was Somalia's, 11. For comparison with regional scores, the average score among sub-Saharan African countries was 33. The highest score in sub-Saharan Africa was 71 and the lowest score was Somalia's, 11.
The Office of the Auditor-General of Kenya is an Independent Office established under Article 229 of the Constitution of Kenya to audit Government Bodies and report on their management of allocated funds. The current Auditor-General is Nancy Gathungu.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) is the constitutional officer responsible for public audit in Ireland. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is the public audit body for the Republic of Ireland and is headed by the C&AG.
Daniel Yaw Domelevo is a Ghanaian accountant who currently serves as a Board member of the Global Fund. He is a former Auditor-General of Ghana. He was appointed by John Dramani Mahama in 2016 to replace Richard Quartei Quartey who had retired from Public service. He won the 2019 Integrity Personality Award at the 2019 Ghana Integrity Initiative awards.
Richard Quartei Quartey is a Ghanaian accountant who served as the Auditor-General of Ghana from 2009 to 2016 and vice-chair of the UN's Independent Audit Advisory Committee in 2020.
References
- 1 2 Profile of Auditor General John S. Morlu II GAC Liberia
  | This article about a Liberian politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |