Role of Audit And Assurance in organisation

TASK A

Composition of Audit Committee

The audit committee is made for the good governance of the company and its functional activities. There are some norms made by the corporate laws of the UK so that the functions can be operated in the most effective way. It should consist of three independent non-executive directors or two from the outside of the company. There is chairman of the audit committee should be an independent director. Apart from this, he can be an additional member of the committee provided he does not chair the committee at the time of the appointment (Tepalagul and Lin, 2015). Along with this, the board members of the organisation should ensure that all the members of the audit committee should be financially literate. They should have the professional qualification in the relevant field. If the company or the members of the audit committee are not fulfilling this criteria then they will be held liable for the penal provisions. The expert of the committee members must be a retired fiancée director from another company or a partner from an accountancy firm.

Appointment, reappointment and removal of the Auditors

Appointment of the audit committee is made on the recommendation of the nomination committee. The appointment of the members of the audit committee should be of three years. Thus it can be said that the auditors must be appointed at the recommendation of the board of directors. In the annual report of the company appointment of the auditor is included. Resignation of the auditors must be approved by the board of directors in the meeting of the board. The reappointment of the auditors can be done after the expiry of the auditor's work duration (Miko and Kamardin,  2015).

Remuneration of the Auditors

Audit committees are wide-ranging, time consuming and they have to work for the development of the business. Their role is to have a true and fair view of the company and its proceedings. The level of remuneration which is to be paid to the auditors should not exceed the fees paid to the other board members. Along with this the remuneration of the chairman is much higher than the other members as he pays more time and effort to the functioning of the business (Rupšys and Stačiokas,  2015).

Engaging the Auditors for the Provisions of non-audit services

The audit firm is made so that a true and fair view report of the company and its matters. They are trained to understand the various external elements of the business and provide their viewpoint about it.  If the auditors are doing non-audit services then these can be included in below mentioned categories:

A service which require some legislation and contracts undertaken by the auditors of the business. These can be:

• Prudential Regulatory Authority.
• Legal and statutory requirements on matters such as the issue of shares for non-cash consideration and expenditure for grant application purposes (Lenz and Hahn, 2015).
• And the requirements related to the contracts such as lenders and vendors on net assets.
• Services that are most effective for the benefit of the business and these can be:
• The matters can be related to the financial records and it is not described under law for the auditors to do these activities of functions.
• Tax compliances are the issues which can be related to the taxation policy of the entity.
• To make some reports which are required on an urgent basis (Lord,  2016).

There are some other most important functions which can be related with trade activities these can be:

• Management consultancy
• Tax Advice
• Human Resource Consultancy

Thus, in above mentioned way, some functions of the auditors related to the non-audit services are described.

Auditors' Interdependence and Objectivity

The auditor is liable to conduct the research in such a manner that it could not have any adverse impact on the business and its activities. He should be an independent officer so that all the tasks can be done in the most effective way. A true and fair report of the functioning of the company should be presented by the auditor. So it is required to take care of all the essential elements related to the business (Dobija, 2015). He should not be related to anyone as his work should be transparent and independent. To determine the independence of the auditor some points must be ensured. Such as there must not be any relationship between the company and the auditors. The audit committee should consider whether there is any relationship with or service provider by an auditor:

• Creates a mutual or any conflict of interest with the client of the company.
• Places the audit work in his own work.
• This places them in a position of being an advocate for the audit client.
• The member must not be employed with the company.
• He should not have been in any professional post of the company in the last three years of the appointment.
• He should not be related to any of the employees of the company.

So it can be said that the auditor should be independent and should not have any relation with any of the members of the company. By this, he will be able to address the issues of the company in the most effective way (Alzeban and Sawan, 2015).

TASK B

It is very important for a listed company to manage all the essential requirements for the business. The entity must insert in its annual reports and Directors reports the compliances and their effectiveness (Sultana and Mitchell Van der Zahn, 2015). In below mentioned way the compliances related to the audit committee are described in the context of the NEXT PLC are described as under:

NEXT is a listed entity on the London Stock Exchange, as per the latest data of the company there is an Audit committee in the organisation and there are four members in the committee.

Composition: The chairman of the committee is Steve Barber and he is an independent non-executive Director. As the compliance is fulfilled here, the chairman of the audit committee must be independent. He has experience of thirty years and was a fiancée director of Mirror Group. So the fulfilment of the compliances of the eligibility of the chairman of the audit committee is done. Caroline Goodall, Francis Salway and Damme Dianne Thompson are the other major members of the audit committee of the NEXT. They are financially literate and have professional expertise. Thus, the composition of the audit committee is done in the most effective way (Kerber and et.al., 2015).

Remuneration: as per the annual reports the remuneration of the chairman and non-executive director is increased by 2% in February 2016, in line with the wider company award. The chairman will be paid the fees of £267,955. The basic fee of the non-executive director is £55,168 with a further £11,033 (2015 /16: £10,817) paid to the chairman of the Audit and Remuneration committees respectively so the remuneration compliance of the company is fulfilled.

Interdependence Of The Auditors: As per the given information the members of the audit committee are independent as they do not have any relation with the company and are not related to any employee of the organisation. So it can be said that the members of the audit committee are working in an independent way and are providing a true and fair report of the company (Samaha, Khlifand Hussainey, 2015).

Non-Audit Services: The Audit committee's approval is required in advance for the provision of the non-audit services if the fee exceeds £100,000 for an individual assignment. The fee for non-audit services is £50,000 and it is paid for the competitive tender and decisions which are to be taken for the cost-effectiveness and legislation matters. So the auditors are performing their workings as per the compliance of the non-audit services. The external auditor of the group is prohibited if they are creating any issue or if the provisions are out of compliance with objectivity or interdependence which are to be followed (Kang, Trotman and Trotman,  2015).

CONCLUSION

In the above-mentioned report role of the audit committee is described. For every listed company it is very important to have the audit committee it is liable for providing a true and fair report of the company. So the compliances of the Audit Committee must be fulfilled. Thus it can be concluded that the role of the audit committee is very high in managing and operating the best practices of the entity.

REFERENCES

• Alzeban, A and Sawan, N., 2015. The impact of audit committee characteristics on the implementation of internal audit recommendations. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation. 24. pp.61-71.
• Dobija, D., 2015. Exploring audit committee practices: oversight of financial reporting and external auditors in Poland. Journal of Management & Governance. 19(1). pp.113-143.
• Kang, Y.J., Trotman, A.J and Trotman, K.T., 2015. The effect of an Audit Judgment Rule on audit committee members’ professional scepticism: The case of accounting estimates. Accounting, Organizations and Society. 46. pp.59-76.
• Kerber, K.J and et.al., 2015. Counting every stillbirth and neonatal death through mortality audit to improve quality of care for every pregnant woman and her baby. BMC pregnancy and childbirth. 15(2). p.1.
• Lenz, R and Hahn, U., 2015. A synthesis of empirical internal audit effectiveness literature pointing to new research opportunities. Managerial Auditing Journal. 30(1). pp.5-33.
• Lord, C., 2016. A democratic audit of the European Union. Springer.
• Messier Jr, W., 2016. Auditing & assurance services: A systematic approach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

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