PLACE OF RISK IN THE PROCESS OF INDEPENDENT AUDIT

Abstract

A key issue in effective auditing is risk identification. Despite the importance of the concept of risk in the audit process, it has been studied in the last decade in the direction of improving assessment methods. Ignoring the role of risk, considering it exclusively as an audit procedure, hinders the awareness of the essence of the audit by the compilers and users of the reports, reduces the effectiveness of the audit. The purpose of the article is to study the place of risk in the audit process from the point of view of possible identification of directions for its improvement. The use of a risk-oriented approach in the audit practice implies the need to assess the risk of the client's internal control system, including at the stage of granting con-sent to the audit. The auditor should further assess the risk of using sampling and the risk of exposure to fraud. Risk assess-ment in the formation of an opinion involves an assessment of compliance of the reporting with the requirements of the con-ceptual basis, appropriateness, comparability, comprehensibility, reliability of information, the choice of the form of the opin-ion. It has been proven that risk is a defining category in independent auditing: a basic concept, approach, tool for organizing an audit, an audit procedure for gathering evidence, evaluating evidence, and forming an opinion. The audit process can be structured according to the stages of assessment of the risk of acceptance of the task, internal control system, effectiveness of audit procedures and audit sample, significant distortions due to fraud, formation of an auditor's opinion. Proposed areas of research by the auditor of the client's business, circumstances of risks of significant distortion, actions of the auditor when working with the sample, risk assessment at the stage of opinion formation reduce the complexity of the audit. Understanding the location of risk in the audit improves the perception of the audit process by users of the report. The developed algorithms of the auditor's actions in identifying fraud risks and evaluating the internal control system can be applied to optimize the client's control subsystem. The direction of further research will be the assessment of the impact of modern digital technolo-gies on audit risk.