How to improve the effectiveness of internal audit work

This paper introduces the organization mode of internal quality audit, puts forward that attention should be paid to the planning of internal audit, and expounds the methods for improving the effectiveness of internal audit. The effectiveness of internal audit in state-owned enterprises refers to the extent to which internal audit institutions perform their functions, attract the attention of enterprise leaders and achieve supervision results. At present, in the process of restructuring and reorganization of state-owned enterprises, some internal audit institutions have been streamlined, while others have been weakened or diluted. There are many reasons. Based on the practice and experience of internal audit, this paper discusses some superficial understandings on several problems and countermeasures that affect the effectiveness of internal audit at present. First, several factors (1) that affect the effective function of internal audit are inaccurate and vague. In the mid-1980s, with the direct promotion of the government, internal audit in China gradually developed. At first, internal audit, as the spokesperson of the country, aimed to supervise the management behavior of enterprises and safeguard financial law and discipline. At present, under the influence of this view, the definition between the position of internal audit and the position of government audit, and between the function of internal audit and the function of national supervisor in enterprises is vague, which leads many people to think that internal audit has nothing to do with the internal management mechanism of enterprises and oppose the flexible operation of internal audit in enterprises. On the one hand, this understanding makes enterprise leaders pay insufficient attention to internal audit work, weakening or diluting internal audit institutions; On the other hand, internal auditors have the idea of "two-way service", and their work objectives are not operable, which affects the effective play of internal audit functions. (ii) Lack of independence affects the authority of internal audit. At present, state-owned enterprises generally adopt internal audit institutions parallel to other business departments, and the chief accountant or chief financial officer of the enterprise is directly responsible and reports to it. Auditors are closely related to the interests of the audited units. This kind of internal audit organization system often makes internal audit institutions and their personnel work independently because of the restriction of interests and interpersonal relationships, and cannot carry out their work objectively, truly, fairly and deeply, and the audit decisions made cannot be effectively implemented because of the restriction of management system. Over time, internal audit institutions will eventually become deaf ears and beautiful furnishings, and internal audit will lose its authority and become a dispensable functional department of enterprises. (3) The overall quality is low, which does not meet the requirements of modern enterprise system. The main performance is: 1. Most of the internal auditors come from the accounting team, with single major, insufficient follow-up education and unreasonable knowledge structure; 2. The audit method is single, and the audit timeliness is not strong; 3. The auditing methods are backward, and computer program auditing and network information auditing are rarely involved; 4. The quality of audit report is poor, and the operability of audit recommendations is not strong; 5. The audit behavior is not standardized and the audit style is not solid; 6. The atmosphere of learning audit theory is not strong, and I know little about international internal auditing standards, internal auditing development, experience and technology. Second, some suggestions to improve the effectiveness of internal audit To solve the problems existing in the development of internal audit in state-owned enterprises, we must first improve the effectiveness of internal audit so that it can have a greater living space in the market economy environment. Based on the modern enterprise system, the author suggests adopting the following strategies: (1) Emphasizing "introversion" and positioning internal audit. Internal audit is based on the needs of scientific management of enterprises and the product of multi-level decentralized management system within enterprises. The dependence of internal audit on enterprises fundamentally determines that internal audit can only be based on the internal management of enterprises, carry out economic supervision on behalf of enterprises, strengthen service functions, and ensure the implementation of enterprise management strategies, principles and objectives. Internal audit cannot replace external audit because of its introversion. The economic supervision mechanism for the person in charge of the enterprise belongs to the external economic governance behavior of the enterprise, which is implemented by the government audit institutions and the enterprise supervisors appointed by the state. At the same time, the strengthening of external supervision and fierce market competition pressure will prompt enterprises to tap potential from internal management, improve management and improve internal control system. As an important part of the enterprise internal control system, internal audit can play an effective supervisory role in the incentive mechanism, and it is paid more and more attention and support by enterprise leaders, and internal audit will have a broader development space. (2) Grasping independence and giving play to the principle of independence of internal audit function are important signs that internal audit is different from other functional departments within the enterprise. No matter internal audit or external audit, without independence, the audit results are meaningless. Therefore, in the enterprise system, internal audit institutions and personnel should maintain relative independence. The internal audit institution is directly led by the first person in charge of the enterprise, responsible for the enterprise and reporting its work; Should be independent of all functional departments and supervise them; Internal auditors should have no interest relationship with the supervised object, so as to ensure the authenticity, objectivity and impartiality of the audit results and effectively play the audit role. (C) Pay attention to practical results and improve the level of internal audit. The effectiveness of internal audit refers to the extent to which internal audit plays its functional role and the actual results achieved. It mainly includes: the quality of audit report, the efficiency of audit work, the adequacy and hierarchy of investigation and handling problems, the breadth and depth of audit, and the extent and effect of audit recommendations and audit decisions being adopted and implemented by enterprises. The ways to improve the effectiveness of the audit are: 1. Adhere to the audit policy of doing what you can and highlighting key points. Starting from the reality of the enterprise, the internal audit of its own strength and the quality structure of the team, we choose the key problems that need to be solved urgently in the current production and operation management of the enterprise as the starting point, adjust the deployment strength, increase the audit intensity, solve problems for the enterprise, and provide the basis for the leaders to make correct decisions. 2. Improve audit methods and standardize audit procedures. It is necessary to combine the post-audit of financial revenue and expenditure with the pre-audit and post-audit of management benefits. Manual and account table audit are combined with computer and information network audit; Paying equal attention to supervision and evaluation, including supervision in service, makes internal audit have a broader living space. We should work hard on the quality of audit report recommendations, objectively and fairly reflect the situation of the audited units, and put forward valuable and weighty audit recommendations; Attention should be paid to summarizing, refining and utilizing audit results to serve macro-control. Actively participate in enterprise management activities, comprehensively analyze new situations, new problems and problems with universality and tendency in deepening enterprise reform, and put forward targeted improvement opinions and measures. 3. Adhere to objectivity and justice, and deal with punishment strictly. Strict handling and punishment is an effective means of education and strengthening management, which is conducive to curbing violations of discipline and safeguarding the economic interests of enterprises; It is conducive to improving the deterrent effect of auditing, purifying the economic environment, and cutting off the economic foundation that breeds violations of law and discipline from the source; It is conducive to restraining the economic behavior of money managers and promoting the building of a clean government. Therefore, in the process of auditing cases of violation of law and discipline, we should act in strict accordance with the audit procedures, so that the facts are clear, the nature is accurate, the handling is appropriate and the evaluation is moderate. Only in this way can we grasp the initiative, guard against audit risks and give full play to the role of audit supervision. 4. Adhere to the people-oriented principle and strengthen the construction of audit team. Adhering to the people-oriented principle and strengthening the construction of audit team are the basic guarantee to realize the effectiveness of audit work. The more arduous the audit task is, the more attention should be paid to the construction of audit team. It is necessary to build a high-quality internal audit team with excellent style and reasonable structure by introducing excellent talents and strengthening training to meet the needs of modern audit work. At the same time, the internal audit should be combined with the actual situation, establish and improve various audit systems suitable for the characteristics of the enterprise, so as to speed up the legalization, institutionalization and standardization of the internal audit work. In short, the internal audit of state-owned enterprises can only develop with the development of enterprises. The expansion of enterprise management scale and the improvement of management level are the source power of internal audit development. Internal audit can only play an effective role and establish its due position if it is based on the needs of enterprise management and centered on improving the economic benefits of enterprises and constantly improving the quality and effect of audit work.