Audit of cash transactions - some recommendations to the auditor

Performing the task - to audit cash transactions in any company or enterprise, the auditor should first of all first familiarize himself with how this enterprise provides internal control over the security and the targeted use of funds. If in the course of such acquaintance the auditor has reasonable suspicions about the possible theft of these funds from the cash register or any other abuses, he must strongly urge the company's management to make an immediate inventory of cash at the checkout. Holding such a sudden inventory can be organized by the management of the enterprise together with the auditor directly at the beginning of the audit itself.

Audit cash and cash transactions are recommended for the following plan:

• Check whether the operations on the cash register are properly documented;
• To assess the completeness and timeliness of capitalization in the cash receipt office;
• To analyze, whether money resources are correctly written off in the expense;
• Check how the cash discipline is observed.

Further, audit of cash transactions provides for the establishment of the lawfulness of cash transactions and their compliance with the regulatory documents of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Here everything depends on two things:

1) how much of all completed cash transactions are subject to verification;

2) the degree of confidence of the auditor in the internal control at the enterprise after acquaintance with it.

Depending on this, the auditor makes a decision to conduct a full or selective check of cash documents.

The audit methodology for cash transactions provides for clarification of how correctly they were documented. Here, the auditor should pay special attention to the completeness of the filling of the incoming and outgoing orders, the mandatory registration of their and payrolls , etc. It is important to clarify whether there is a signature on these documents of the responsible person and the recipient of funds, and also whether they have erasures, corrections, etc. To this end, you need to carefully compare the reports of the cashier and the attached primary documents, as well as check the cash book.

According to all normative documents, this book is conducted in a single copy and must be stringed and numbered, and also be sealed with the seal of the enterprise signed by its head. The auditor is obliged to analyze, how records in the cash book correspond to reports of the cashier and are confirmed by primary documents.

In cases where the accounting records at the enterprise are computerized, the cash book can also be kept on the computer, but its sheets must be printed in 2 copies. In this case, the first copies must be periodically stitched in a brochure, and the second should be a cashier's report for the operations performed. In this case, the audit of cash transactions requires that the auditor (independently or with the help of an appropriate expert) check that the computer program is protected from unauthorized access to it. In addition, the auditor should perfectly know the principles of the operation of such a program.

When checking cash transactions, the auditor needs to find out how the cash flow was fully, timely and correctly measured, and also how its expenditure was drawn up, that is, to determine whether the issue of money was documented. Audit of cash transactions also provides for checking compliance with the established limit in cases of cash settlements with legal entities.

In conclusion, we note that we have considered only some areas for conducting audit of cash transactions. And each auditor, before starting to carry out such an audit, should develop a specific plan for conducting it, taking into account all the features of a specific enterprise and strictly follow it.