The terms of reference define the nature of the different missions of the professional of the accounting expertise as well as the professional standards of behaviour and work applicable to these missions.
The professional of the accounting expertise must respect the principles of conduct defined by the Code of professional conduct of accounting professionals for all missions within its field of competence, the standard for Control of the quality of the missions as well as the provisions of the specific professional standards applicable to each mission. The latter define the diligences that the professional accountant must implement to achieve the objectives of the mission entrusted to him.
They also specify how these principles are to be applied by providing the explanations and additional information necessary for their implementation.
The frame of reference distinguishes three main natures of missions:
- Standardized missions that give rise to an expression of assurance on the part of the accounting professional;
- Standardized missions that do not give rise to an expression of assurance;
- Other non-standardized missions and services.
1.-Standardized missions which give rise to an expression of assurance of the professional of the accounting expertise
The expression of an insurance (moderate or reasonable) by the professional of the accounting expertise allows third-party users information of the entity to be able to appreciate the degree of confidence to be given to this information. The nature and degree of insurance obtained are related to the nature and extent of the diligences implemented and to the result of these.
1.1-Insurance missions covering historical complete accounts
The mission of reporting (Procedures Agreed)
This mission, specific to what is being done in the France, Objective is to allow the professional of the accounting expertise to express a Moderate Insurance On the Consistency and likelihood of annual accounts.
In terms of diligence, this mission is mainly based on:
-The information provided by the business manager,
-The accounting technique of the accounting professional to participate in the preparation of the annual accounts and ensure the regularity in the form of the accounting,
-The professional experience of the accounting expert, its knowledge of the entity and its environment and the setting Implementing analytical procedures to assess the coherence and likelihood of the annual accounts taken.
The presentation mission can also relate to intermediate accounts.
The limited review mission of accounts
The purpose of this mission is to allow the professional of the accounting expertise to express a Moderate Insurance on the Regularity and sincerity of accounts And on the faithful image given by them of the assets, the financial situation and the result of the entity at the end of the elapsed period.
The limited review mission is intended to meet the expressed needs of higher insurance than that resulting from the performance of a presentation mission as previously defined. The standard applicable to this mission is in accordance with the international standard for limited review.
In terms of diligence, the standard requires:
-A thorough knowledge of the entity allowing the identification of sensitive domains and accounts,
-An analysis of the procedures relating to the accounting organization,
-A collection of evidence based on the following techniques: in-depth control, analytical procedures, maintenance with management…
The limited review mission may cover annual accounts, consolidated accounts or interim accounts.
The Accounts Audit mission
The purpose of this mission is to allow the professional of the accounting expertise to express a Reasonable Assurance on the Regularity, the sincerity of Accounts And The faithful image given by them of the assets, the financial situation and the result of the entity at the end of the period.
The Accounts audit mission is intended to meet the expressed needs of higher insurance than that resulting from the execution of a limited review mission as previously defined. For the implementation of this mission, the professional of the accounting expertise must comply with the provisions of the new clarified International Auditing Standards (ISA) transposed into the Senegalese normative framework.
In terms of diligence, the accounts audit mission is based mainly on:
-A thorough knowledge of the entity
-The assessment of the entity’s internal control procedures;
-The collection of external evidence;
-Physical observation of the entity’s assets;
-The determination of a threshold of significance.
The auditing of accounts can be carried out on annual, intermediate or consolidated accounts.
1.2-insurance missions that relate to information other than historical complete accounts
These missions use the techniques of limited examination or auditing according to the degree of assurance expected by the entity or by a third-party applicant. They relate to financial or non-financial information.
They include:
-Insurance missions on forecasted information, internal control procedures, environmental and societal information…;
-The special certificates issued by the professional of the accounting expertise at the request of the entity.
The insurance mission on forecasted information is the subject of the professional standard NMA 3400 “Review of Forecast accounts”. It consists, for the professional of the accounting expertise, on the basis of Of the steps set out in the standard, to conclude that he did not find any evidence that led him to think:
- That the assumptions made are not a reasonable basis for the preparation of the forecast information, Yes
- That the quantified translation of these assumptions is erroneous, Yes
- That the information is not prepared in a coherent manner with the historical financial statements on the basis of appropriate accounting principles.
Applications for specific certificates may have a legal or contractual origin; Most often they relate to accounting and financial information that is not a complete historical account.
The purpose of these certificates is, on the basis of checks appropriate to the nature of the request, to certify the information contained in a document prepared by the management of the entity.
2.-standardized missions which do not give rise to an expression of assurance of the professional of the accounting expertise
These missions include:
2.1-The mission of compiling accounts (Standard NSC 4410)
This mission is intended for entities that fall within the scope of consolidation of a group that is audited, which internally ensures the production of its accounts and which requires upstream of the consolidation of its account a work of formatting Consolidated documents of its subsidiaries in accordance with the French legislation.
In a compilation mission, the professional of the accounting expertise uses his or her skills to collect, classify and present the synthesis of financial information in an understandable and workable form without being bound by the obligation to Control the statements on which this information is based.
The procedures implemented do not allow and are not intended to allow the professional of the accounting expertise to give Some insurance on financial information, this mission is part of the missions without expression of insurance.
The mission of compiling accounts can be based on annual or intermediate accounts.
2.2-The mission to review information on the basis of agreed procedures
This mission is intended for interventions that relate to one of the parts of the annual accounts, such as the examination of certain items of historical complete accounts. It may also cover a complete set of accounts where all or part of the due diligence required by the presentation, limited review or audit standards have not been applied.
The objective of an information review mission on the basis of agreed procedures consists of the professional of the accounting expertise, to implement procedures defined by mutual agreement with the management of the entity and possibly with Interested third parties, and to communicate in a written report the agreed procedures implemented and the findings resulting from these procedures.
Since the professional of the accounting expertise reports only on findings, no assurance is expressed in his report. It is up to the recipients of the report to assess the procedures and findings of the accounting professional and draw their own conclusions from the work carried out by the professional of the accounting expertise and the nature of His findings.
2.3-specific missions without insurance entrusted to the professional of the accounting expertise by the law or the Regulation
These are specific tasks entrusted by the legislator. These missions do not give rise to an expression of assurance on the part of the professional of the accounting expertise.
3.-Other Missions or services of the professional of the accounting expertise not subject to a specific professional standard
The diversity of the needs of the entities gives way to missions which are not subject to a specific standard. These missions, usually carried out by the professional of the accounting expertise at the request of the management of the entity for his own needs, do not give rise to the expression of an insurance. They are governed by the provisions of the Code of ethics of the professionals of the accounting expertise and by the standard of control of the quality of the missions within the order.
The contribution made by the members of the order to the fulfilment of the obligations of a client or member entity falls within this category of intervention, irrespective of whether the obligations of that entity are of an accounting, financial, legal, fiscal nature, Social or other.