ACCA《审计与认证业务F8》知识点总结之三

　　高顿网校小编为各位ACCA学员整理了F8科目知识点总结，希望大家查漏补缺，对考试有所帮助。
       CONTROL ENVIRONMENT

　　The control environment consists of the governance and management functions and the attitudes, awareness and actions of the management about the internal control. Auditors may obtain an understanding of the control environments through the following elements.

　　1. Communication and enforcement of integrity and ethical values It is important for the management to create and maintain honest, legal and ethical culture, and to communicate the entity’s ethical and behavioral standards to its employees through policy statements and codes of conduct, etc.

　　2. Commitment to competence It is important that the management recruits competent staff who possess the required knowledge and skills at competent level to accomplish tasks.

　　3. Participation by those charged with governance An entity’s control consciousness is influenced significantly by those charged with governance; therefore, their independence from management, experience and stature, extent of their involvement, as well as the appropriateness of their actions are extremely important.

　　4. Management’s philosophy and operating style Management’s philosophy and operating style consists of a broad range of characteristics, such as management’s attitude to response to business risks, financial reporting, information processing, and accounting functions and personnel, etc. For example, does the targeted earning realistic? Does the management apply aggressive approach where alternative accounting principles or estimates are available? These management’s philosophy and operating style provide a picture to auditors about the management’s attitude about the internal control.

　　5. Organisational structure The organisational structure provides the framework on how the entity’s activities are planned, implemented, controlled and reviewed.

　　6. Assignment of authority and responsibility With the established organisational structure or framework, key areas of authority and reporting lines should then be defined. The assignment of authority and responsibility include the personnel that make appropriate policies and assign resources to staff to carry out the duties. Auditors may perceive the implementation of internal controls through the understanding of the organisational structure and the reporting relationships.

　　7. Human resources policies and practices Human resources policies and practices generally refer to recruitment, orientation, training, evaluation, counselling, promotion, compensation and remedial actions. For example, an entity should establish policies to recruit individuals based on their educational background, previous work experience, and other relevant attributes. Next, classroom and on-the-job training should be provided to the newly recruited staff. Appropriate training is also available to existing staff to keep themselves updated. Performance evaluation should be conducted periodically to review the staff performance and provide comments and feedback to staff on how to improve themselves and further develop their potential and promote to the next level by accepting more responsibilities and, in turn, receiving competitive compensation and benefits.

　　With the ISA 315 （Revised）， external auditors are now required to make inquiries of the internal audit function to identify and assess risks of material misstatement. Auditors may refer to the management’s responses of the identified deficiencies of the internal controls and determine whether the management has taken appropriate actions to tackle the problems properly. Besides inquiries of the internal audit function, auditors may collect audit evidence of the control environment through observation on how the employees perform their duties, inspection of the documents, and analytical procedures. After obtaining the audit evidence of the control environment, auditors may then assess the risks of material misstatement.

　　各位考生，2015年ACCA备考已经开始，为了方便各位学员能更加系统地掌握考试大纲的重点知识，帮助大家充分备考，体验实战，高顿网校开通了全免费的ACCA题库（包括精题真题和全真模考系统），题库里附有详细的答案解析，学员可以通过多种题型加强练习。戳这里进入ACCA免费题库>>>