"How to manage your practice and prepare working papers that ensure a consistent outcome"

Providing services that are legally compliant and of good quality.

Background

When accountants:

• assist their clients with preparing financial statements, or
• issue reports on financial statements in terms of a relevant law, regulation or service agreement,
• they have to ensure that the results are of high quality.



High quality should be applied at the:

• level of the firm, and the
• process followed in delivering a reporting engagement.



A firm should therefore establish a policy and procedure manual to explain how they ensure quality. The system of quality management should include policies and procedures addressing each of the following elements:

1. Leadership responsibilities for quality within the firm.
2. Ethical requirements.
3. Acceptance and continuance of client relationships and specific engagements.
4. Human resources.
5. Engagement performance.
6. Monitoring.

The engagements that require quality management

The International Standard on Quality Management 1 (ISQM 1) as issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) deals with a firm’s responsibilities for its system of quality management when performing reporting engagements. The ISQC is to be read in conjunction with relevant ethical requirements.

The reporting engagements that ISQM1 applies to, are:

• Auditing
• Independent reviews,
• Voluntary reviews
• Accounting officer engagements,
• Factual findings
• Compilations
• Non-financial assurance

What CIBA needs to do

CIBA is a legislative controlling body for accountants, accounting officers and independent reviewers. As a controlling body we are required to monitor and sanction compliance to standards of member conduct. We perform this function by ensuring compliance by our members to the IAASB’s quality management standard. We offer CPD and training courses to help guide members with their everyday challenge in the workplace. We lobby government and SME associations to allocate work to business accountants.

What you need to do

The firm should establish a system of quality management designed to provide it with reasonable assurance that the firm and its personnel comply with professional standards and regulatory and legal requirements, and that reports issued by the firm or engagement partner(s) are appropriate in the circumstances.

A system of quality management consists of policies designed to achieve the above objectives, and procedures necessary to implement and monitor compliance with those policies. The policies and procedures adopted by a firm should be appropriate to the size and nature of the firm, and they should be documented and communicated to all personnel.

Members are required to register with www.saiba.academy and read www.accountingweekly.com to stay updated.

Additional resources

CIBA has provided a number of guides, videos and PowerPoint slides that will assist accountants with understanding their responsibilities in terms the various types of engagements:

• View the Practice Support Library for more
• www.accountingweekly.com
• wwww.saiba.academy
• Log into your member profile to access these and other resources