Audit is the process of objective examination of the entire economic activity of a business or company, in order to provide an independent assessment of risk management, control and process management.
Audits are used to identify potential problems before they occur, thus improving the decision-making process and reducing costs. They also serve to provide credible information about a specific corporation or company to potential business investors, business partners, banks or government agencies.
Through audits, it’s possible to obtain business objectives such as compliance verification of the company’s activities audited with the policies, programs and management, in accordance with the law. Audits also serve for evaluating the appropriateness and application of financial and non-financial controls arranged and conducted by management in order to increase efficiency of the company’s economic activity, determining exposures or significant weaknesses during control processes. Furthermore, audits serve for assessment of the adequacy of the data and / or financial and non-financial information management to acknowledge the realities of the economic situation.
The responsibility of the auditors is to ascertain whether the annual financial statements, the company’s accounts and the recommendations of the Management regarding the distribution of the profit in the balance sheet are conformable with the law.
Ordinary audits are also required if the corporation exceeds two of the following variables within two consecutive fiscal years: the balance sheet totals 20 million Swiss francs, a turnover of 40 million Swiss francs and a yearly average of 250 full time positions. However, if the preconditions for an ordinary audit are not fulfilled, a limited audit is still required. The limited audit is less extensive and profound.
All audit firms operating in Switzerland need to be registered with the Federal Supervisory Authority of Audit Firms in Bern.
Our team of authorized audit experts provides audit services such as:
- Limited audits, ordinary audits or revisions
- Revisions in order for capital increases or reductions and business start-ups
- Compliance by company law for capital changes
- Tests after the merger law in restructuring
- Compliance for money laundering law