The auditing of financial statements is a process of analysis, in which a formal evaluation is made to ensure that the financial statement corresponds to the entries in the books. It features a series of substantive checks to verify that the criteria for the formation of the financial statement reflect the company’s actual situation.

The auditing of the financial statements is increasingly the will of the companies, in relation to advantages, often substantial, that derive from this activity.
With the audit, the readers of the financial statements, lenders, employees and the tax authorities are guaranteed the reliability of the values in which it is summarised.
Auditing is an indispensable tool in the case of M&A and joint ventures.
Auditing also promotes transparency, an increasingly important tool for the company’s image.

During a period of growth, it is important not to overlook a function that may have hitherto been under the direct control of management.
Without interfering in the work of the company under review, Key Performing Auditors analyses its special features, the risks and its potential, defining an internal auditing system that minimises the risk of fraud or error and at the same time ensures that business potential is expressed as clearly as possible, thus enhancing the company’s effectiveness.

Legislative Decree 231 of 2001 has placed a new and onerous duty on companies operating in Italy, with the clear-cut aim of guiding management towards the most reliable systems of control. In the absence of such controls, a fraudulent act on the part of a single individual may have major consequences for the structure as a whole.
Today there is a need to reconsider the whole organisational system of a company by means of a meticulous control and risk assessment procedure, to to make the structural changes that will bring the company’s internal audit system in line with the new body of regulations, so that the company can satisfy the requirements laid down by the decree.
The work of Key Performing Auditors starts with an analysis of the company’s business, pinpointing specific areas of risk, before recalibrating the Internal Auditing system in a manner consistent with the provisions of the decree.
In conducting this operation, only the minimum call will be made on the company’s resources, ensuring that the transition does not in any way disrupt the smooth running of its activities.

The solid professional training and the continuous updating work are combined with this operational capacity, making the Key Performing Auditors able to perform Due Diligence interventions aimed at assessing acquisitions or extraordinary operations with professionalism, speed and effectiveness.

One basic activity in preparing for the auditing of accounts is what is known as a risk assessment process, to direct their own auditing work towards those sectors in which there is the greatest likelihood of identifying critical factors. Risk assessment is also a key step in the growth of a company, whenever there is a need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of its structure with a view to producing a reliable map of the areas requiring intervention in order to optimise procedures.
Key Performing Auditors perform the work of risk analysis both as an activity in its own right and as a precursor to auditing, due diligence and the creation of internal auditing systems and organisational methods pursuant to Legislative Decree 231/2001.

Key Performing Auditors combine the ability to examine a company situation and an exhaustive knowledge of tax regulations, both current and from past years, to analyse the whole “tax history” of the entity, where this is relevant to the purpose of the operation, to ensure that the client will not in the future be faced with unforeseen commitments for which it has not been responsible.