Audit refers to evaluation of an organization, person, system or product. The job scope of an audit is performed by certified and competent individuals known as auditors. Auditors need to assess the reliability of the given information on particular organization or product.
Generally, auditors are responsible to ensure quality assurance of the selected organization or product and also free from error. Auditors are sometimes required to perform either financial audits or environmental audits. Financial audit is a set of financial statement concerning the financial records and systems of a company. Environmental audits run a thorough check on the environmental performance or position.
Companies or organizations usually hire independent auditors from an external agent to ensure fairness in company’s financial statement.
Basically, there are two types of auditors that are internal and external auditor. Internal auditors are amongst the company and responsible in evaluating internal control system. Internal auditors will run through the financial report and point out the errors before handing it over to external auditors. Companies or organizations hire external auditors to re-assess the financial statement provided by their clients.
Taxation refers to an act of imposing taxes on an individual or other legal entity. Taxes are usually paid in the form of money. Tax is not a voluntary payment by individuals but rather an enforced contribution as decided by the authority. Funds from taxation are used by the authority for enforcement of law and public order, maintenance of economic infrastructure and also government’s operation.
Tax rates vary depending on citizens’ income. Government will distribute the tax among the individual to support the poor, disabled and retired folks. Taxes can be categorized into capital gains, consumption, corporation, income, inheritance, property and many more.
Capital gains tax refers to the tax paid according to the sale of capital asset. Consumption tax is a non-investment spending tax while corporation tax is tax that is imposed on the profits cum capital gains of a company or organization. Perhaps the most common tax imposed is income tax. This refers to the financial income of a person or organization. Inheritance tax is the tax upon the death of an individual. Property tax is imposed on property according to the ownership.
What are the connections between audit and taxation? As companies need to fulfill requirements for certain tax such as corporation tax, auditors need to verify the validity and reliability of a corporation’s financial statements to prevent fraud within the corporation.
For those who wish to work as auditor, you would need to obtain at least a Degree in Accounting or related fields to qualify yourself as part of the auditor’s team. Among some of the reliable and recognized institutions offering accountancy programmes are Sunway University College, University Tunku Abdul Rahman, KDU and many more.
Sunway University College offers professional accounting programmes recognized by Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Certified Accounting Technician (CAT).
Faculty of Accountancy and Management under UTAR offers Bachelor Commerce (Hons) Accounting and Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Banking and Finance which is also a recognized programme are catered for those who are interested in working as an auditor.
KDU also offers accountancy programme certified by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). The programme is meant to educate the students to think, identify and analyze problems in facing the global market.
Local public universities such as University Malaya, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, University Putra Malaysia, University Teknologi Mara and many more also offer accountancy programmes for its students.
Malaysia has numerous job openings for auditors. Among some of the potential positions suitable for graduates is financial auditor, IT auditor, internal auditor or external auditor.
