The Role Of External Audit In Verifying The Credibility Of The Financial Statement Items Of Al-Mansour Investment Bank

Abstract

The study aims to evaluate the work performed by the external auditor in the Iraqi environment, and shows the relationships between the responsibility of the external auditor in strengthening the reliability of the financial statements, and improving the quality of the performance of external audit offices in Iraq, which contributes to enhancing the reliability of the external auditor’s report so that they can keep up with and compete with international auditing companies. In addition to that, the gap between the expectations of users of the financial statements and the external auditor’s expression of opinion regarding the financial statements is reduced when the external auditor confirms the accuracy of the disclosure that the preparation of the financial statements was carried out in accordance with the basic qualitative characteristics of accounting information. The study sample included Al-Mansour Investment Bank, with an audit limit of two years ( 2021-2022) The problem of the study was represented by the following question: “Is there a role for external audit in verifying the credibility of the items in the financial statements of Al-Mansour Investment Bank?”

The study works to verify and prove the following hypothesis, which states: “The external audit contributes to verifying the qualitative characteristics of the accounting information of Al-Mansour Investment Bank.” It was concluded that the responsibility of the external audit is to express an impartial technical opinion on the financial statements submitted to us based on our audit, and it became clear that the credit balance was high. The pledged credit for Al-Mansour Investment Bank increased by (35.7) compared to the previous year, as it amounted to (129,161,630) thousand dinars on December 31, 2022, compared to (95,175,343) thousand dinars on December 31, 2021. Accordingly, the pledged credit provision was calculated in accordance with the requirements of the standard. International No. (9), amounting to (649,393) thousand dinars on December 31, 2022, compared to (386,446) thousand dinars as on December 31, 2021 due to an increase in pledged credit balances by 35.7%, and the difference was charged to the allocations account. We have audited in accordance with The local and international standards for auditing, which require adherence to the rules of professional conduct and planning and carrying out audit work on a (test) basis to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free of material errors. The audit includes performing proced[1]ures to obtain evidence supporting the amounts and explanations contained in the financial statements, as well as evaluating the adequacy of The applied accounting policies and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by management, in addition to evaluating the general presentation of the financial statements. We believe that the audit evidence we obtained is sufficient and appropriate and provides a reasonable basis for expressing an opinion.

The study recommends that it is necessary to strengthen the major role of the external auditor because of his major oversight role in verifying the qualitative characteristics of accounting information in the Iraqi environment and to strengthen the application of international standards in preparing and presenting financial statements and giving them the quality of reliability.