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ALRAQABA . ISSUE 15
Out of its interest in developing and improving
the quality of audit work, the State Audit Bureau
of Kuwait (SAB) has issued Act No. (178) of
the year 2020 on the implementation of the
Corporate Audit Procedures Guide. The Act
was promulgated in line with the strategic plans
of SAB, which aim to activate the utilization of all
the underlying schemes in order to protect the
public funds. Those strategic plans are mainly
focused on the issuance, completion, and
updating of the necessary guides, including
the procedure guides that are prepared by the
different sectors of SAB, presenting in detail
the steps of audit procedures. Such types of
guides also introduce the mechanism to be
adopted by the auditors in performing their
professional duties in order to reduce their
reliance on personal judgments and thereby
ensure the quality and efficiency of the auditors’
performance.
It is noteworthy that SAB’s Corporate Audit
Procedures Guide presents detailed outlines,
general principles, and guidelines for SAB
auditors. This guide shall be used by auditors
in carrying out their audit functions over
corporates subject to SAB’s audit, of which
the State or another public moral person has a
share of its capital of at least 50% or guarantees
a minimum profit. Adopting the presented
guidelines would contribute to the attainment of
best practices, as prescribed in the provisions
of Law No. (30) of the year 1964 on the
Establishment of SAB and its amendments.
The main contents of SAB’s Corporate Audit
Procedures Guide are summarized below.
Introduction and Reference:
A working group was established to prepare
and draft the Guide. During the preparation
phase, members of the working group took into
account the rules, guidelines, and standards
regulating the work of corporates subject to
the audit of SAB. They have also solicited the
views of supervisors and auditors of the SAB
Companies Audit Department. The Guide was
then presented for feedback before all SAB staff
prior to its approval.
Corporate Audit Procedures:
First: Planning Phase
Planning is the key to the success of any audit
process and the first pillar of an audit plan. In
this phase, there are certain guidelines and
terms to be followed and taken care of by the
auditors to facilitate the audit process, mainly:
1.
defining the audit objectives by developing a
framework under which all information extracted
from the remarks of the previous reports are
brought together and considered in order to
identify the problems of the company subject to
audit;
2.
identifying the internal and external work-
related risks by conducting initial tests on the
internal audit system to explore the deficiencies
and weaknesses;
3.
identifying the audit topics, with a focus on
the themes of particular relevance according to
Corporate Audit
Procedures Guide
Publications
