In Malaysia, a qualified auditor is someone that has been approved by the Ministry of Finance.
According to Company Law in Malaysia, all registered companies — publicly listed, private equity firms, joint venture capital — are required to have a professionally certified auditor. The auditor is charged with the responsibility of going through the company account and ensuring that all necessary procedures are followed in the preparation of the account. It is important to know that the account are not to be prepared by the auditor but to be verified by him or her.
The standard procedure is to create an end to end checkup system for the company account such that there are no discrepancies whatsoever. While the directors of the company are required to prepare the account of the company, the auditors are required to check for any imbalanced rationales or factors.
At the end of every business year, companies are required to present their shareholders the audited financial statement at the annual general meeting (AGM) that points to how business was operated throughout the year and possibly the expectation of the business for the new year.
Duties Of An Auditor
1. The number one duty of an auditor is to check that the companies account has been drawn up properly and that they follow the Malaysia and Companies act of 2016.
These duty perhaps is the drive that makes an auditor wear the face of a stranger while performing their duties for their organization. They are responsible for cross checking every little detail that goes into the financial accounts of their organization.
2. An auditor is responsible for giving informed opinion about the position of the account of their organization.
They can tell whether the account of the company truly implies the financial position of the company and that the shareholders and the public (in a case where they are publicly listed) are not charmed with an engineered financial accounts of the company.
3. Their job involves making sure that no member of the organization regardless of their power or position is allowed to tamper with the true financial position of the company. The auditors’ license and most importantly goodwill and reputation lies on this.
They must give the shareholders a complete assurance that the financial statement of the organization is untampered with.
4. An auditor must ensure that all accounting papers, and necessary records stipulated to be kept by the Malaysia and Companies act are all well-kept without any speck of atrocity.
5. Other responsibilities of an Auditor in Malaysia include:
- Auditors are responsible to the shareholders of a company. They understand that while their duties are completely to the company, their loyalty is to the shareholders.
- Auditors have the right to enquire any member of the organization about any information that will shed light on the true financial position of the company.
- An auditor is expected to attend all annual general meeting (AGM) with the shareholders and any emergency meeting as deemed fit by the company.
- In a case where the company has subsidiaries, auditors of the organization at all the branches are requested to submit their findings to the general auditor for the audition of a consolidated financial statement. Auditors at the subsidiaries are also required to give access to their books as requested by the general auditor.
