Financial Statement Audit Assurance Services & Review / External Audit in Melbourne

At WWA, we strive to support you and your stakeholders to make informed decisions based on reliable and credible financial information. Our highly effective audits not only fulfil your statutory requirements, but also give your stakeholders confidence in your financial information.

We leverage our technical expertise and industry experience to bring you the latest accounting and industry developments, recommend business improvements in line with best practice innovations, identify potentially overlooked areas of risk, and strengthen your financial and reporting frameworks.

We appreciate that each client is unique and hence we do not believe in using a standardised approach to each audit. Our audit approach is carefully tailored based on your specific requirements to ensure that we deliver efficient and insightful audits that not only fulfil your regulatory compliance obligations, but also help identify indicators of exposure to risk areas that may have an impact on your organisation.

International Audits

WWA is part of Walker Wayland Australasia and BKR International, which are leading global associations of independent accounting and business advisory firms around the world. This allows WWA to access the local expertise, services and resources from other international member firms to provide complex group audit services and compliance with foreign statutory audits.

Our audit team is experienced in providing the following services:

Audits of private and publicly traded companies headquartered in Australia and their international subsidiaries.
Audits of consolidated financial statements of internationally headquartered firms and their Australian subsidiaries.
Audits of Australian subsidiaries of foreign parent companies and required reporting package.

Special Purpose Audit & Review

Special purpose audit and review engagements refer to circumstances where specific financial information for specific purposes and specific users is required to be audited or reviewed. These may include financial statements prepared in accordance with non-standard accounting policies.

WWA can help fulfil your specific auditing requirements and is experienced in undertaking engagements including:

Special purpose financial statements audits and reviews
Grant funding compliance audits and review
Agreed-upon procedures engagements

IPO Audits

At WWA, we are experienced in providing independent audit opinions and reports that give you confidence that the financial information disclosed in a prospectus or product disclosure statement for an IPO has been correctly prepared and are fairly presented.

Our team will also guide your through the relevant regulatory requirements relevant to your IPO including the Corporations Act and ASX listing rules to ensure that your organisation is compliant with the necessary obligations.

Audits of financial statements prepared using Australian Accounting Standards, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Due Diligence

Due diligence is an essential when considering acquiring, investing in or merging with a business. It is critical to have a detailed understanding of the business being considered in order to make an informed decision.

Our team at WWA can assist you in the due diligence process by identifying key issues and risks, evaluating the purchase price and reviewing financial and operational implications of the proposed transaction. We will provide you with valuable insights to ensure your transaction delivers real business and financial benefits while also enhancing shareholder value.

Payroll Audit

In recent times, many organisations have faced significant penalties and reputational damage for failing to appropriately compensate their employees. The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has made clear of its intentions to continue taking firm action against these organisations and have outlined a number of key sectors that will fall under significant scrutiny including industries with casual or shift workers such as agriculture, hospitality and retail. The FOW has also made clear that they will prioritise smaller business employers.

Our independent payroll audits can help mitigate your risk and provide a high level of assurance that is required to meet your obligations as an employer. Our team is equipped to assist you in identifying and understanding your compliance requirements and enterprise agreements to ensure that your obligations are met and that internal payroll controls are operating effectively in order to mitigate future payroll risks.

Performance Audits

The competitive business landscape of today has driven organisations reduce costs, be more efficient and continuously improve in order to drive better performance. It is therefore crucial that an organisation understands its level of performance so that it is not left behind.

Our team at WWA can independently evaluate your organisation’s performance to determine whether specific teams or business functions are working as intended to achieve your tactical and operational goals. We will evaluate the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of your operations and provide you with actionable recommendations that will ensure that your organisation business objectives are met.

Types of Corporate Audit Services We Offer

External Audits

External audits are formal compliance audits that are performed by independent third parties and adhere to a precise format that is established based on the compliance regulation that needs to be assessed. External audit reports gauge if a business has been conforming with state, federal or corporate regulations, rules and standards.

Internal Audits

Internal audits are conducted to ascertain the risks that a business might face regarding compliance and security and to verify if the business has been abiding by internal guidelines. Internal audit advisory servicescan beprovided throughout the financial year, allowing managers to use reports to discover areas where improvements are needed. Internal audits appraise a business’s goals against strategic and output risks.

Compliance Audits

Compliance audits are meticulous reviews of a business’s compliance with regulatory guidelines. This type of audit report assesses how thorough a business has been in terms of complying with preparations, security policies, user access controls and risk management procedures during the course of the audit.

Due Diligence

Due diligence is an investigation, audit, or review performed to confirm facts or details of a matter under consideration. In the financial world, due diligence requires an examination of financial records before entering into a proposed transaction with another party.

Our services include:

IFRS advice.
Due diligence.
External audit.
Fraud prevention.
Internal audit.
Internal control advice.
Risk profiling and management.
Special reviews.
Accounting Standards Advice.
Risk Management.
Prepare Financial Statements.
Accounting Advice.

Case study

Below are a few of our case studies with existing clients

Effectiveness in Managing Clients Needs in Audit

We have a deep understanding on the complex areas of accounting and have the expertise and tools for these audit engagements. An existing client in its high growth phase had completed an acquisition of a business on the final day of their financial year from which a significant amount of intangible assets and goodwill were recorded.

On short notice, we were able to develop a good understanding of the transaction and formulated an audit strategy to ensure the business combination was recorded correctly.

We also provided support for the application of accounting standards and the appropriate recognition of intangible assets and goodwill from the acquisition.

We reviewed and assessed goodwill and intangibles for impairment to ensure that treatment is in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards. As part of this requirement, we reviewed the assessment prepared by management for impairment indicators, analysed inputs in the calculation, and stress tested to ensure conclusions on the appropriate valuation of recognised goodwill were supported by these calculations. We also reviewed to ensure correct disclosure in their audit financial statements.

Effectiveness in Communications with Clients in Audit

An effective financial audit requires effective communication. We strongly believe in planning our audits.

We had sourced a new client during the year and the audit partner and audit manager met with the Directors and senior staff members to gain a detailed understanding of the business as well as discussed potential risks and identified key areas that could be a focus of their audit. This has allowed us to develop a clear picture of the business and the people involved.

For the case of this client, the key audit risk areas revolve around overseas imports and foreign exchange. We were able to identify and analyse these issues early in the audit process to ensure that the accounting for these transactions were managed correctly and subsequently reduce any potential delays in the year-end audit process.

As the client had significant-sized warehouses in multiple states and locations that required audit attendance for their annual stocktakes. We were able to leverage our network of trusted resources within Walker Wayland through the coordination of staffing from network offices to attend the stocktakes at these locations.

The client has internal accountants and also utilises an external Chartered Accountant to assist with year-end reporting. We were able to develop strong relationships with people within the business and the external advisors to ensure a timely flow of information and open lines of communication. This ensured that all deadlines could be met for filing with ASIC and reporting to the Directors and financiers.

Contact Walker Wayland Advantage Today

If you’re searching for a financial firm that offers financial audit services in Melbourne, contact Walker Wayland Advantage today. Call us on(03) 9274 0600 or contact us onlineto get started.

Frequently Asked Questions

An audit is important as it provides credibility to a set of financial statements and gives the shareholders confidence that the accounts are true and fair. It can also help to improve a company’s internal controls and systems.

Auditing accounting is a form of assurance engagement that offers an opinion based on the judicious assurance of a financial report. As an expert in audit and assurance in Melbourne, Walker Wayland Advantage can provide an auditor’s report that assesses a company’s financial report.

Shareholders need a reliable and independent source of financial information that allows them to properly assess the company they’re involved with, as well as the performance of management and those responsible for governance. This is where Walker Wayland Advantage comes in, providing trusted audit assurance for Melbourne-based businesses.