Local businesses need to have systems in place to detect errors and other problems in the financial statements produced for them, rather than put the burden of detection on auditors.
President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) Roger Arthur made this assertion yesterday following a service at the Church of Christ The King in Rock Dundo, St Michael.
“One of the challenges we face, because we adhere to international standards, is the constant change in the standards that we need to apply in the presentation of financial statements,” he told the DAILY NATION.
“The other challenge that we have is helping the public to understand that in relation to some of the audits that we do, what our particular role is.
I think from time to time there is an information gap where the onus is on us from the public perspective to detect every error in a set of financial statements.
“I think over the years we’ve been able to convince persons that that responsibility rests with management and we are there to ferret out [a problem], if it does occur, but it’s not our primary responsibility. These are some of the challenges we have faced over the years and probably will continue to face until we have a more informed public.”
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