The audit and accounting industry provides services to help companies maintain accountability, financial control, transparency, and compliance with government regulations. The chief providers are public accounting firms that offer compliance audits, attestation engagements, tax planning and advisory services under the regulatory oversight of state boards or other state agencies. Companies can also provide their own internal auditing departments to oversee and report on their respective operations.

Auditors and accountants play a critical role in the financial reporting process that investors and other stakeholders rely upon to make decisions with confidence for minimizing risk and maximizing profit and value. Auditing is an independent examination of financial records, statements, or procedures of management to ascertain whether they are fairly stated in conformity with established standards.

During the audit process, auditors and accountants verify figures such as sales figures or inventory levels to ensure that they are correct and provide evidence for conclusions reached in financial reports. The results of the audit can be used to determine if any irregularities exist in a company’s accounts and may lead to discovering fraudulent activity by individuals with access to company assets.

Accounting principles and standards of financial reporting include generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Such financial reports provide information to stakeholders on a company’s financial health and performance for use in making vital business decisions such as procuring funds for operations and investments, evaluating the performance of management, formulating budgets and forecasts, as well as making judgments about required rates of return on assets.

The public accounting industry is regulated by state boards to ensure that those working in it possess the requisite professional education and experience along with possessing the minimal degree of competency necessary for providing reliable information. Professionals can be certified through the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and state boards for carrying out tasks such as:

•reviewing and analyzing financial records and accounting transactions,

•preparing tax returns and reports to federal, state, or local governments,

•conducting audits of companies to review the accuracy of financial statements, and

•providing independent opinions on other companies’ audited accounting or financial information.

Audit and accounting companies are often found to be uninspired to promote themselves in the marketplace because it is difficult for them to differentiate themselves in the industry. For example, one firm cannot compete with another by claiming to be cheaper because they all provide similar levels of service. They also cannot compete through the quality of work alone because there are many external factors that can affect the final product. The client would not know whether the work is of superior quality or if it is to blame on external factors, i.e., project management that has delayed progress or improper planning due to unclear requirements definition.

Thus bring in a professional keynote or motivational speaker can help motivate and inspire your organization, team and its leaders. Duncan helps audit and accounting companies differentiate themselves in a somewhat crowded market by showing them how to demonstrate value, communicate with influence and deliver the customer’s requirements more effectively, more often.

Duncan is a professional speaker who speaks all over the world. Some his recent destinations as an audit and accounting speaker include Jerusalem, Warsaw, Caracas, Casablanca, Atlanta, Manila, Tel Aviv, San Diego, Johannesburg, Marseille, Nottingham, Cairo, Dusseldorf, Wellington, Scottsdale, Karachi, Aukland, Paris and Munich, to name just a few.