AUDIT KEWAJIBAN AKRUAL

Kategori utama akun yang ketiga dalam siklus akuisisi dan pembayaran adalah kewajiban
akrual, yang merupakan estimasi kewajiban yang belum dibayar atas jasa dan manfaat yang
telah diterima sebelum tanggal neraca. Kewajiban serupa lainnya termasuk:
Gaji akrual Accrued payroll
Pajak gaji akrual Accrued professional fees

Bonus pejabat akrual Accrued payroll taxes

Komisi akrual Accrued rent

Accrued officers bonuses
Fee profesional akrual
Accrued interest
Sewa akrual
Accrued commissions
Bunga akrual
Verifikasi beban akrual bervariasi tergantung pada sifat akrual dan situasi yang dihadapi klien.
Bagi sebagian besar audit, akrual hanya memerlukan waktu audit yang sedikit.
Pada gambar 19-3 bisa mengilustrasikan akun-akun yang umumnya digunakan oleh
perusahaan untuk mengakrualkan pajak properti, yang menunjukkan hubungan antara pajak
properti akrual serta siklus akuisisi dan pembayaran melalui pendebetan ke akun kewajiban.
Karena sumber debet adalah jurnal pengeluaran kas, pembayaran pajak properti.
Gambar 19-3

Ketika auditor memverifikasi pajak properti, kedelapan tujuan audit yang berkaitan
dengan saldo kecuali nilai realisasi bersifat relevan. Dua yang paling penting adalah:
1. Properti yang ada pada skedul akrual sudah tepat untuk mengakrualkan pajak.
Kelalaian untuk mencantumkan properti dimana pajak harus diakrualkan akan
menyatakan terlalu rendah kewajiban pajak properti (kelengkapan). Sebagai contoh
 salah saji yang material dapat terjadi jika pajak properti belum dibayarkan hingga
tanggal neraca dan tidak dimasukkan sebagai pajak properti akrual.
2. Pajak properti akrual telah dicatat secara akurat. Auditor memperhatikan perlakuan
yang konsisten terhadap akrual dari tahun ke tahun (keakuratan)
Auditor memverifikasi akrual pada saat yang bersamaan dengan audit pembayaran pajak
properti tahun berjalan. Auditor juga membandingkan akrual itu dengan tahun sebelumnya.
Auditor memulainya dengan memperoleh skedul pembayaran pajak properti dari klien, dan
membandingkan setiap pembayaran dengan skedul tahun sebelumnya untuk menentukan apakah
semua pembayaran dengan skedul tahun sebelumnya untuk menentukan apakah semuya
pembayaran telah dicantumkan dalam skedul yang disiapkan klien. Skedul audit aktiva tetap juga
harus diperiksa untuk melihat penambahan dan pelepasan aktiva yang mungkin mempengaruhi
akrual pajak properti. Semua properti yang dipengaruhi oleh regulasi pajak properti lokal harus
dicantumkan dalam skedul.
Auditor akan mengevaluasi kelayakan pajak properti atas setiap properti yang digunakan
oleh klien untuk mengestimasi akrual. Auditor dapat memverifikasi pajak properti akrual dengan
menghitung kembali bagian dari total pajak yang dikenakan pada tahun berjalan bagi setiap
bagian properti. Setelah akrual dan beban pajak properti untuk setiap bagian properti telah
dihitung kembali, totalnya harus ditambahkan dan dibandingkan dengan general ledger.

A third major category of accounts in the acquisition and payment cycle is

Accrued liabilities, which are the estimated unpaid obligations for services or
benefits that have been received before the balance sheet date. Many accrued
liabilities represent future obligations for unpaid services resulting from the passage
of time but are not payable at the balance sheet date. For example, the benefits of
property rental accrue throughout the year. Therefore, at the balance sheet date, a
certain portion of the total rent cost that has not been paid should be accrued. Other
similar liabilities include:
Accrued professional fees
Accrued payroll taxes
Accrued rent
Accrued officers bonuses
Accrued interest
Accrued commissions
A second type of accrual involves estimates where the amount of the
obligation due is uncertain, such as the obligation for federal income taxes when
there is a reasonable likelihood that the amount reported on the tax return will be
changed after the Internal Revenue Service audits the return. Accrued warranty
costs and accrued pension costs are similar accruals.
The verification of accrued expenses varies depending on the nature of the
accrual and the circumstances of the client. For most audits, accruals take little audit
time. In other instances, certain accounts, such as accrued income taxes, warranty
costs, and pension costs, are often material and require considerable audit effort.
The following discussion of the audit of accrued property taxes is used as an
example of the audit of an accrued liability account.
Figure 19-3 illustrates the accounts typically used by companies for accrued
property taxes, showing the relationship between accrued property taxes and the
acquisition and payment cycle through the debits to the liability account. Because
the source of the debits is the cash disbursements journal, the payments of property
taxes should have already been partially tested by the tests of the acquisition and
payment cycle transactions.
As with insurance expense, the balance in property tax expense is a residual
amount that results from the beginning and ending balances in accrued property
taxes and the payments of property taxes. Therefore, the emphasis in the tests
should be on the ending property tax liability and payments. When auditors verify
accrued property taxes, all eight balance-related audit objectives except realizable
value are relevant. Two are especially significant:

1. Existing properties for which accrual of taxes is appropriate are on the accrual
schedule. The failure to include properties for which taxes should be accrued
will understate the property tax liability (completeness). A material misstate -
ment can occur, for example, if taxes on property were not paid before the
balance sheet date and not included as accrued property taxes.
2. Accrued property taxes are accurately recorded. The auditors concern is the
consistent treatment of the accrual from year to year (accuracy).
The auditor uses two primary tests for the inclusion of all accruals. Auditors
verify the accruals at the same time as the audit of current year property tax
payments. In most audits, there are few property tax payments, but each payment is
often material, and therefore it is common to verify each one. Auditors also compare
the accruals with those of previous years.
The auditor often begins by obtaining a schedule of property tax payments
from the client and comparing each payment with the preceding years schedule to
determine whether all payments have been included in the client-prepared schedule.
The fixed asset audit schedules also must be examined for major additions and
disposals of assets that may affect the property taxes accrual. All property affected
by local property tax regulations should be included in the schedule, even if the first
tax payment has not yet been made.
After auditors are satisfied that all taxable property has been included in the
client-prepared schedule, they evaluate the reasonableness of property taxes on
each property used by the client to estimate the accrual. In some instances, the total
has already been set by the taxing authority and sent to the client so it is possible to
verify the amount by comparing the amount on the schedule with the tax bill. In other
cases, the preceding years total payments must be adjusted for the expected
increase in property tax rates.
The auditor can verify the accrued property tax by recalculating the portion of
the total tax applicable to the current year for each piece of property. The most
important consideration is to use the same portion of each tax payment for the
accrual that was used in the preceding year, unless there are justifiable conditions
for a change. After the accrual and property tax expense for each piece of property
have been recalculated, the totals should be added and compared with the general
ledger. In many cases, property taxes are charged to more than one expense
account. In that case, the auditor should test for correct classification by evaluating
whether the correct amount was charged to each account