I The discussion on audit risk and prevention of accounting firmA The goal and the significance of researching audit risk (8)B The problems of accounting firms (8)C The analysis of reason rising audit risk (10)D The strategy reducing audit risk of CPAs (11)E Conclusion (14)The discussion on audit risk and prevention of accountingfirmThe goal and the significance of researching audit riskAudit risk not only affects CPA’s vit al interests，but also is direct proportion to the operating risk．So，it is important to study the reasons of audit risk．The studying on audit risk is to improve the working quality of CPA to reduce the charged risk，to construct a reasonable auditing environment，and to inform and provide fair information to users to help them making-decisions．The author thinks the audit risk rising due to poor quality of accounting firms．The CPAs work for firms，and the firms should be responsible for CPAs’ activities，to decr ease the CPAs’ risk and avoid the firms’ risk．Only those risk are considered，both the firms and the CPAs may improve each other to promote the development of CPA business.The problems of accounting firms⑴Low-price competitionSocial existence of competition，the price is the most key eye-catching customers．If any firm uses better price，the business would increase，and give rise to more profit accordingly，and the firms own competitive advantage to ensure the future development．There is an audit fee standard in the firm，but also there is greater flexibility on specific operations（Industry standard for audit fees is shown in Table 1）．Such as Sichuan XX accounting firm，total assets in the end of the year are ￥1，553，871，396．18 in the audited unit．If in strict accordance with the standards，the audit fees are ￥409，967．85，but the actual audit fees are ￥1 80，000．00 in the firm ‘s invoice．The more difference price is lower than the normal price level，which would apparently influence the audit quality and increase the audit risk．⑵The imperfect system of quality controlAt present，most firms require the issued audit reports should base on three—tier review systems．In other words，after issuing the first draft of audit report，project manager must take it to departmental verify，then to manager in charge of department verify，to quality supervisors review lastly．Only after all the three review staffs agree，the audit report may be issued formally．In fact，the firms don’t carry out the system conformity strictly because of many reasons，and reduce part of the procedures．For example，during the annual auditing，some audit reports are issued by two—tier review system conformity strictly because of more businesses in Sichuan XX accounting firm ．So there are some problems in audit reports．When the firms sentthe reports to the clients，the clients would find out and return the firms to modify，which lead to the negative impact for the CPAs and the firms，and increase the audit risk．Table 1 The industry fee standard of audit feeThe total asset of audited company inyear endFee standards Total feesLess than 500,000.00510,000.00 to 1,000,000.001,010,000.00 to 5,000,000.00 5,010,000.00 to 10,000,000.00 10,010,000.00 to 50,000,000.00 50,010,000.00 to 100,000,000.00 More than 100,000,000.001,500.003,000.006,000.009,000.0012,000.0015,000.000.25‰1,500.004,500.0010,500.0019,500.0031,500.0046,500.00⑶The incomplete follow-up education of auditorsThe institute trains the CPAs annual．The train personnel include the CPAs and the audit assistants in the firms．But due to the busy businesses and the pursuit of profit maximization，the firms wouldn’t spend more time in the follow-up education of CPAs and audit assistants．So CPAs and audit assistants have less chance to renew the knowledge．For example，in Sichuan，some firm s requested the CPAS to answer the questions on internet in the follow—up education．⑷staff recruitment problemsWhen some firms recruit，there is no better eligibility review process，and the candidates usually come from the interpersonal．So the staff’s professional knowledge levers are different，which lead to the potential audit risk．During 2008 annual report of audit，a firm recruited a large number of staffs．Only there is 62 staff in audit department．in which there are 20 new CPAs(32．25 percent in tota1)．And 1 6 new staffs(80 percent of new staffs) are graduates．Most of them haven’t come into contact with the audit．⑴The increased time pressure of CPAsBecause time is limited．the CPAs had to finish the auditing within the required timeframe．Generally the CPAs spend 3 to 5 days in big corporation，and 1 to 2 days in small corporation．During the annual report audit，the auditors in a firm in Sichuan didn’t go to audit in accordance with the procedures of auditing standard s，and took the substantive test for the audited unit．There is no enough time to assess interna1 control of corporation for the auditors，and to test the important level also．Because oftime limited．after the CPAs go into the audited company firstly，they would go to engage in another project without staying to finish the first project，and other auditors(not CPA)are responsible for the present project．So the CPAs issue the audit reports with blindness，and the audit risk are enlarged．The analysis of reason rising audit risk⑴The enhanced complexity of objective economic activitiesWith the improvement of degree of social information，more the accounting information of the audited are，in which there are some wrong and false information，more the possibility of oversight are increased．The kind and the character of economic business are different and complex，so the accounting businesses have gone far beyond the traditional content of financial accounting．The appearance of new businesses，such as taxation accounting，lease accounting，bankruptcy accounting，consolidated financial statements，is more challenging than the traditional financial accounting，more prone to controversy，and more difficult to audit．The content of modem audit include not only the financial activities and some feasibility studies for the investment programs in the audited companies，but also the evaluation of operating results，the content and the operation effect of internal control system，which would increase the difficult to draw the right conclusion．Moreover，Chinese economic system and the compatible systems are changing constantly，and the economic elements are more complex，and the quality of employees is differently in all kinds of economic elements．Sometimes，the ability of employees lags behind the reform of financial systems．Some employees speculate in chaos，and almost pursuit self-interest，which happen usually．Some firms are not good to deal with countermeasures，so to increase audit risk．⑵The more competition in firmsIn an increasingly competitive environment，the firms always reduce price in order to the business，which lead to serious unfair competition in audit industry．With the increasing firms and the tender，low-cost competition becomes more intense．Some firms in Sichuan took part in low—cost competition toself-development．The audit fees influence directly inputs of resource in auditing procedure，especially the test procedure and the score，so to affect the quality and the social vale of independent audit．In case of low audit fees．the auditors will finish a lot of auditing in short time to reduce costs，which give the auditors more pressure or can’t ensure the auditing quality．⑶The low quality of auditors①The limited experience and the abilities of the auditorsThe limited audit abilities lead to complete the audit businesses is even worse，or the audited content and request between the community and the audit occupation sector are disagreed，which put them involve in the responsibility of unpleasantlitigation．For a long time，the audit occupation sectors have thought the implementation of auditing according to auditing standards is to fulfill their duties，and the accountability and the audit responsibilities may be distinguished．The public not only desire the auditors issue the report for financial information，and require they can discover all the false and the wrong information in the audited department．The increased audit responsibilities are adapted to the demand for the public，but increase the audit risk．So，the audit abilities are relative to meet the demand for the public，and not absolute．The audit abilities are always different from the public demand．②The poor of audit staff and professional responsibilityThe auditing is a kind of specialized technical service，so the auditors have the responsibility to plan their auditing to discover the false that maybe cause significant impact on financial statements．In the same time，the auditors ought to apply the personal technology and career concerns in the process of auditing．The responsibility and the career concern s of auditors are important to the auditing conclusion．The responsibility request the auditors to own high moral characters，integrity personality，and meticulous work spirit，with a solid accounting，auditing，legal knowledge and basic audit skills，keen analytical skills and the ability to determine accurate．In China，CPAs is less；both the age structure and knowledge structures of most CPAs are more unreasonable．In order to get more CPAs，the heads of firm s tried their best．So many CPAs are linked to the firms，such as in Sichuan．The linked CPAs decreased their auditing independent．③Flawed method of modern auditModem audit methodology emphasis the balance between audit costs and audit risk，so admitting the existence of a little audit risk is the necessary premise in audit procedures；audit sampling methods and methods of application of analytical review throughout the audit process．And therefore the result of the review is bound to a certain degree of error．The developing auditing is facing more competitions，and competitions result in margin profit reduced．In order to maintain margin profit，the auditing career must keep the balance between efficiency and effects，which is to strive for maximum audit efficiency in the time of maintaining the auditing effects．Consequently，the auditors put audit strength focused on all important projects，to give up some procedures that the auditors think unnecessary．The auditors also are willing to bear certain risks taken based on reviewing the part of all operations．Although sampling theory has studied the deep，in specific application to the audit，the auditors did not quite grasp the sample can be taken by the representative of the overall，subjective conclusions can be drawn between objective fact and the deviation from the always exist．④Time pressureUnder more competition in audit service market，the CPAs are facing the pressure from different sources，such as competition，the firms’ internal management，the clients，and the third—party(e．g．SFC)，and the pressure is increased by therequest of reducing time to finish the auditing．Time pressure is as an environmental factor influencing on the audit performance，which importance are increasing，and are paid attention to．Due to customers’ own demand，they require firms finish the audit work within the period provided，time pressure are transacted to the CPAs，and the audit risk are increased accordingly．The strategy reducing audit risk of CPAs⑴Regulate the functions of law enforcement and government supervision departmentsIn reasonable regulation and control of“two hands”of both the market and the government，many economic activities of accounting entity operate progressively with market--oriented；many non-standard economic activities are reduced；the disclosure of accounting information are becoming increasingly standardized；CPAs will not be difficult to make decisions by dilemma faced；audit risk will be reduced naturally．When CPAs find in practice that policy is inconsistencies of the legislation，administrative law enforcement and regulation are weak，accounting activities of the entity are non—standard，CPAs should communicate with the relevant functional departments timely，to enhance the normative and operational of policy-making．Such CPA reduces the audit risks，and increases the efficiency of the audit．．⑵Accounting firms should be improved①Accounting firm to establish a sound internal operational mechanism，an d improve the quality of theinternal control system，and to establish the risk of liability systemFrom the perspective of risk control，the firm should establish and improve the internal total qualitymanagement systems，in particular ensure to perfect the implementation process．The establishment and improvement of audit quality control system are the powerful measures to reduce the fraud and control audit risk．Quality control is an important component of internal control of the system in the firms，and locates in the core position of the system．Strict assessment methods for audit quality，and reducing or eliminate staff errors，timely detecting and resulting problems arising in the course of auditing，are to ensure audit quality and reduce audit risk．Everything must be checked，operated，responded and accessed by some people；a problem can be reflected in a timely manner，and can clearly define the responsibilities．Accounting firm should also establish mechanisms to transfer risk to circumvent their own risk in process of auditing．②Establishing and use the mechanisms of professional guidanceThe firm should establish the mechanisms of professional guidance to ensure CPAs in the situation beyond own knowledge to acquire advisory services timely and appropriate operational guidance．For example，the accounting firm will be able toemploy legal，economic，technical expels；the auditors make judgments and decisions for the authority backed by professionals，so that it can enhance the findings of the audit risk respectability．⑶To improve the overall quality of CPAsIt should be noted that accounting firms have to do a good job within the work of two aspects：one is in the recruitment of professionals，the strict quality，and not employ the candidates without the conditions．On the other hand，attention should be paid to the existing CPAs’ continually follow—up education．For extremely complex elements in the Chinese economy，the new requirements and the new policy are emerging．Object and content of the audit are constantly changing，so there should be a system that each of CPAs has the opportunity to learn new knowledge and continuously improve their operational capacity．At the same time，we must also strengthen the rigid constraints of professional ethics．Institute of Certified Public Accountants must strengthen the supervision of the accounting firms and CPAs，to ensure the healthy development of the industry．⑷CPAs perfect themselves①Strictly abide by professional ethics and industry standardsSO far．China has formulated and promulgated a 48 independent auditing standards and related professional norms，has established basically a system of professional norms for CPAs．CPAs practice only in strict accordance with professional standards and the audit procedures necessary，they are possible to form the correct audit findings Therefore，it is particularly important to control risk，to maintain good work ethics，to strictly comply with the requirements of professional standards for the implementation of audit operations and issuing the audit report．②Focus on the important auditing activity of the quality controlBefore the audit CPAs in the audit is necessary to correctly handle the relationship between audit risks and the importance concept，the collection of evidence，use the model of audit risk to analyze factors，and accurate estimate effectively audit risk，the risk of material misstatement．Considering the principle of cost an d profit，CPAs may determine audit methodology within the cost of evidence collection，to prepare the implementation plan．In phase of control，the main things is to review the plan in line with the clients’ requests，including the contents of the audit，scope，completion time and the division of labor，and according to the actual situation to the revised scheme to enhance the timeliness of audit work and effects．CPAs should check the adequacy of audit methodology，the correct of audit basis，the adequacy of audit evidence，audit determination is appropriate or is not appropriate，the integrity and the logic of data．At the same time，prepare high-quality audit work papers，the auditors must exchange views with audited units about audit reports，and listen to the views of the clients and the parties．Such audit risk of CPAs will be reduced naturally in accounting firms．③T0 maintain the sensitivity of the audit environmentIt is the important matter that CPAs should comprehend the customers and all aspects about audit project to find audit risk and to avoid lega1．Before auditing，auditors should be aware of the following environmental matters and maintain the sensitivity：The region’s financial and economic situation and development trend of change，the impact of existing policies，laws and regulations on the operation and management of customers and the extent，client’s legal representative and its major internal changes in management personnel and external flows，the improvement situation of internal control system of client，accounting systems，The auditing standards and their application situation，the knowledge and the development trend of related technology．④Audit responsibilities must be clearIn the audit process，on specific project tasks，it is necessary to refine the division of labor，and the responsibility of the audit team members put in place．At the same time，the project manager has to do well the work of supervision and inspection in the entire audit process，and gives recognition to the excellent project team，and holds the team fault liability for the audit risk in violation of the provisions an d slack work．ConclusionIn China，auditing is high-risk profession．The main bearer of the risk is CPA，and the goal every accounting firm need to pursuit is to reduce the audit risk of CPA．Only reduce the audit risk of CPA，the development of accounting firm can be achieved continuously．目录1.有关会计师事务所审计风险和防范的探讨1.1审计风险研究的目标和意义 (1)1.2会计师事务所存在的问题 (1)1.3审计风险增加的原因 (3)1.4注册会计师降低审计风险的策略 (5)1.5结论 (7)1.有关会计师事务所审计风险和防范的探讨1.1审计风险研究的目标和意义审计风险不仅影响注册会计师的切身利益，而且跟经营风险是成正比的。