Auditing

All You Need to Know About Anti-money Laundering Auditing

While running a business, all the operations are performed together in a streamlined format, which helps achieve the organizational goals. But if one is able to pay proper attention to every business aspect, the business will do obviously do good. Also, lately, there has been a boom in the different markets and seeing this, many businesses are taking advantage of this. Business owners are coming forward and setting their business all around the world. Among many countries, people prefer to have a business in UAE because of the reasons like availability of free zones, easy availability of resources, suitable business environment, great exposure, easy access to markets, and healthy competition.

All these factors help in doing a healthy business which increases the profits of the business. With the increasing level of business, businesses face many challenges and threats. Among plenty of threats, money laundering and financial fraud activities are faced by businesses. So here, the businesses rely on the auditors to take care of their accounts. Seeing this high financial stress in the market, the government has launched an AML program i.e., anti-money laundering program. An AML program will help in detecting, responding, and eliminating money laundering activities and finance fraudulent risks. To stay AML compliant, it is important for the business to do:

  • Effective reporting – The business should make sure that they should have an effective reporting system that will easily help in detecting any kind of fraudulent activities.
  • Aware of the high-risk customers – It is important for the business to evaluate their business profile and should apply measures like enhanced due diligence, customer due diligence.
  • A compliance officer – It is important for the business to hire an individual who is capable enough to make sure that every activity in the organization is done as per compliance with the rules and regulations. Also, every employee in the organization should be provided training to be responsible and report in any case of suspicion.

Although the main responsibility on identifying fraudulent activities comes on the shoulder of the auditor. Keeping in mind all the rules and regulations of the business, the auditor should comply with the standards and should immediately report.

Following are some of the obligations of the auditor which should be followed by every auditor of the company irrespective of the size, nature, industry, etc.

  • Record of transactional activity – It is very important for the auditor to record each and every transactional activity so that the transactions can be cross verified in case of any suspicion.
  • Present risk – The auditor should know about the present risk the company can possess related to money laundering. He/she should keep a close eye on every financial activity undergoing. It is important for the auditor to look that the company does not possess any financial risk.
  • Gather the policy documents – It is important for the auditor to gather, record and update all the policy documents, which will mitigate all the financial risks of the business in the near future. The required documents and processes will give transparency to the financial status.
  • Deal with suspicious activity – It is important for the auditor to never ignore even any little suspicious activity. The issue should be highlighted and should be dealt with.
  • Make compliance arrangements – It is important for the auditor to establish an independent adult function to have access to all the internal policies, procedures with AML compliance.
  • Train employees – Also, the auditor should provide training to the employees, especially to the finance department, so that extra care can be given on the money laundering activities. This will help in easily recognizing all the fraudulent activities.

So above are some of the obligations of the auditor. Make sure to take every step-in compliance with the Anti-money laundering program. It is important for the auditor to always stay attentive and should take immediate action in case they suspect anything.

Some Risk Arises Due to the Factors like:

  • Valuation of assets and liabilities
  • Company’s capital structure
  • Pay-out of dividends
  • Merger or acquisition
  • Uncollected debt
  • And much more

The risk is involved too when the payment is received from the clients, which can lead to a crime. So, the auditor should always keep their eye on customer risk, geographical risk, channel risk, product, and services risk etc. Check whether the client is in a high-risk country or not. If yes, pay attention to every little detail.

So, it is very clear that financial fraud can be committed in many ways. So, the auditor needs to stay attentive and should never ignore even a single detail in case of any doubt. So, keeping all these things in mind, it is important for a business to hire and avail the services of a well-known auditing or financial firm for accounting, book-keeping, and auditing services. Before choosing, it is important for the business to know that the auditor must be aware of the Anti-money laundering program so that all the financial activities can be performed keeping in mind the compliance standards. Also, the auditor should be aware of all the rules and regulations so that there are no chances of any errors.

The auditor should use multiple techniques to avoid money laundering. So, the businesses should contact the top AML consultants in Dubai to combat the risk of money laundering. The top AML consultants are efficient enough to examine and analyse all the records of the business, which ensures that all compliance rules are being compiled as per the standards.

For best auditing and accounting services in Dubai, you can contact ‘AKM accounting’ as the company provides professional accounting services like accounting, book-keeping, VAT consultancy, and audit & assurance. It is the first choice in Dubai for every small and large business because it has a professional team to manage your accounts, charges an affordable fee, has excellent customer service, and provides free consultation, which help in taking the hiring decision.

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