The Content and Terms of an Audit Services Agreement: Theoretical and Practical Criteria

The research goal of this article is to consider the form of an audit services agreement and to identify all the essential terms of this agreement. Through an analysis of legislation, doctrine and judicial practice, the following points were substantiated: 1) When entering civil law agreements, including an audit services agreement, the most optimal form is electronic. This provision is confirmed, inter alia, by the Recommendations on the conclusion of agreements in electronic form (approved by The Association of Russian Banks on December 19, 2012) 2) The audit services agreement should contain such conditions as the subject matter of the agreement, the terms for the provision of services, the price of the agreement, parties of the agreement and their rights and liabilities and responsibilities of the parties for violation of the obligation to provide audit services. As a result of the study, the author found that the following relations are the subject matter of an audit services agreement: the implementation of an independent audit and the subsequent expression of the auditor (audit organization) opinion on the issue of reliability (transparency) and the compliance of existing accounting with financial legislation; the provision of other audit-related services that are directly listed in Clause 2 of Article 6 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Audit Activities". The author substantiates the conclusion that the standard on the terms of an audit services agreement provided for in the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Audit Activities" should have a priority over the general rules of Chapter 37 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Tajikistan.