This article examines the possibility of using the methodology for assessing distortions in accounting (financial) statements for express diagnostics of the risks of the presence of facts of falsification of statements at the stage of familiarization of the audit company with the specifics of the potential client’s activities. For this purpose, an assessment of distortions and calculation of the error in the financial statements for 2023 of the largest companies in the agro-industrial complex of the Rostov region were carried out. The purpose of the article is to adapt existing statistical methods for calculating the integral indicator of accounting manipulation for the purpose of rapid diagnosis of the risks of falsification of accounting (financial) statements of a company at the stage of preparing an audit.
