Case 3.1 A Day in the Life of Brent Dorsey
1. What alternatives are available to Brent in regards to the audit of payables? What are the pros and cons of each alternative? * Skip audit steps
Pro: Skipping audit steps will allow Brent to complete the work in less time, allowing him to come in under budget
Con: Skipping audit steps can lead to inaccurate audit decisions. Misstatements could go unnoticed leading to an inaccurate audit opinion. This alternative also raises a serious ethical issue with serious consequences for the auditors. * Eating time
Pro: “Eating time” will mean a lot of extra “off-line” work for Brent, but he will come in under budget and he may be as a true asset to the company.
Con: “Eating time”
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Eating time can lead to inaccurate budgeting for future audits. As managers prepare the budget for an audit, often use prior years’ audits as a guide. They see that the job was completed in a shorter time in previous years and prepare their budget accordingly. Accountants on future audits will have to complete audit segments in less time than is realistic, and this can become a cycle, with each year’s budget becoming tighter and less realistic. This can cause stress and problems for future accountants. In the end, eating time is dishonest in that it is an action intended to deceive the users of the time budget report. Skipping audit steps can have very serious consequences. By not completing the audit steps, material misstatements may slip past the auditors. The auditors may then issue an inappropriate audit opinion, which can be very costly. Skipping audit steps is the best evidence for the lawyers.
3. In your opinion, which of Brent’s alternative courses of action would provide the best outcome and why? What should Brent do? How would you handle the ethical issues involved in this situation? Brent should talk to John first, and tell him about the situation. There may be some things John could do to relieve the budget pressure. If John is unable to give advice, Brent can talking to the manager above John. Brent should do his best to get the work
In your opinion, which of Mike's alternative courses of action would provide the best outcome and why?
In your opinion, which of Brent’s alternative courses of action would provide the best outcome and why? What should Brent do? How would you handle the ethical issues involved in this situation?
2. In recommending this action, what would be your immediate objectives? What would be your longer range objectives?
3. Substantive tests procedures: The audit team should perform substantive tests on Smackey’s accounting transactions and
Budget controls are very time consuming, it is a process that requires a lot of time to understand and adopt into ASDA’s business plan. The time these employees invest into the budgeting process hinders them from carrying out their other assigned roles and responsibilities.
1. If I were Skip Grenoble, which alternative would you advise Ms. Shannon to implement? What criteria would you use to arrive at your decision?
3) Do you agree with what was done in the case regarding the problem? Why or why not?
Elder, A. A., Beasley, M., & Elder, R. J. (2014). Auditing and assurance services (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Brent has gained various talents while on his journey, and can use these talents to have a positive influence on anyone he meets.
Examine the various remedies possible in this case. In light of the strength of the various parties’ positions in the case, what remedy would you advocate, and why?
Place yourself in Hamilton Wong’s position. Would you report all of your time worked on the Wille & Lomax audit? Why or why not? Do you believe that Lauren Hutchinson behaved unethically by underreporting the time she worked on that engagement? Defend your answer.
3. What are the primary objectives an audit team hopes to accomplish by preparing a proper set of audit workpapers?
Budgets serve five main purposes; planning, facilitating communication and coordination, allocating resources, controlling profits and operations and evaluating performance and providing incentives. The budgeting process requires both technical and interpersonal leadership skills to achieve each of these purposes effectively. The director’s memo demonstrates several short comings in the budgeting process. The director instituted the “responsibility accounting system” as a means of evaluating performance. However, the DPW director has not consulted Sam in the budget process. Sam understands that his total expenditures are impacted by relatively unpredictable events that contribute to an uncontrollable element of his cost. The
Based on the development of the event, the possible scenarios are 1) The dispute is taken to the JV Committee and Ellen is expelled from the group, taking the blame of being the ineffective leader; 2) recruiting new consultants for the project who have the required qualification and skills to do the job; 3) Jack is replaced by other consultant from JVI with relative more experience in project management. 4) Ellen and Jack communicate the problem and find a way to compromise.
b) What is your evaluation of the position taken by Mr. Sullivan in his conference with the principal? In what way would you have acted differently if you had been the principal, during the conference with Mr. Sullivan?