Audit case
You are the engagement partner in a firm of chartered accountant and are reviewing the audit fire of a client ABC ltd. the audit manager has recommended that the audit option is qualified because he is in dispute with the directors of ABC ltd. The audit manager wishes the directors to create a large doubtful debts provision against a major debtor that is over six months old. The directors do not witch to alarm the public about the current liquidity problems of their major costumer because they are sure that as soon as their costumer has completed the development on their latest product, which is due to finish very soon, the costumer will settle their debt. The audit manager says that the client has contacted another for a
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The auditor must remain independent, in mind and in appearance, at all times. They should also discuss this with the audit committee.
b) Examine how an audit committee could help to resolve this situation
One of the functions of an audit committee is to monitor the periodic reviews of the accounting and financial reporting processes and systems of internal control that are conducted by the company 's independent auditors, financial and senior management and internal auditing department. So in this case, the AC could review the company 's internal control processes regarding following up on long outstanding debtors and adherence to the credit terms granted to customers. If 6 months is way overdue, and the internal auditors haven 't picked this up, then there is a failure of the internal audit function, as well as a failure of the accountant in following its own accounting policies. The AC has to take a stand and either support the external auditors or give its reasons why it doesn 't.
c) What are the professional rules regarding the provision of multiple services and how these rules may be applied in this case?
Firms have traditionally provided to their assurance clients a range of non-assurance services that are consistent with their skills and expertise. Assurance clients value the benefits that derive from having these firms, which have a good understanding of the business, bring their knowledge and skill to bear in other areas.
With different industry definitions and viewpoints, fraud can be a tough issue for audit committee members to grasp for oversight purposes. The legal obligations of audit committee members have intensified because their standard duty of care and loyalty to the entity has increased in light of management fraud activities.
Auditor Independence contains 9 parts which stablish standards for external auditor independence, so it will have limit conflicts of interest, also contains that an approval requirements for new auditor, audit partner rotation, and auditor reporting requirements. Also restrict auditing organization from providing non audit services for the same clients they audit.
2 Managing fraud risk: The audit committee perspective Fraud in a fi nancial statement audit
John Ross, who had been a manager with a large CPA firm, was quickly hired to replace Wagner. Although the change in Datasave 's chief financial officer caused some disruption, the audit was completed on a timely basis. As the last step in the audit process, you have prepared the representation letter for signing. You wanted the letter to be signed by William Cox, the president; Robert Star, the controller; and Wagner, who occasionally came to the company 's offices to resolve matters regarding his past compensation. The signatures of Cox and Star were obtained, and you approached Wagner for his signature. In response to your request, Wagner replied, “I no longer am employed with this crazy company. Why should I take any responsibility for the financial statements?” Despite your attempts to persuade him, Wagner refused to sign the letter. Wagner also refused to discuss the reasons for his resignation, other than to say the reasons were personal. When you discussed the problem of Wagner 's refusal to sign with Cox, he indicated that there was no problem because Ross would sign the letter. You see this as a possible solution, but you are aware that Ross knows very little about the financial statements for the year under audit. Also, you are still somewhat concerned about the reasons for Wagner 's resignation.Required: a. Describe fully the alternatives that are available to you in this situation.Making
The factor that plays the greatest role in determining auditor independence is independence in mind. Auditors may or may not appear to be independent, but if the auditor is truly independent in mind, then the auditor can remain objective and unbiased. The profession should consider tightening the Code of Professional Conduct to address the issue of an audit team member knowing a close friend that holds any position at the audit client. If this scenario arises, the firm can still audit the client, but the audit member with the close relationship won’t be able to be on the audit team.
Auditing often emphasize the independence of auditors, However, it is not easy to balance the profitability and independence. KPMG has served as Well’s auditor for more than 87 years, the employment and employment relationship bring a little challenges to meet the independence requirements.
Merry-Go-Round (MGR) is a clothing retailer that was founded in 1968. The company’s locations were in malls that targeted the youth and teen market. In the late 1980s, the company was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the top 25 companies. By the early 1990s, sales fell due to stiff competition from other retailers. Facing bankruptcy, the company hired turnaround specialists from Ernst and Young (E&Y) to help overcome the financial crisis. However, the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and due to that a group of 9,000 creditors filed a lawsuit against E&Y saying they were the main reason for MGR’s decline.
Harold is an exceptional OA and a great team leader. His quiet and calming nature is an asset to our team. He is personable and we are all very comfortable going to him for any reason and to many of us he is our ‘go to guy’. Harold’s excellent problem solving skills are truly put to the test with our team. Moreover, he goes above and beyond to lend a helping hand to his peers, management, and clients. He coaches with positive intent, ensuring that we know that the feedback is sincere; he truly wants us to be better. Harold is a positive contributor in the development, education and morale of our team.
According to ICAEW, auditor independence mainly refers to the independence of the external auditor from parties that have an interest in the financial statements of the business being audited. It requires having both integrity and an objective manner to the auditing process. In order for the concept to be deemed effective the auditor needs to carry out their work freely. One of the main purposes of auditing is to increase credibility of the entity’s’ financial statements, as they have expressed their own professional opinion on the truth and fair view in accordance with the proper accounting standards used. This is only possible if the audit is made with reasonable assurance that it has come from an independent source and has not been influenced by other parties, such as managers, directors or by conflict of interest.
An auditor knew that the purpose of her audit was to render reasonable assurance on financial statements that were to be used for the application for a loan; the auditor did not know the identity of the bank that would eventually give the loan. Under the foreseeable third party approach the auditor is generally liable to the bank which subsequently grants the loan for:
hi~ 1985 Enron had assets along the three major stages of the supply chain of nat
The lack of independence for external auditors will lead to the neglect of auditing risks (William R.K., 2003), which are the main reasons for the failure of certified accountants and professional accounting organizations. The consequence of the external auditors deprived of independence would be very serious. And there are many cases, which aroused by the failure of external auditors and most are related to the lack of independence. One famous example is the bankruptcy of Enron and the role played by its external auditor, Arthur Andersen (Todd, S., 2003). Arthur Andersen was once one of the biggest accounting companies in the world, and was canceled for the involvement in the Enron bankruptcy scandal.
Internal auditors cannot effectively provide an analysis on the company’s internal dealings as they are part of the company. External auditors, however, can observe these processes from the outside and then determine where the funds of the company and whether the dealings adhere to the regulations. Using external auditors in a company prevents conflict of interest from happening. Conflict of interest is a situation where an individual or organization has multiple interests and of those multiple interests, one could possible corrupt the motivation for an act on the other when the auditor has any kind of beneficial interest in their client’s performance. In other circumstances, there is also the threat of familiarity where auditors become
Assurance services improving information 's for informed decision making. It provided by certified public accountants (CPAs) or another external auditor.
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational archive administration company. It delivers and offers a scope of shading and highly contrasting printers, multifunction frameworks, scanners, advanced generation printing presses, and related counseling administrations and supplies.