Something Went Sour at Parmalat

In my opinion CBN failed to perform sufficient audit procedures in connection with the issuance of these audit reports in violation of PCAOB rules and auditing standards, and failed to appropriately supervise the work of audit assistants. They failure to ensure that sufficient audit procedures were performed on the audits resulted from a poor system of quality control, including inappropriate reliance on inexperienced audit assistants, excessive partner workload and deficient audit documentation practices.

For instance, the funds owed the company by the Rigas family went undisclosed in the statements, because the management at Adelphia deemed such disclosure as being “unnecessary” (Barlaup, Hanne, & Stuart, 2009). Given that Adelphia was a publicly traded company, the purposeful non-disclosure caused potential investors to rely on financial records that were grossly misleading. The inevitable result was the investors continued to inject money into a company that had all the appearances of profitability and sustained growth, but that was, in reality, rapidly becoming insolvent. Moreover, lending institutions also relied on the “independently-audited” financial statements, and they were more than eager to loan the company money, given Adelphia’s presumed state of financial “profitability.”

b. Yes, the auditor should have discovered this defalcation. The defalcation would most likely have been uncovered by performing a simple analytical test of multiplying the asset amount (certificate of deposit) by the applicable interest rate and comparing it with interest income.

It is not possible for the auditor to be 100% certain that he/she has obtained all evidence regarding all significant related party transactions, especially if management is trying to conceal something. However, the

Hi Bill, I'm on a call with Bank of America merchant services and they have you listed as their point of contact. I am inquiring as to why we have not received any new activity in the all activity summary report since 9/7/2016. They mentioned that they try to charge us their monthly fee and were unable to collect. Therefore, they put our account on hold. Could you please verify the account # ending on

It is possible for an auditor to come to an improper conclusion because documents, like invoices, could be easily falsified if management originally handles them or if the auditor receives them from management, like in the case of ZZZZ Best and Minkow. The auditor must always confirm payments directly with the third party.

stood accused of in a series of scandals that nally came to a head in the largest bankruptcy

The auditing firm has been in engagement with the company throughout the period when the fraud was being committed. One of the common and clear indicators of possible fraud was the company’s cash flow statement. The company experienced positive growth in its profits from the year 1996 through to the year 1998. However, a close analysis of the cash flow statement shows that the company had experienced negative figures of cash flow from both operating and investing activities and positive cash flow from financing activities which would not sufficiently offset the negative cash flows from operating and investing. It is therefore evident

b. The bogus debit memos for accounts payable. – The most reliable form of evidence that the auditors could have obtained in this situation would be confirmations. The auditors should have sent confirmations to vendors, suppliers, and creditors confirming the amount that Crazy Eddie owed them. The amounts reportedly owed could then be matched with the amounts recorded in the company’s accounting records. Auditors should question any discrepancies.

Parmalat is a multinational Italian dairy food corporation that today represents one of the biggest fraud scandals that has marked history in Europe. What happened and why weren’t the scandalous activities detected beforehand? Parmalat’s investigation was triggered when it “defaulted on a $187 million bond payment in mid-November 2002.” This led to further revelation of the nonexistence of $4 billion worth of claimed bank deposits held by a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands in a Bank of America account. The company was basically falsifying accounts in order to increase assets and hide losses. The increase in assets would influence the public to believe that they were in a good position which in turn allowed

Based on the case given, the bank controllers were only instructed to monitor the net trading positions, but not the Dalta One traders’ gross exposure. The bank controllers did not inform their supervisors when they had noticed that Kerviel’s transactions were irregularities which involved an abnormally high amounts in his transactions as that was not the specifically part of their job. Thus, Kerviel able to use his knowledge of the company control procedures to hide his fake trades with his false documents and emails.

Analytical procedures can often point to areas that are out of sync with the prior results of the firm. Auditors should look closely at changes in the gross profit ratio and unusual changes in revenues or expenses. Once unusual results have been identified, auditors must search for reasonable explanations. If the explanations provided seem implausible then the auditor must expand the scope of testing and obtain additional corroborating evidence.

Indeed, this account would not appear on the control reports of traders but on the financial statement of the bank.

Parmalat is an Italian based company, founded in 1961 by Calisto Tanzi. Their business model covered the new UHT (ultra-high temperature) production method of milk and dairy products. UHT milk was an upcoming technology from the Swedish firm Tetra Pak, making Parmalat an international player (Buchanan & Yang, 2005). Foreign acquisitions in the field of dairy products made Parmalat a multinational general food company (Ferrarini & Giudici, 2005). In the late 1980’s, Parmalat was Italy’s eighth largest food company and listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in Milan. During the nineties, the Parmalat Group followed a strategy to expand its reach through diverging into new markets like football and the tourism. Family started playing a more important role as Tanzi was placing relatives in important positions and boards of the holding. The Parma football club was acquired and Tanzi’s son Stefano became the club’s president while his daughter, Stefania, became the CEO of the tourism firm, Parmatour (Buchanan & Yang, 2005). By the end of 2002, the group was a world leader in the markets of milk, diary products and beverages and incorporated several well-known brands as Archway, Frica, Grisbi, Mother’s, Pomi and Welsh Farms. Parmalat's figures covered a consolidated turnover reached €7.6 billion in 2002, 36.000 employees and 146

As a new auditor for the CPA firm of Croix, Marais, and Kale, you have been assigned to review the internal controls over mail cash receipts of Manhattan Company. Your review reviews the following: checks are promptly endorsed “For Deposits Only”, but no list of the checks is prepared by the person opening the mail. The mail is opened either by the cashier or by the employee who maintains the accounts receivable records. Mail receipts are deposited in the bank weekly by the cashier.