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(download pdf) Auditing and Assurance Services An Asia Edition 1st Edition Rittenberg Solutions Manual full chapter
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Solutions for Chapter 7
Forensic Auditing
Review Questions:
7-1. Defalcation: a type of fraud in which an employee takes assets from an organization for
personal gain.
Asset Misappropriation: involve the theft or misuse of an organization’s assets.
The auditor’s responsibility for detecting a fraud does not differ by the type of fraud that
is perpetrated. However, the auditor is not responsible for detecting immaterial frauds.
7-2. Three ways that financial reporting fraud can take place are
7-3. The reporter’s statement makes sense. Defalcations, or simply taking organization’s
assets, are much easier to do in small businesses that don’t have sophisticated systems of
internal control. Financial reporting fraud is more likely to occur in large organizations
because management often has access to vast amounts of the company’s stock. As the
stock price goes up, management’s worth also increases. However, the reporter may have
the mistaken sense that financial fraud only occurs rarely in smaller businesses. That is not
the case. Many smaller businesses are also motivated to misstate their financial statements
in order to (a) prop up the value of the company for potential sale, (b) obtain continuing
financing from a bank or other financial institution, or (c) to present a picture of a company
that is healthy when it may be susceptible to not remaining a going concern. Finally,
smaller businesses may conduct a fraud of a different sort, i.e. misstating earnings by
understating revenue or masking owner distributions as expenses. This is often done to
minimize taxes.
It would also be a mistake to think that defalcations do not happen in larger companies.
Whenever controls are weak, there is an opportunity for a defalcation. When the
opportunity is coupled with motivation and a belief that the fraud could be covered up,
some of those opportunities will result in defalcation frauds.
7-4. Financial reporting fraud has become more prevalent as the financial markets have
expanded as there is greater access to capital. It has also become more popular as firms
have moved to reward management with stock and stock options. Thus, much of
management wealth is tied up in the company’s stock price. The pressure to report positive
items has built along with the pressure to maintain growth in stock price.
Privately owned businesses have motivation for committing financial statement fraud as
well. Although many stockholders aren’t looking at the financial statements, investors,
creditors, and other interested third-parties do rely on the statements. Financial fraud
might be utilized by smaller, private companies to cover up declining results with the
hope that the company will straighten out the problems in the near future. In the
meantime, the fraud allows the company to continue to borrow money, seek credit from
vendors, and carry on business as normal.
7-5. Equity funding would sell an insurance policy coupled with a mutual fund investment.
As the mutual fund grew, it would pay for the insurance policy. Unfortunately, 2/3 of the
policies did not even exist. It was aided by:
A detailed review of well developed computer reports would have been very helpful in
detecting the fraud. For example, a report that would compare the growth in policies with
cash flows would be quite useful, as well as report that compared the growth rate of
Equity Funding with other companies. Finally, the movement of billings means that a
number of the customers would be past due. A simple report of past due accounts would
have been useful. Generalized audit software would have been very helpful at Equity
Funding.
7-6. The auditor has a responsibility to detect material fraud, which is an amount of fraud
(or misstatement of financial statements because of fraud) that would affect the decision-
making of investors. When fraud risk factors exist, audit procedures should be adjusted to
provide reasonable assurance that material fraud will be detected. Materiality for fraud is
partially based on the nature of the act because of what the fraud reflects on the integrity of
management, as well as the likelihood that fraud could continue in the organization. A
misstatement due to fraud could become material to user at a lower dollar amount, for
example, if the fraud involved members of top management.
7-8. All major journal entries should be reviewed, because it would be an easy way to
commit a “quick” fraud. Journal entries should be reviewed because most journal entries,
other than closing entries, ought to be unusual. Most accounting, including accounting for
estimates is highly computerized. Journal entries should flow from the computerized
processes.
7-10. Planning and executing an audit plan that considers fraud is required on all current
audits. Thirty years ago, fraud was uncovered occasionally, but it was done so in
connection with normal audit procedures that looked for material misstatements. The public
expects auditors to detect fraud that might be material to them, or more importantly,
reflects on the stewardship of management. Auditing standards have changed from a
‘defensive mentality’ regarding the responsibility to detect fraud to a proactive approach
whereby the auditor has to identify the possibility that fraud will take place. The auditor
has to respond to the analysis of the likelihood of fraud with audit steps and personnel that
would likely detect the fraud.
7-11. Yes, the auditor does presume that there is fraud in certain accounts. Revenue, for
example, would be assumed to have fraud. Audit procedures will be more involved in these
high-risk accounts. Auditors need to perform more analytical procedures on revenue
accounts to determine whether patterns emerge that have some probability of being
fraudulent. The auditor is then required to think about how a fraud might occur and expand
audit procedures to test for the potential existence of a fraud.
7-12. The steps are:
1. Understand the nature of the fraud, the motivations to commit fraud, and the
manner in which fraud may be perpetrated.
2. Develop and implement an approach based on “professional skepticism.”
3. Brainstorm and share knowledge with other audit team members.
4. Obtain information useful in identifying and assessing fraud risk.
5. Identify the specific fraud risks, including potential magnitude, and areas likely to
be affected by a fraud.
6. Evaluate the quality of the company’s controls and potential effectiveness in
mitigating the risk of fraud.
7. Respond, i.e. adjust audit procedures to assure that the audit adequately addresses
the risk of fraud and provides evidence specifically related to the possibility of
fraud.
8. Evaluate findings. If evidence signals that a fraud might exist, determine whether
or not forensic or specialist auditors are needed to complete the investigation.
9. Communicate the possibility that fraud exists to management, or to the audit
committee, or the full board if the fraud is material and/or involves members of
management.
10. Document the audit approach starting with step 1 through the completion of all
the steps identified above.
All of the four factors are present in most fraud situations. The factors work together in
most fraud situations. An individual needs to have an opportunity to commit the fraud –
for example, there is a weakness in internal controls and management oversight. Second,
there must be an incentive, e.g. there is an economic problem. Third, the perpetrator must
have motivation to commit and rationalize their behavior, e.g. “I deserve this money”, or
“it is a short-term financial problem and I will pay it back”, or “they will never miss it”.
Finally, the individual needs to have the ego, or confidence, that they can pull it off
without being caught.
7-14. Five factors that would be strong indicators of opportunity to commit fraud include:
7-15. The ability to rationalize is important. Unless fraudsters are outright criminals, they will
often be able to come up with an excuse for their behavior. “Accounting rules don’t
specifically disallow it” or “the company owes me” are potential rationales. Other
rationalizations that seem common in frauds include:
7-16. Brainstorming involves the entire audit team considering factors that might affect
management or other employee’s motivation to misstate the financial statements or to
perpetrate a defalcation. Once motivations are understood, the audit team should identify
how a fraud might be perpetrated, for example, identifying where weaknesses in internal
control would allow a fraud to take place.
Brainstorming is an effective audit process in that it identifies areas of the audit that are
more prone to fraud than others. It fits the risk-based approach to auditing. By thinking of
how fraud could be carried out, auditors will conduct the audit with greater skepticism.
Further, it allows auditors to pinpoint their procedures towards areas where fraud is more
likely to occur.
7-17. To examine the “tone at the top,” the auditor needs to gather the following information:
Corporate governance: Is the board independent? Are they competent? How are they
compensated? Does the board have an active agenda? Does the audit committee have
sufficient oversight over the audit functions? Is the possibility of fraud considered at the
audit committee level and reported to the full board?
Audit Committee: Are they independent? Are they financially literate? How active are
they? Do they regularly meet with auditors? Do they consider fraud risk?
Corporate culture: How are employees rewarded? How is wrong-doing dealt with? How
does the organization reinforce ethical values?
Internal auditing: Does the organization have an effective IA department? How is the
scope of activity determined? How competent is the department?
Monitoring controls: Are they effective? Are they timely? Is there an indication that “out
of line” results are identified and followed up on in a timely manner?
Code of Ethics: Does the company have a Code of Ethics? How is the Code
communicated to employees? How does the company determine that organizational
members both understand, and live up to, the Code of Ethics?
Related party transactions: Is there a specific policy in place with regard to these
transactions? How are they justified and identified?
7-18. A fraud that has been detected and corrected must be communicated to management,
the board, and the audit committee. If the financial statements are not corrected, the auditor
should issue a qualified or adverse opinion on the financial statements. However, if the
fraud is corrected, the auditor needs to determine whether the fraud is properly described in
the financial statements. Finally, the existence of fraud indicates a weakness in internal
control. If it is material, the auditor may need to report on the material weaknesses in the
public report on internal control.
7-19. If there is a high risk for fraud, the auditor needs to consider the risk in developing an
audit plan. Some ways in which the audit could be adjusted are:
• consider assigning more experienced personnel or specialists to the engagement team
• pay close attention to accounting areas that are highly subjective or those that are
complex
• decrease the predictability of audit procedures.
7-20. Management may be involved in frauds, so talking with them first may lead the auditor
in the wrong direction. On the other hand, brainstorming provides the auditor an
opportunity to identify various factors that could explain ‘all’ of the observed trends or
ratios and eliminate potential ‘dead ends’. The auditor can be more efficient and more
effective. Auditor brainstorming followed by management inquiry will uncover the most
potential for fraud, as auditors will have a large list of potential fraud areas which will no
doubt be narrowed through management inquiry.
7-21. Five examples of extended audit procedures in the revenue account are:
• Examining all reciprocal transactions or similar transactions between two entities
• Making a detailed examination of journal entries, particularly the large ones and ones
near year-end
• Examining the financial viability of customers
• Examining details of major sales contracts
• Making oral inquiries directly with major customers or suppliers
7-22. Analytical procedures are an easy and quick way to identify high risk areas of the audit.
Trend and ratio analysis are examples of analytical procedures. Industry comparisons are
another example. The analysis can be used to point out patterns that may be unusual and
require greater examination. The auditor can think about how frauds could occur that might
fit the patterns and expand audit testing to look for the possibility of fraud.
7-23. A defalcation that the client is willing to correct and portray in the financial statements
should be reported to management and the audit committee. In addition, the nature of the
defalcation and the unusual nature of the loss should be clearly shown in the financial
statements if the amounts are material.
A financial fraud should not be lumped into “other expenses”. The accounts that are
affected by the fraud should be corrected. If the accounts are corrected, there is no need to
modify the auditor’s report. If the accounts are not corrected, in either case, the financial
statements are not fairly presented and the auditor needs to modify the auditor’s report to
note that the financial statements are not fairly presented and all the substantive reasons
why they are not fairly presented.
7-24. Most of the frauds were financial frauds. Overstating revenue is a very common way to
carry out a fraud. Lessons that can be learned include:
• The auditor cannot be pressured by the client’s desire to release annual earnings at an
early date.
• The auditor must dissect complex transactions to determine their economic substance.
• Auditors must use basic audit procedures that were omitted in the Andersen risk-
based audit approach.
• The auditor may need to go beyond standard confirmations to determine the existence
of assets that are dependent on actions of other parties.
• The auditor needs to be skeptical of management responses and gather more outside,
objective audit evidence.
7-25. This question asks for student’s opinions, thus there are no right or wrong answers. The
discussion should include some analysis on the working relationship with the client, the
existing reporting requirements (including those to management and the audit committee),
and actions under discussion at the SEC. One proposal is that the auditor should report a
fraud to the audit committee and request the audit committee to communicate the important
details to the public. If the audit committee does not report to the public, the auditor would
be required to do so. The discussion on reporting to regulatory agencies will allow the
students to examine the so-called “policeman” role that sometimes they are perceived to
perform.
7-27. The auditor needs to link specific internal control weaknesses to specific audit
procedures. The logic is based on the auditor developing an understanding of:
The auditor needs to consider the types of errors that could occur and not be detected by
the controls, how they would occur, and therefore needs to adjust the direct test of
account balances to determine if such errors occurred.
7-28. If there are fraud risk indicators, they will cause the auditor to:
1. Expand audit testing to more detailed sampling.
2. Review all major sales.
3. Place more emphasis on independent outside evidence.
4. Perform more procedures conducted as of year-end.
5. Potentially add more experienced personnel to the audit engagement.
7-29. Audit software can perform the following types of procedures as related to fraud
detection:
• Mechanical/mathematical accuracy
• Statistical selection
• Search for duplicates
• Analyze unusual patterns in the data
• Analysis of logical relationships
• Identify unusual sources of entries to an account
• Identify missing data
• Compare data with an outside database, for example, comparing all social security
numbers with a list of issued social security numbers would indicate situations where
fraud may be taking place.
7-30. In a fraudulent disbursement scheme, funds are disbursed to an entity that is controlled
by the perpetrator. The false company sends invoices to the company for payment. The
accounts payable clerk must have the ability to authorize the payment of the invoice. The
disbursement schemes are usually set up to keep the amount of payments below most radar
schemes. If there is not an independent or review of the transactions it becomes pretty easy
to perpetrate this kind of a fraud.
a.
c. There are two potential costs associated with the auditor demanding all the
documents be pulled on the same day. They are:
• it may be more costly for the client to divert personnel to gather the
information.
• the auditor may have to pull the documentation. Staff auditor rates are
significantly higher than clerical rates.
d. There are definitely situations in which the auditor should insist that the missing
documentation be presented during the day. For example, in a high risk audit
where the auditor is worried that the client may try to falsify documents, the
auditor will want to look at the data on the same day.
a. An auditor should also consider potential frauds that the public or client would
expect the auditor to catch, material or not. The planning for the audit must
concentrate on audit risk factors more than in the past to accomplish this goal.
The auditor should also consider the current economic situation of the client,
pressures to show better financial performance, and the client’s emphasis on
bolstering stock price or the balance sheet.
b. The auditor’s responsibility for detecting fraud does not change depending on the
type of fraud committed.
c. A financial reporting fraud is often more difficult to detect. One reason that it may
be more difficult to detect is that the guidelines for proper accounting practice are
often blurry, and leave room for interpretation. Furthermore, with defalcations,
there are assets that are unaccounted for and missing. With a financial reporting
fraud, the actual economic standing of the firm is the same; things are just
reported in a different way.
d.
Defalcation Financial Reporting
Fraud
Personnel most likely to Clerical personnel, Senior management
perpetrate the fraud. Inventory workers, CFO’s
Low-level managers,
Accountants in smaller
businesses.
Motivation Personal reasons, usually Increase reported earnings.
money related. Increase share price to
Feels he or she is being improve value of stock and
mistreated by the company. stock options.
Rationalization The company does not treat It is just pushing the rules, it
me right. is really not fraud.
It is temporary – I plan on Other people are doing it.
returning the money. If we did not do something
Other people are doing it. like this, we would fall
behind our competitors.
• key ratio and trend analysis, including comparison of sales growth with that of
competitors, the industry as a whole and previous company performance.
• comparative financial statements.
• analysis of changes in key customer mix.
• industry magazine analysis of trends in industry, and key products.
3. Send confirmations to
customers that are listed as
purchasing the large sales.
2. Channel Stuffing. 2. Override of policies 2. Review of contracts
Unusual amount of sales regarding standard sales made near end of quarter of
with side agreements contracts. year-end with unusual
allowing customers to either discounts, or unusual terms.
return goods, or to defer Sales often made at (selected through PPS
payment of the goods. discounts to standard prices. sampling).
Override of policies to
approve discounted prices. Confirmation of terms, not
just balances, with the
Lack of monitoring by customers.
senior management, or Review of returns for the
complicity by senior early part of the subsequent
management. year, noting any unusual
amounts of returns.
Fraud Key Controls That Would Audit Procedures Needed
Have to Fail
3. Revenue could be billed 3. Failure of controls that 3. Sales cut-off test.
before the goods are require a shipping Examine sales transactions
shipped. document before goods are made during the last 10
billed and revenue is days of the year and match
recognized. with shipping documents to
determine if revenue was
billed in the correct period.
4. Revenue is inflated 4. . Failure of controls that 4. Shipping cut-off test, as
because some goods are require a shipping described in #3 above.
‘double-billed.’ document before goods are
billed and revenue is Confirming accounts
recognized. receivable with customers.
a. Transactions may be conducted with the related parties and treated as if they
were normal transactions.
Transactions may contain special terms that are not disclosed and can be used
to inflate revenue and assets.
Related party transactions have been used in ‘round-tripping’ revenue
recognition where one item, such as a piece of land, has been sold to related
parties, then back to the entity, and then back to the related party.
c Transactions may contain special terms that are not disclosed and can be used
to inflate revenue and assets.
2. Industry dominance
a. The client may have an opportunity to generate ‘special deals’ with customers
that may be rescinded after the end of the year. It can do this because of the
power it commands in the industry.
c. Revenue may be recognized when a number of ‘side deals’ exist that allow the
customer to return the goods after the auditor leaves.
d. Sample all sales made during an unusually high quarter for sales. Examine a
random sample of transactions during the year.
Review all significant entries to the reserve accounts and examine the support
for the entries. Determine if the support for the entries shows a justified
change.
c. For example, a room that houses the petty cash could have cameras
videotaping activity. If nobody ever looks at the tapes, a perpetrator could
steal cash from the safe.
More likely, a divisional manager could override controls and book a large
number of year-end sales in order to meet the bonus requirements for the
position. No monitoring or review would mean that the control override would
not be detected.
c. The nature of potential fraud is varied. Some of the frauds that have been
hidden by undue complexity include:
d. The general answer is that the auditor must take the time to understand the
complex transactions, or bring in experts who understand the transactions. The
auditor should not be afraid of using old-fashioned T accounts to make sure he
or she understands the full entry.
The auditor should take time to make sure that he or she understands the
economics of the transaction. If the economics do not make sense, there is a
good chance that the transaction has been engineered to attain a financial
result, but no real operating result.
See the answers for part 5 above. The answers are essentially the same, it is a
matter of whether the transactions themselves are complex, or there is a
combination of transactions and structure that make the transactions complex.
7. Complex transactions
c. There are many possibilities, as simple as the theft of cash due to inadequate
physical controls. All of the responses should relate to the specific control
weakness that the student might identify.
d. The internal control assessment will determine the effectiveness of the internal
control system. In response to the weakness, the auditor should utilize the
following process:
• determine the type of error or irregularity that could occur because of the
weakness in the internal control.
• determine how the error or irregularity could occur, including how the
fraudulent transaction might be shown on the books, or covered up on the
books.
• develop specific audit procedures to look for the existence of the error or
irregularity. The audit procedures should be directed to the process by
which the fraud could take place.
a. The ten steps of the fraud detection process, and the key pieces of information that
should be gathered for each, are:
2. Develop and implement an audit approach An increased risk of fraud leads to greater
based on “professional skepticism.” testing in areas where opportunities exist to
conduct fraud. In some cases, forensic
accountants might be assigned to the
engagement.
3. Brainstorm and share knowledge with other There should be documentation of the
audit team members. opportunities, motivation, and rationale for
potential frauds. The auditor will look at
economic health, internal control analysis, and
other motivations that the auditor may be
aware of.
4. Obtain information useful in identifying and Inquiries of management, the audit committee,
assessing fraud risk. and internal auditors about fraud potential.
Compensation schemes.
5. Identify the specific fraud risks, including This is a synthesis of all the previous
potential magnitude, and areas likely to be information that had been gathered.
affected by a fraud.
6. Evaluate the quality of the company’s Auditor and client documentation and analysis
controls and potential effectiveness in of internal control, including significant
mitigating the risk of fraud. weaknesses in any one component of the
COSO framework, but with particular
emphasis on the control environment and
control activities.
7. Respond, i.e. adjust audit procedures to Revised audit program. No new information is
assure that the audit adequately addresses the gathered.
risk of fraud and provides evidence specifically
related to the possibility of fraud.
8. Evaluate findings. If evidence signals that a No new information except that generated by
fraud might exist, determine whether or not audit procedures.
forensic or specialist auditors are needed to
complete the investigation.
10. Document the audit approach starting with Audit documentation. No new information.
step 1 through the completion of all the steps
identified above.
b. Increased skepticism means more audit testing and less reliance and trust of
management inquiry. The auditor should not be satisfied with less-than-persuasive
evidence because of a belief that management is honest. Furthermore, the audit
will be conducted with fraud detection on the top of the minds of all of the
auditors, so anything suspicious is less likely to be overlooked. Inquiry of
management must be corroborated by factual information and additional analysis.
c. All major journal entries should be reviewed, because it would be an easy way to
commit a “quick” fraud. More importantly, in today’s computerized systems,
journal entries should be fairly rare. The auditor should be alert to journal entries
that occur in transactions where the entries should normally come from a special
journal. The auditor should also review journal entries for adequate support.
Journal entries should be rare. The auditor needs to understand the control system
over the recording of journal entries and must be prepared to examine all journal
entries.
This question is to help students draw real-life parallels to fraud cases and follow up with
what becomes of the companies and the perpetrators.
a. The comments can be explained by the positions of the speaker only partially. The
professor has no vested interest in protecting the public accounting firms while the
defense attorneys have a strong vested interest in protecting the firms. The auditor
quoted in comment 3 shows insight into the problems from the professional's
perspective.
The auditor’s commitment to protecting the public has been made very clear by the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act which makes the audit committee the primary client of the
auditor. Thus, the fine line should never be crossed – for either public or non-public
companies. However, for a non-public company, the auditor is often the ‘trusted
financial advisor’ and is looked upon by management for ideas to help the company
grow. The auditor has to recognize that he or she is first and foremost an auditor and
therefore, recognize that the line between auditor and management consultant must
always favor the auditor side.
Some ways that audit firms can address the fine line include:
b. This question is particularly addressed by the second comment that the "higher-ups"
within a public accounting firm usually seem to be willing to give management a
chance to get its house in order. An auditing firm that is readily giving management
business advice surely wants the client to succeed with that advice. This subtle effect
on the auditor may lead to a situation in which the auditor becomes less skeptical.
One way in which firms attempt to address this potential problem is to have
independent partner reviews by someone not associated with a client. (See Chapter 4
for a more detailed discussion.) However, the peer review often occurs after the
audit is completed, whereas the type of skepticism discussed here requires that the
possibility of misstatements be thoroughly addressed at the planning phase of the
audit.
The client is often applying pressure to get the audit done on a timely basis, to
address controversial accounting issues that the client believes are not prohibited by
IFRS, and to provide some breathing room so the client can work out potential
problems. The client might also be dropping subtle hints that it may change auditors
if the existing auditor cannot help it solve its problems.
c. The auditor needs to be guided by common sense. In addition, the auditor should be
alert to the red flags that have been discussed throughout the chapter as an indication
of instances in which further investigation is merited.
The press may have trouble distinguishing the two because they may automatically
blame the auditors for any business failure, therefore calling everything an “audit
failure.”
A fraud that resulted in a class action suit was Adelphia. A brief analysis would
cover:
Motivation: The Rigas family greed. They were successful but wanted to drain off
corporate assets for their personal use.
Internal Control Failures: The failures started with material deficiencies at the
control environment and ‘tone at the top’ level. Further, there was not a commitment
to financial reporting competencies. Further, there were no controls in place to
review most of the inter-company transfers.
a. There are many fraud risk factors that are indicated in the dialogue. Among the fraud
risk factors are the following:
• Meng 's statement to the stock analysts that SCS's earnings would increase
30% next year may be both an unduly aggressive and unrealistic forecast.
That forecast may tempt Meng to intentionally misstate certain ending
balances this year that would increase the profitability of the next year.
• SCS's audit committee may not be sufficiently objective because Green, the chair
of the audit committee, hired Meng, the new CEO, and they have been best
friends for years.
• There were frequent disputes between Brown, the prior CEO, who like Meng
apparently dominated management and the Board of Directors, and Jones, the
predecessor auditor. This fact may indicate that an environment exists in which
management will be reluctant to make any changes that Kent suggests.
• Information about anticipated future layoffs has spread among the employees.
This information may cause an increase in the risk of material misstatement
arising from the misappropriation of assets by dissatisfied employees.
b. Kent has many misconceptions regarding the consideration of fraud in the audit of
SCS's financial statements that are contained in the dialogue. Among Kent's
misconceptions are the following:
• Kent states that an auditor does not have specific duties regarding fraud. In fact,
an auditor has a responsibility to specifically assess the risk of material
misstatement due to fraud and to consider that assessment in designing the audit
procedures to be performed.
• Kent is not concerned about Meng 's employment contract. Kent should be
concerned about a CEO's contract that is based primarily on bonuses and stock
options because such an arrangement may indicate a motivation for management
to engage in fraudulent financial reporting.
• Kent does not think that Meng 's forecast for 2011 has an effect on the
financial statement audit for 2010. However, Kent should consider the
possibility that Meng may intentionally misstate the 2010 ending balances to
increase the reported profit in 2011.
• Kent believes that the audit programs are fine as is. Actually, Kent should
modify the audit programs because of the many risk factors that are present in
the SCS audit.
• Kent is not concerned that the internal audit department is ineffective and
understaffed. In fact, Kent should be concerned that SCS has permitted this
situation to continue because it represents a risk factor relating to misstatements
arising from fraudulent financial reporting and/or the misappropriation of assets.
• Kent states that an auditor provides no assurances about fraud because that's
management's job. In fact, an auditor has a responsibility to plan and perform an
audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are
free of material misstatement, whether caused by error or fraud.
• Kent is not concerned that the prior year's reportable condition has not been
corrected. However, Kent should be concerned that the lack of segregation of
duties in the cash disbursements department represents a risk factor relating to
misstatements arising from the misappropriation of assets.
• Kent does not believe that the rumors about big layoffs in the next month have
an effect on audit planning. In planning the audit, Kent should consider this risk
factor because it may cause an increase in the risk of material misstatement
arising from the misappropriation of assets by dissatisfied employees.
a. The responsibility for detecting fraud does not differ between public and non-
public companies..
c. Control deficiencies will make those areas of the audit very high risk. The auditor
will have to perform extensive audit procedures in those areas. The process will
include:
• determine the type of error or irregularity that could occur because of the
weakness in the internal control.
• determine how the error or irregularity could occur, including how the
fraudulent transaction might be shown on the books, or covered up on the
books.
• develop specific audit procedures to look for the existence of the error or
irregularity. The audit procedures should be directed to the process by
which the fraud could take place.
d. In smaller companies, third parties such as a bank may request an audit so they
can feel comfortable with their loans to the company. In addition, owners that are
not a part of everyday operations may request an audit to make sure their
investment is safe. Finally, these owners might want to get an audit for fraud
detection purposes.
b. Yes, the nature of the item should be discussed with legal counsel.
c. Yes, the nature of the transaction ought to be discussed with the audit committee
because it represents a significant transaction for the business. The accounting for the
transaction is controversial and there is a disagreement between the client and the
auditor.
It is important to get insight from the audit committee; however, the auditor cannot
rely on the audit committee in making the ultimate choices to whether the financial
statements would be fairly presented without such disclosure. The audit committee
provides an additional source of evidence that the auditor would consider in reaching
a conclusion.
d. Assuming the client admitted guilt and paid a smaller fine, it is unlikely this would
change the auditor’s assessment of the client’s integrity and the need for financial
statement disclosure. The only thing that changes is the amount of the damage, i.e.
the loss due to the fine. The auditor would continue to be skeptical of management’s
representations.
4. Small Tools 1. Maintenance people could walk away with the small tools. The
major procedure is to determine if there is an unusual increase in
the amount of tool expense.
2. Interview foremen and other people about employee
conscientiousness and protection of tools.
3. Suggest change in policy.
6. Expense 1. Since this is a sensitive area, request a listing of all CEO and
Reimbursements. CFO expense reimbursements for the year. Examine the
reimbursement requests to determine (a) if proper support exists,
and (b) that the reimbursement follows company policies.
b. The analysis of control deficiencies is a normal part of every financial statement audit of
public companies as part of the newly required internal control assessment.
Cases:
Note to instructors: This case was based on actual financial statements for a publicly traded
company. The author embedded a fraud in the data by adjusting the financial amounts to reflect
a fraud similar to that achieved at World Com, i.e., the inappropriate capitalization of Selling,
General and Administrative Expenses as Inventory. All other trends were already reflective of
the client’s actual financial status, which did not involve any fraudulent activity. The actual
company upon which this case is based received an unqualified audit opinion.
Part 2 and 3. The following patterns in the data seem problematic, and seem to indicate potential
errors:
• Gross margin is down although sales are stable. This might indicate that cost of goods
sold is overstated.
• Net income as a percentage of sales is up while gross margin is down. Therefore, there
might be a problem in an expense item below the gross margin line.
• Income before taxes as a percentage of sales is up but gross margin is down. Therefore,
there might be a problem in an expense item below the gross margin line.
• Inventory turnover is down. Cost of goods sold and inventory both have risen. The rise in
inventory is offsetting the increase in cost of goods sold. Therefore, there is likely an
error in inventory.
• Sales are stable but SG&A have declined. These accounts should likely move together. Is
there some problem in either account?
• The liquidity of the company is improving based on the current ratio. However,
receivable turnover has slowed. What is bolstering the rise in the company’s liquidity?
Rises in inventory and receivables appear to be causing the rise in the current ratio, and
since the quick ratio has declined slightly, inventory again seems to be signaled as a
problem.
Part 4. The following accounts should receive heightened scrutiny during the audit:
• Cost of goods sold, inventory, sales, accounts receivable, selling, general and
administrative expense, and cash.
Part 5. It is helpful for auditors to make projections of unaudited data based on industry trends
and analysis because it allows them to consider an unbiased estimate of what the account
balances would likely be before they are affected by management’s assertions of those account
balances. In addition, it will be helpful for auditors in highlighting account balances in which
their unbiased estimates are not realized. This process should enable auditors to creatively and
thoughtfully consider explanations for financial trends that management may otherwise steer the
auditor away from. Auditors will rely on industry trends, quarterly numbers, general economic
conditions, new product introductions, and competitive forces in making their projections.
Making these types of projections is helpful for auditors in terms of being sure that they truly
understand the client from a strategic systems perspective. In other words, if an auditor is unable
to predict what the financial account balances should likely be, it is probably because they do not
have an adequate understanding of the client. Some downside risks associated with making
projections like this are (1) the projection may be inaccurate, which may lead the auditor on a
“wild goose chase” that causes inefficiency, or (2) the projection may reduce skepticism for the
auditor if the actual numbers are so in line with the projection that they become complacent.
1. a. The risk is associated with the lack of segregation of duties and the potential of
the treasurer to authorize the use of funds without any outside review.
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.
c. The organization had inadequate segregation of duties. The treasurer did both
the investing and the recording. These activities should have been
segregated.
b. Assuming the fraud is material, it should have been detected. However, there is
concern here that the fraud amounted to $125,000 per year in a company with
$12,000,000 of annual sales. Unless there was a systematic pattern of inventory
shortages that could be directly identified with a purchasing agent, it would be
difficult to detect.
3. a. This would be a difficult fraud to discover and would probably require the use
of computer-assisted techniques to discover. Some audit procedures would
include
1. Audit review of computer files (using computer audit tools) to list all
recipients with unusual addresses, for example post office box numbers,
or to identify any addresses with multiple recipients.
b. This represents the type of fraud that would be detected only if the auditor had
suspicion to believe that such a fraud existed. Internal auditors might routinely
perform tests such as those identified in part 3 and would then detect the
fraud.
c. The primary controls would be (1) codes of ethics for the company that should be
followed by all employees and (2) purchasing practices that require the use of
competitive bids for major products (subsequently reviewed by internal auditors);
and periodic rotation of purchasing agents so that a new agent would detect the
fraud of the prior agent for that area of purchasing.
7. a. The error would be discovered through tests of the footings of the account or a
detailed review of write-offs of the accounts. Confirmation of customer
accounts would not be effective because the bookkeeper made the proper
charge to the customer's account. The auditor should perform a detailed
investigation of all large debits to discounts or returns and allowances to
determine whether they were valid.
b. Assuming the amounts were material, the auditor should have detected the
fraud.
VIII.
A halott London.
Romok.