DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS
2-16 (OBJECTIVE 2-7) Sarah O’Hann enjoyed taking her first auditing course as part of her undergraduate accounting program. While at home during her semester break, she and her father discussed the class, and it was clear that he didn’t really understand the nature of the audit process as he asked the following questions:
a. What is the main objective of the audit of an entity’s financial statements?
b. Given the CPA firm is auditing financial statements, why would they need to under- stand anything about the client’s business?
c. What does the auditor do in an audit other than verify the mathematical accuracy of the numbers in the financial statements?
d. The audit represents the CPA firm’s guarantee about the accuracy of the financial statements, right?
e. Isn’t the auditor’s primary responsibility to detect all kinds of fraud at the client? If you were Sarah, how would you respond to each question?
2-17 (OBJECTIVE 2-8) For each of the following procedures taken from the quality control manual of a CPA firm, identify the applicable element of quality control from Table 2-3 on page 39.
a. All potential new clients are reviewed before acceptance. The review includes con- sultation with predecessor auditors and background checks. All new clients are ap- proved by the firm management committee, including assessing whether the firm has the technical competence to complete the engagement.
b. The partners accept responsibility for leading and promoting a quality assurance culture within the firm and for providing and maintaining a quality assurance manual and all other necessary practical aids and guidance to support engage- ment quality.
c. Each office of the firm shall be visited at least annually by review persons selected by the director of accounting and auditing. Procedures to be undertaken by the review- ers are illustrated by the office review program.
d. Appropriate accounting and auditing research requires adequate technical reference materials. Each firm professional has online password access through the firm’s website to electronic reference materials on accounting, auditing, tax, SEC, and other technical information, including industry data.
e. Audit engagement team members enter their electronic signatures in the firm’s engagement management software to indicate the completion of specific audit program steps. At the end of the audit engagement, the engagement management software will not allow archiving of the engagement file until all audit program steps have been electronically signed.
In-class
Discussion
Required
THE CPA PROFESSION
f. At all stages of any engagement, an effort is made to involve professional staff at appropriate levels in the accounting and auditing decisions. Various approvals of the manager or senior accountant are obtained throughout the audit.
g. Each audit engagement must include a concurring partner review of critical audit
decisions.
h. No employee will have any direct or indirect financial interest, association, or relationship (for example, a close relative serving a client in a decision-making capacity)
not otherwise disclosed that might be adverse to the firm’s best interest.
i. Individual partners submit the nominations of those persons whom they wish to be considered for partner. To become a partner, an individual must have exhibited a high degree of technical competence; must possess integrity, motivation, and judgment; and must have a desire to help the firm progress through the efficient dispatch of the job responsibilities to which he or she is assigned.
j. Through our continuing employee evaluation and counseling program and through the quality control review procedures as established by the firm, educational needs are reviewed and formal staff training programs modified to accom- modate changing needs. At the conclusion of practice office reviews, apparent accounting and auditing deficiencies are summarized and reported to the firm’s director of personnel.
2-18 (OBJECTIVES 2-6, 2-7) You have been asked to make a presentation in your International Business class about how globalization is impacting the auditing profession. In preparation, you met with your auditing professor and discussed these questions:
a. What organization is responsible for establishing auditing standards internationally?
b. What organizations are responsible for establishing U.S. auditing standards used by CPA firms when auditing financial statements prepared by organizations based in the U.S.?
c. To what extent are AICPA auditing standards and international auditing standards similar?
d. What is the process the AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB) uses to develop AICPA auditing standards?
e. To what extent are PCAOB auditing standards impacted by international standards?
f. What auditing standards should an audit firm follow when they audit a client located in a foreign country that is listed on both a foreign stock exchange and a U.S. stock exchange?
