...CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO ASSURANCE AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT AUDITING Answers to Review Questions 1-1 The study of auditing is more conceptual in nature compared to other accounting courses. Rather than focusing on learning the rules, techniques, and computations required to prepare financial statements, auditing emphasizes learning a framework of analytical and logical skills to evaluate the relevance and reliability of the systems and processes responsible for financial information, as well as the information itself. To be successful, students must learn the framework and then learn to use logic and common sense in applying auditing concepts to various circumstances and situations. Understanding auditing can improve the decision-making ability of consultants, business managers, and accountants by providing a framework for evaluating the usefulness and reliability of information—an important task in many different contexts. 1-2 There is a demand for auditing in a free-market economy because the agency relationship between an absentee owner and a manager produces a natural conflict of interest due to the information asymmetry that exists between the owner and manager. As a result, the agent agrees to be monitored as part of his/her employment contract. Auditing appears to be a cost-effective form of monitoring. The empirical evidence suggests auditing was demanded prior to government regulation. In 1926, before...
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...HUISWERK WEEK 3 (E6 C32 & E8 C39) + OPGAVE E7 DQP 29 & 31 Case 6-32 a. A review provides limited assurance about the fair presentation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles but far less assurance than an audit. Presumably, the bank decided that the assurances provided by a review were needed before a loan could be approved, but an audit was not necessary. A review includes a CPA firm performing analytical procedures, making inquiries about the fair presentation of the statements, and examining the information for reasonableness. Because of a CPA firm’s expertise in accounting, the accountant from the CPA firm can often identify incorrect presentations in the financial statements that have been overlooked by the accountant of the company. Reviews are common for smaller privately-held companies with relatively small amounts of debt. The bank probably did not require an audit because the additional cost of an audit was greater than the benefit the bank perceived. In many cases, the decision as to whether to have a review or an audit is negotiated between the company seeking a loan and the bank loan officer. Both the company and the bank have options in negotiating such things as the amount of the loan, the rate of interest, and whether to require an audit or a review. The bank can reject the loan request and the company can go to other banks that want to make loans. Frequently, banks have a list of CPA firms in which they...
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...Council PHILIPPINE FRAMEWORK FOR ASSURANCE ENGAGEMENTS Framework PHILIPPINE FRAMEWORK FOR ASSURANCE ENGAGEMENTS CONTENTS Paragraph Introduction 1-6 Definition and Objective of an Assurance Engagement 7-11 Scope of the Framework 12-16 Engagement Acceptance 17-19 Elements of an Assurance Engagement 20-60 Inappropriate Use of the Practitioner’s Name 61 Effective Date 62 Acknowledgment 63-64 Appendix: Differences Between Reasonable Assurance Engagements and Limited Assurance Engagements Framework FRAMEWORK PHILIPPINE FRAMEWORK FOR ASSURANCE ENGAGEMENTS Introduction 1. This Framework defines and describes the elements and objectives of an assurance engagement, and identifies engagements to which Philippine Standards on Auditing (PSAs), Philippine Standards on Review Engagements (PSREs) and Philippine Standards on Assurance Engagements (PSAEs) apply. It provides a frame of reference for: (a) Professional accountants in public practice (“practitioners”) when performing assurance engagements. Professional accountants in the public sector refer to the Public Sector Perspective at the end of the Framework. Professional accountants who are neither in public practice nor in the public sector are encouraged to consider the Framework when performing assurance engagements;1 (b) Others involved with assurance engagements, including the intended users of an assurance report and the responsible party; and ...
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...Auditing, Attestation, and Assurance Services ACC491 Auditing, Attestation, and Assurance Services This paper discusses and analyzes three different services provided by Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), namely: auditing, attestation, and assurance services. Surprisingly, assurance service is the broadest term among three. It includes auditing and attestation services. The most commonly heard service, auditing, is the narrowest service that a CPA firm provides. The attestation service lies in between auditing and assurance. Each of these services is valuable to the public and the clients requesting these services. For each service, the team will first give a definition, and provide an example of each service. Team C also discusses who would use these types of services as well as the reason behind doing so. Finally, the team will provide some research about what standards apply to each service and what organization establishes them. Auditing Auditing is “a systematic process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence regarding assertions about economic actions and events to ascertain the degree of correspondence between those assertions and established criteria and communicating the results to interested users” (Boynton & Johnson, 2006, p. 6). An example of auditing is auditing a company’s financial statements. “ A financial statement audit involves obtaining and evaluating evidence about an entity’s presentation of its financial position, results of operations...
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...Attestation, and Assurance Services ACC491 Kimberly Johnson December 14, 2015 Audits, assurance services, and attest services are all work that could be performed by an auditor. Each category offers a range of services that could be beneficial to many companies, and all help in regulating a company’s financial documents. Audit Services There are 3 different types of audits, financial statement audit, compliance audit, and operational audit. A financial statement audit involves obtaining and evaluating evidence about a company’s presentation of their financial position, operation results, and cash flows. This audit is to ensure that the company is following all GAAP guidelines of reporting. In most states a CPA must complete these types of audits, and generally companies will hire an external auditor to perform this type of audit as the data is distributed to stockholders, creditors, regulatory agencies, and the general public. Compliance audits also involve obtaining and evaluating evidence to determine if financial or operating activities conform to specified conditions, rules, or regulations. Operational audits are to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of a company’s operating activities in relation to specified objectives. This type of audit is referred to as a performance audit or a management audit. Assurance Services Assurance services are a broader term that includes audits and other assurances about representation of management. Assurance services improve the...
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...Anderson, Olds, and Watershed Date: 12/12/11 Re: Audit Services Available Business nature dictates that companies must have yearly audit services provided when publicly traded. Additionally, companies not traded publicly benefit from audit services when obtaining loan or financial capital for the business. Apollo Shoes based in Shoeville, Maine and incorporated in Delaware has requisitioned Anderson, Olds, and Watershed to complete the audit for the current year. As an audit company, Anderson, Olds, and Watershed offers different types of auditing services for clients. Professionals define auditing as “the accumulation and evaluation of evidence about information to determine and report on the degree of correspondence between the information and established criteria. Auditing should be done by a competent, independent person” (Arens, Elder, and Beasley, p. 4, 2006). Where the accounting department of Apollo Shoes records and summarizes the economic events during a given period, auditing examines the information given to determine whether the data is properly recorded. The audit process will determine that the company is reasonably free of financial misstatements. Additionally, the audit will contain management report on internal controls. The next type of service Anderson, Olds, and Watershed offers is assurance services. “Assurance services are independent professional services that improve the quality of information for decision makers,” (Arens...
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...Question 1 (3 marks) The chair of the board of Hughes Corporation proposed that the board hire as controller a PA who had been the manager on the corporation’s external financial statement audit. The chair thought that hiring this person would reduce the cost of the annual audit and consequently save the company at least half of the fee paid to the auditors. The chair proposed giving this new controller a full staff to conduct investigations of accounting and operating data as necessary. Required Evaluate this proposal. Question 2 ( 3 marks) Your neighbor invited you to lunch yesterday. Sure enough it was no “free lunch” because he wanted to discuss the annual report of the Dodge Corporation. He owns Dodge Corporation shares and just received the annual report. He says “PricewaterhouseCoopers prepared the audited financial statements and gave an unqualified opinion, so my investment must be safe.” Required What misconceptions does your neighbour seem to have about the auditor’s role with respect to Dodge Corporation? Question 3 (13 marks) You work for a large public accounting firm with many offices across the country. As part of your new job as a senior manager in the national office, you have been assigned to do a quality control review of the Pop Shop Company audit file, for the audit conducted by one of your offices in north west Manitoba. Your firm has been auditing the Pop Shop Company for the last four years, ever since Pop Shop went public...
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...There are many fraud risk factors indicated in the dialogue. Among the fraud risk factors are the following: * Two individuals, Saul and the store manager, appear to dominate management without any compensating controls. * The supplier does not have any support for the transactions, nor do they have a phone number or an address where they can be reached. The oral confirmation by phone call could have been an insider posing as the vendor. * No one is getting bonuses. Even though it’s a new company, management generally doesn’t operate without bonuses – it’s possible they are getting incentives from other sources. * It is a new company and new companies are always susceptible to errors and fraud until solid controls and history is established. * The audit partner doesn’t seem interested in following up on Yosef’s suspicions. He could be careless, could be involved, or may just have a different sense of the overall picture than Yosef. b. Waseem has many misconceptions regarding the consideration of fraud in the audit of the financial statements that are contained in the dialogue. Among Kent’s misconceptions are the following: * Waseem is not concerned about the suspicious vendor. * Waseem seems more interested in keeping the client than offending the client by inquiring about the suspicious vendor. c. SAS 99 requires that auditors document the following matters...
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...MINI-CASES | |Question | |Case |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 | | | | | | | | | | |1. Andersen: An Obstruction of Justice? |C.83 |C.83 |C.83 |C.83 |C.83 |B.63 |C.83 | |2. PTL Club—The Harbinger of Things to Come | | | | | | | | |3. GM |11.74 |11.74 |11.74 |11.74 |11.74 |11.74 | | | |12.65 |12.65 |12.65 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |4. Unhealthy Accounting at HealthSouth |4.64 |4.64 |5.70 |5.70 |C.82 |G.84 | | | | | | | | | | ...
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...Quality assurance as a valuable tool to improve teaching and training in the South Africa Police Services (SAPS) in the Northern Cape John M. Modise Cecelia A. Jansen Provincial Section Head Training (SAPS): Colonel Associate Professor Division Human Resource Management Department of Teacher Education Provincial Head Office: Kimberley University of South Africa (UNISA) Tel+2712 0797335236 Tel+2712 429-4070 johnmodise@gmail.co.za janseca@unisa.ac.za Key words: Quality, quality assurance, quality management system, standards, total management Quality assurance as a valuable tool to improve teaching and training in the South Africa Police Services (SAPS) in the Northern Cape ABSTRACT Orientation: It is imperative to have quality assurance processes in place in division training to provide quality training to enable members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to provide quality services to communities within their area of jurisdiction. The aim of the research under review was to determine the presence of and possible need for the implementation of effective quality assurance processes in education and training in the South African Police Service (SAPS). Research purpose: The aim of this article under review is to discover whether and to what extent effective quality assurance processes are being implemented in in-service and specialized education and...
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...QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN A. Introduction: This Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) has been developed to implement the Government Quality Assurance Program. It is not a part of the Request for Proposal, nor will it be made part of any resulting contract. The QASP is provided in order to give the Contractor an understanding of the Government’s Quality Assurance Surveillance Efforts for this contract. It is designed to aid the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) in providing effective and systematic surveillance of all aspects of the Fort Huachuca Directorate of Logistics Base Operations Services being provided under the contract. B. Purpose: 1. The purpose of the QASP is to assure that the Government is receiving the services specified in the Contract and that the services meet the performance standards specified in the contract. By employing a fully developed QASP, the Government and the Contractor achieve an understanding of performance expectations and how performance will be measured against those expectations. A complete and robust QASP ensures that all aspects of the contract are measured and receive fair and proper weight in the overall evaluation. Results of the QASP evaluation are a direct and significant input to the Fixed Fee process for this Contract. It provides for monitoring all contract requirements through a combination of methods. This Quality Assurance Evaluator (QAE) Surveillance Plan was based on the DA Pam...
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...between QA and QC As we've talked in a previous post about the Definition of Quality, with these 2 terms exist the same “issue” where every single person/organization defines Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) in a bit different way. Also, many people including HHRR (Human Resources) and quality professionals do not know what QA and QC really means, and what the difference is between both terms. For those reasons, these concepts are often used interchangeably, and in some organizations one department performs the activities of both. The truth is that both terms have strong interdependence; QA relies mostly on the QC feedback and both work to deliver good quality products/services; but they are different processes. Next table shows the differences between them. QA vs. QC Definition from ASQ.org Assurance: The act of giving confidence, the state of being certain or the act of making certain. QA: The planned and systematic activities implemented in a quality system so that quality requirements for a product or service will be fulfilled. Other definition QA is a failure prevention system that predicts almost everything about product safety, quality standards and legality that could possibly go wrong, and then takes steps to control and prevent flawed products or services from reaching the advanced stages of the supply chain. Definition from ASQ.org Control: An evaluation to indicate needed corrective responses; the act of guiding a process in which...
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...TUI University Michael Reeves MHM505 – Introduction to Quality Assurance Module 1 Case Quality Assurance (QA) can be defined as those activities that contribute to designing, mentoring and the improvement of quality healthcare. In defining the quality we need to develop the standards that will be used to measure the effect of the quality of work we are striving towards. The standards does not have to be clinical it can be administrative, good standards are usually reliable, realistic clear and valid. With the amount of medical mishaps that we experience on a daily basis it is very important that we have a quality Assurance team in place. In fact an entire department should be available just to focus on quality operation within the hospital. With a solid quality assurance program I know that a hospital will be able to save even more money and resources by avoiding law suits that arise from malpractice. I would base my argument on areas such as communication, situational awareness and the importance of quality patient care. In my opinion the aspect of quality assurance that is most important is safety, this falls in the range of focusing on the patient or putting focus on the system or even the processes that are in place. It is obvious that the purposes of health care services are to generate customer satisfaction and operate with the least amount of money possible. Focusing on the client does...
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...Quality Assurance in Aviation Embry Riddle Management for Aeronautical Science MGMT 203 Howard W. Loken June 25, 2014 Quality Assurance in Aviation Quality defined Quality Assurance (QA) is one of the most predominate factors in aviation organizations today. Quality Assurance programs have a direct link to safety in aviation. Quality can be considered a safety measure because a solid quality program can help prevent accidents and incidents. This is accomplished by procedures and guidance by government oversight that filters down to the operator of the type aircraft. Quality Assurance is a systematic method for gathering, analyzing information on quality, causes of defects and how they impact aviation operations. The QA system allows managers to make decisions concerning quality on facts and history of events to prevent future issues. This paper discusses how quality assurance in aviation must continue to play an important role in order to operate and maintain aircraft to the safest standard. Concepts and Principles The concept of Quality Assurance is the prevention of defects. This concept covers all aspects of each event from beginning to end. All aircraft maintenance personnel have a responsibility to adhere to the concepts ad principles of QA. To achieve QA concepts maintainers focus on prevention, knowledge, and special skills. Preventing maintenance failures is a goal of QA. This is accomplished by regulating events vice being regulated by events. Every...
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...quality related activities required, meeting the terms of the contract. This manual sets out the management practices and describes the quality management for this project and its relationship with contractor’s road quality system. 3 Terms and definition In the context of this document, the following abbreviations or phrases shall have the meanings noted against. a) Quality – Totality of Features and Characteristics of a product or service that relies on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. b) Quality Assurance – All those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy the given requirement for quality. c) Quality Control – Operational techniques of Controlling quality activities (e.g. Inspection and Testing) used to verify technical and quality requirement for services and or products. d) Quality Plan – A document setting out specific practices, resources and sequence of activities relevant to a particular material, procedure, service in a contract or project. e) Corrective Action – An activity, the intention of which, is to return the non-conforming item or action to a stage of conformity. It also covers the action taken to prevent further recurrences of non-conformity. f) Calibration – The comparison of two instruments, measuring devices or gauges, one of which is of known accuracy and where applicable, traceable to an internationally recognized standard. ...
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