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Lincoln Savings and Loans

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Memo: Why do Audits Fail? Evidence from Lincoln Savings and Loan
This study done by Merle Erickson, Brian Mayhew, and William Felix describes and examines the audit procedures applied to a set of material transactions from the Lincoln Savings and Loan audit failure. They suggest alternative procedures, based on information available to the auditors at the time of the LSL audit. The study also provides a starting point for future research to evaluate the conclusions reached using more controlled settings or larger data sets.
The five main points given in this research study are: 1. The authors noted that the LSL auditors had apparently followed standard audit procedures yet they still failed to discover major misstatements in the financial statements. They concluded that the auditors would have done a better job if they had more of an understanding of the business, the economic trends affecting the client, and the risks inherent in the client’s transactions.

2. The study shows to major reasons that led to their conclusion. First, auditors are unlikely to receive reliable evidence from a client, especially in cases of management fraud. Second, if the auditors understand the business they can provide reliable audit evidence even in the presence of management fraud. They believe that economic data and information in the financial press provided reliable evidence that the LSL auditors could have used to develop expectations about LSL’s operations.

3. The study suggests that if the auditors had followed a risk based approach for the audit they would have learned several things about the company. First they would have discovered that the company had increasingly moved to high-risk real estate transactions. Although LSL was a savings and loan company, they had made a number of real estate deals in the Phoenix area. They had moved beyond lending to real

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