...Case 1.9 ZZZZ Best Company, Inc. 1. A review is similar to an audit but is less in scope and only provides limited assurance in regards to the presentation of the financial statement. This differs with an audit that gives reasonable assurance that no material errors or illegal acts are detected. The objective of an audit is to provide a reasonable basis for expressing an opinion regarding the financial statements taken as a whole. A review does not provide a basis for the expression of such an opinion because a review does not involve obtaining an understanding of the internal control structure or assess control risk, tests of accounting records and of responses to inquiries by obtaining corroborating evidential matter through inspection, observation or confirmation, and certain other procedures ordinarily performed during an audit. A review mostly involves inquires of client personnel and analytical procedures. In a review an accountant does not give an opinion as to the fair presentation of the financial statements, reasonable assurance. Instead the accountant states that no material modification came to his/her attention in order for the statements to be in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles, limited assurance. 2. As it relates to the assertion of occurrence and existence, third-party confirmations are usually highly reliable and auditors normally seek these out for a complete audit. While these forms of evidence can be reliable this isn’t...
Words: 1010 - Pages: 5
...CASE 1.9 ZZZZ Best Company, \nc. On May 19,1987, a short article in The Wall Street Journal reported that ZZZZ Best Company, Inc., of Reseda, California, had signed a contract for a $13.8 million insurance restoration project. This project was just the most recent of a series of large restoration jobs obtained by ZZZZ Best (pronounced "zee best"). Located in the San Fernando Valley of southern California, ZZZZ Best had begun operations in the fall of 1982 as a small, door-ta-door carpet cleaning operation. Under the direction of Barry Minkow, the extroverted 16-year-old who founded the company and initially operated it out of his parents' garage, ZZZZ Best experienced explosive growth in both revenues and profits during the first several years of its existence. In the three-year period from 1984 to 1987, the company's net income surged from less than $200,000 to more than $5 million on revenues of $50 million. When 72ZZ Best went public in 1986,Minkow and several of his close associates became multimillionaires overnight. By the late spring of 1987,the market value of Minkow's stock in the company exceeded $100 million, while the total market value of 72ZZ Best surpassed $200 million. The youngest chief executive officer in the nation enjoyed the "good life;which included an elegant home in an exclusive suburb of Los Angeles and a fire-engine red Ferrari. Minkow's charm and entrepreneurial genius made him a sought-after commodity on the television talk show circuit and caused...
Words: 3832 - Pages: 16
...auditor discharges professional responsibilities with competence and diligence. It imposes the obligation to perform professional services to the best of the auditor’s ability with concern for the best interest of the public. The sole proprietor-auditor and Ernst & Whinney did not gather enough evidence on the restoration contracts, nor viewed the evidence gathered with skepticism. Between 1985 and 1986 there is a 390% increase in Revenue and 350% increase in Cost of goods sold. The auditors should question the increase in accounts receivable, which was 33% of sales and represents four months on an annualized basis. The auditors should question where the cash is from the collection of sales (Sales of $4,845 less A/R of $693 less Cost of goods sold of$2,050). The company should have approximately $2 million to pay down liabilities or invest in assets. With the cash flow with borrowings of current liabilities and notes payable, the company had approximately $6.5 million before paying cost of goods sold or approximately $4.5 to pay down liabilities or invest in the company, yet cash only increased $50,000 for the year. Where was the cash used? 1. ZZZZ Best Company, which was initially a small rug-cleaning business, was founded by Barry Minkow when he was sixteen years old. 2. Minkow transformed ZZZZ Best into a leading company in...
Words: 919 - Pages: 4
...Case 4-6 ZZZZ Best* The story of ZZZZ Best is one of greed and audaciousness. It is the story of a 15-year old boy from Reseda, California who was driven to be successful regardless of the costs. His name is Barry Minkow. Minkow had high hopes to make it big – to be a millionaire very early in life. He started a carpet cleaning business in the garage of his home. Minkow realized early on that he was not going to become a millionaire cleaning other people’s carpets. He had bigger plans than that. Minkow was going to make it big in the insurance restoration business. In other words, ZZZZ Best would contract to do carpet and drapery cleaning jobs after a fire or flood. Since the damage from the fire or flood probably would be covered by insurance, the customer would be eager to have the work done. The only problem with Minkow’s insurance restoration idea was that it was all a fiction. There were no insurance restoration jobs, at least for ZZZZ Best. In the process of creating the fraud, Minkow was able to dupe the auditors, Ernst & Whinney into thinking the insurance restoration business was real. In fact, over 80 percent of his revenue was allegedly from this work. The auditors never caught on until it was too late. How Barry Became a Fraudster Minkow wrote a book, Clean Sweep: A Story of Compromise, Corruption, Collapse, and Comeback** that provides some insights into the mind of a 15-year old kid __________________ * The facts are derived from a video...
Words: 3056 - Pages: 13
...CEO of a company worth over $200 million and you are only 20 years old. Your personal net worth is more than $100 million. You own a signature red Ferrari and Oprah is begging you to be on her show. It's the stuff of fairy tales, but for one man, it was the beginning of an odyssey that would lead to prison. Meet Barry Minkow who in 1982, when he was only16, founded ZZZZ Best Carpet Cleaning. Over the next several years, he franchised the chain and took it public. "In the three-year period from 1984 to 1987, the com¬pany’s net income surged from less than $200,000 to more than $5 million on reve¬nues of $50 million. When ZZZZ Best went public in 1986, Minkow and several of his close associ¬ates became multimillionaires overnight. By the late spring of 1987, Minkow’s stock in the company had a market value exceeding $100 million, and the total market value of ZZZZ Best surpassed $200 million." (Knapp) Less than two years later, Minkow had been exposed as a fast talking con artist who bilked his closest friends and Wall Street out of millions of dollars. Barry Minkow began serving a twenty-five-year prison sentence after being tried and convicted on fifty-seven counts of securities fraud. ZZZZ Best differed in part from a typical Ponzi scheme in that Minkow’s carpet-cleaning business was very real. "Indeed, the carpet-cleaning division won high marks for its quality." (Miller) However, its insurance restoration division, which eventually accounted for 86 percent of company revenues...
Words: 1322 - Pages: 6
...Transcript of ZZZZ Best Company, Inc ZZZZ Best Company, Inc Case 1.9 Audit Review VS Full Audit Review • The accountant is not aware of any misstatements or material modifications that need to be made • Limited assurance • Auditor has no opinion on the financial statements, just looks them over Barry Minkow- 16 years old 1982 Carpet cleaning business turned insurance restoration Tom Padgett and Interstate Appraisal Services Ernst & Whinney- elaborate scheme to convince them History 1. Client imposed audit limitations 2. Limitations of audit evidence 3. Importance of auditor communication when one resigns & 8K filing Key Issues Audit- • Auditor obtains a high level of assurance • Auditor can express an opinion about the accuracy and level of assurance • Auditor tests internal controls and tests for misstatements and obtains and understanding of the entities internal control and fraud risk Matt Sepiol Samantha Claysen Limitations of Audit Evidence AU 326- Audit Evidence Auditors Used Confirmation, Documentation, and Analytical Procedures AU 326.08- Information from outside sources is better than from internal sources Confirmations were made by Tom Padgett who was involved in the scheme. Interstate Appraisal Services and Assured Property Management provided the Documentation Was Involved in Fraud Collusion amongst outside Parties Gives Evidence Limitations The client receiving payment doesn't prove the existence of those contracts. No third...
Words: 496 - Pages: 2
...Andrey Simonov From: Caitlin Doonan Subject: ZZZZ Best ------------------------------------------------- Date: October 10, 2013 ZZZZ Best Company, Inc., a carpet cleaning and restoration company became the illegitimate business front for one of the largest investment frauds in American history. Barry Minkow started working in the cutthroat carpet cleaning industry at a young age. A risky Minkow began perpetrating frauds on a small scale and eventually took his Ponzi scheme public. Red flags went unnoticed from banks, investors, and auditors. Crucial auditor mistakes postponed the uncovering of Minkow’s scam. ZZZZ Best, Inc. significantly impacted both the accounting and auditing industry both in practice and standards. Barry Minkow founded ZZZZ Best Company at the age of sixteen. Minkow’s exposure to the carpet cleaning industry came from his mother. She answered phones and conducted clerical work for a carpet cleaning company in the San Fernando Valley of California (Knapp). The carpet cleaning industry required very little start-up capital, even less experience, and no licensing requirements. These attributes enticed Minkow, a young entrepreneur, to start his own company.. However, the competition in the carpet cleaning industry made it difficult for Minkow to make profitable sales. Vendors wanted money from Minkow and sales were not enough to cover his costs. Banks refused to loan him money because his company barely made a profit (Knapp). These financial struggles...
Words: 1662 - Pages: 7
...Case 1.9 Case 1.9 Question 1: Ernst & Whinney never issued an audit opinion on financial statements of ZZZZ Best but did issue a review report on the company’s quarterly statements for the three months ended July 31, 1986. How does a review differ from an audit, particularly in terms of the level of assurance implied by the auditor’s report? Answer: A review report does not assess the control risk of a company, which means Ernst & Whinney could have not gotten the proper risk that a material misstatement could occur within a relevant assertion. The report could have pointed out problems in the financial statements but it would not give the audit teams assurance of their accuracy. Ernst & Whinney never investigated ZZZZ Best’s internal control either, if they had done so they may have caught onto some of the fraudulent acts that were being committed. The main difference between an audit opinion and a review is an audit opinion provides assurance on the financial statements that they are accurate. Question 2: SAS No. 106, “Audit Evidence,” indentifies the principal “management assertions” that underlie a set of financial statements. The occurrence assertion was particularly critical for ZZZZ Best’s insurance restoration contracts. ZZZZ Best’s auditors obtained third-party confirmations to support contracts, reviewed available documentation, performed analytical procedures to evaluate the reasonableness of the revenues recorded on the contracts, and visited selected...
Words: 346 - Pages: 2
...A California appellate court recognized Ernst & Whinney not liable to Union Bank of California which allegedly relied on Ernst’s review report in extending $ 7 million to ZZZZ Best Co. I agree with court’s decision because Ernst & Whinney never issued an audit opinion on financial statements it was just a review report which was disclosed. However, I do not justify Ernst & Whinney because the auditors besides from failure to notice ‘red flags’ had done few mistakes which lead to the law suit. The first mistake that the auditors made involved Mr. George Greenspan during the 1986 audit. This was the first audit since ZZZZ Best became a public company and the mistake involved the inspection of the insurance restoration sites. Mr. Greenspan had talked with Tom Padgett, and Mr. Padgett confirmed the insurance contracts were real and showed proper documents to back them up, Mr. Greenspan never actually inspected any of the actual insurance restoration sites. Doing so could have stopped the scam from hurting the public stockholders, especially because they take in such a huge percentage of income for ZZZZ Best. The second mistake involved Ernst & Whinney, was that Greenspan reported during the interview to the congressional subcommittee, that Ernst & Whinney never got in touch with him to talk about ZZZZ. If this conversation occurred, Greenspan might have been able to discuss his neglection to inspect the insurance restoration sites, which therefore could have given Ernst & Whinney...
Words: 980 - Pages: 4
...ZZZ Best Company Inc. ZZZ Best Company, Inc. is good example for being explored by accounting students regarding audit field. In this case, ZZZ Best Company, Inc., which is established by Barry Minkow, became a tool for its owner i. E. Barry Minkow to get money by lying to thrid parties via fictitious insurance restoration project. Difficulties in developing carpet cleaning industry made Barry Minkow think to get money in wrong way. Collaborate with Tom Padgett and also extensive social network, made this big scheme to deceive big investors became easy. After success in cheating investors, Barry Minkow think bigger to make more money. He think to make ZZZ Best Company go public. For company which want to go public, it must fulfill many requirements of SEC. One of requirements is audited by accounting public officer. To fulfill that requirement, ZZZ Best Company Inc. hired George Greenspan to perform audit for 12 months. According to his testimony regarding ZZZ Best scandal to congressional subcommittee that investigated fraud in ZZZ Best Company, Inc., Greenspan insisted that he has proprtly audited Minkow’s company although finally Greenspan admitted that he had not inspected any of the insurance restoration sites. Next audit company which audited Minkow’s company was Ernst and Whinney. From Greenspan confession, he already communicate with Ernst and Whinney as predecessor auditor who audited ZZZ Best but this statement was rejected by Ernst and...
Words: 593 - Pages: 3
...CASE 1.9 ZZZZ Best Company, \nc. On May 19,1987, a short article in The Wall Street Journal reported that ZZZZ Best Company, Inc., of Reseda, California, had signed a contract for a $13.8 million insurance restoration project. This project was just the most recent of a series of large restoration jobs obtained by ZZZZ Best (pronounced "zee best"). Located in the San Fernando Valley of southern California, ZZZZ Best had begun operations in the fall of 1982 as a small, door-ta-door carpet cleaning operation. Under the direction of Barry Minkow, the extroverted 16-year-old who founded the company and initially operated it out of his parents' garage, ZZZZ Best experienced explosive growth in both revenues and profits during the first several years of its existence. In the three-year period from 1984 to 1987, the company's net income surged from less than $200,000 to more than $5 million on revenues of $50 million. When 72ZZ Best went public in 1986,Minkow and several of his close associates became multimillionaires overnight. By the late spring of 1987,the market value of Minkow's stock in the company exceeded $100 million, while the total market value of 72ZZ Best surpassed $200 million. The youngest chief executive officer in the nation enjoyed the "good life;which included an elegant home in an exclusive suburb of Los Angeles and a fire-engine red Ferrari. Minkow's charm and entrepreneurial genius made him a sought-after commodity on the television talk show circuit and caused...
Words: 3832 - Pages: 16
...T.1.SAS No. 106 “Audit Evidence’, identifies the principal “managementassertions” that underlie a set of financial statements. The occurrenceassertion was particularly critical for ZZZZ Best’s insurance restorationcontracts. ZZZZ Best’s auditors obtained third-party confirmations tosupport the contracts, reviewed available documentation, performedanalytical procedures to evaluate the reasonableness of the revenuesrecorded on the contracts, and visited selected restoration sites.Comment on the limitations of the evidence that these proceduresprovide with regard to the management assertion of occurrence. Upon the performance of those procedures, the auditors of ZZZZBest Inc. had obtained evidence in order to draw reasonableconclusions on which to base the audit opinion. However, theseevidences are subject to limitations due to factors not controlled by theauditors. First limitation of the evidence is its insufficiency to supportthe occurrence, reliability and relevance of events and transactions.Mere paperwork is not enough to prove an event to have existed. Italso needs inquiries from people accountable in recording orrecognizing such events. Moreover, there’s a risk in being dependenton evidences provided by the management itself. Auditors should askcooperation from the third parties in order to verify all records. Secondlimitation is the rules implemented by the client which prohibit auditorsto further inspect or review the financial standing of the company.Some clients...
Words: 1658 - Pages: 7
...Zzzz Best Company, Inc. Case 1.9 Zzzz Best Company, Inc. Case 1.9 Case 1.9 ZZZZ Best Company, Inc. Delta. Describe the elements of the Fraud Triangle that apply to this case. Assume you are the perpetrator. Is there a better way to perpetrate this fraud? If there is, describe your method. Specify practical recommendations for the client to prevent this fraud from occurring in the future. The first element of the Fraud Triangle in the case of ZZZZ Best, case 1.9 is Incentives/Pressure. Incentives/Pressure- As a result of the pressure placed on a person who is only a teenager in a tough business, one who faced a lack of working capital, the lack of assets and little profit make it difficult for a person of this stature to achieve financing to produce cash flow for sustaining of operations. One quickly realizes that through fraud a person could obtain funding to sustain operations. Through credit card fraudulent charges and check kiting and to stage theft to fleece one’s insurance company, producing more cash flow, one can raise Is this essay helpful? Join OPPapers to read more and access more than 600,000 just like it! get better grades quick and easy money. Through this experience with these types of fraud, it is realized quickly that one could bypass internal controls and create assets to bolster the company’s financial statements. From this point, with beating the system proving to be so easy, the next step is to forge friendships and acquaintances...
Words: 369 - Pages: 2
...Knapp Case 1.9- ZZZZ Best Company, Inc. 1. A review consists of an auditor performing analytical procedures and inquiries to provide a reasonable basis for obtaining limited assurance. In a review, the auditor does not give an opinion on the financial statements. He/she merely looks over the statements for any material misstatements or modifications that need to be made. Contrarily, in terms of the level of assurance, during an audit an auditor obtains a high level of assurance, expresses an opinion on accuracy and level of assurance, and tests for misstatements and the client’s internal controls. 2. The occurrence assertion is very important, especially in this case, to ensure that the financial statements of a company faithfully represent actual transactions, assets, and liabilities of the company. There were certain limitations of the evidence gathered by the procedures performed in the ZZZZ Best case with regard to the assertion of occurrence: a. Confirmations- The information obtained through George Greenspan’s confirmation seems invaluable to me based on the fact that the confirmation was only sent to Tom Padgett, especially since Tom Padgett was paid by Minkow to confirm contracts. Even though there was no way for Mr. Greenspan to know that Mr. Padgett was being paid off, I believe that he should have found more valuable information through his confirmations by sending them out to more than one person involved in the company. b. Analytical Procedures-...
Words: 918 - Pages: 4
...statutory laws add the additional liability of criminal proceedings against the CPAs and the CPA firms who find themselves as defendants. The underlying accusation of negligence finds it way back to whether CPA defendants sufficient due diligence and professional care. While the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) governs the SEC registered CPA firms to ensure that they are compliant in how they execute auditing services, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) strives to improve the delicate balance of acceptable level of both due professional care and due diligence. The following two cases will address the inherent liability as well as professional care and due diligence. The Ultramares v. Touche & Co. case of 1931 is a great example of the inherent risks of the CPA profession. Even though that Touche & Co. audit services would be used to obtain financing, they did not know who ultimately would be financing Fred Stern & Company. The New York State Appeals Court, for failing to see the deliberate misrepresentations on the company’s account receivable, upheld the gross negligent ruling that was given to Tuche & Co.. Another unique case was the ZZZZ...
Words: 516 - Pages: 3
