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(b) Requirements
Most of the following are requirements of ACCA’s Rules of Professional Conduct.
(i) Undue dependence
1. A firm should put in place additional safeguards where the recurring fee income from one client or group exceeds
15% of the gross practice income (10% for clients listed on a stock exchange or where the public interest is
involved). Additional safeguards include supplementary reviews and the rotation of the engagement partner and
senior staff.
2. There are exceptions where a practice is being set up or run down. The rules are also applied to members practising
part-time.
3. A review mechanism should be triggered within the firm where the gross fee income exceeds 10% (5%) of gross
practice income.
4. More generally, there is a requirement for firms to carry professional indemnity insurance to cover professional
negligence claims and ACCA monitors practising firms to ensure that they are complying with, amongst other
things, the independence requirements. Firms are also required to keep up with changes in independence
requirements as a condition of being permitted to practice.
(ii) Financial interest
1. No partner in a firm, or any member of staff working on a particular audit, or any person closely connected with
them, should hold any shares in an audit client.
2. There are exceptions where collective investments are held by third parties, where the individual concerned has no
control over the composition of investments.
3. Where such shares or interests are acquired through marriage or inheritance, for example, the shares should be
disposed of at the earliest possible opportunity, provided that the disposal does not involve insider trading. Where
shares are held by the auditor because the company’s constitution requires it, the minimum level should be held
and the votes attaching to the shares should not be exercised.
4. There are some exceptions for transactions on normal commercial terms with money lending institutions – a normal
mortgage from a bank, for example.
5. Firms, their partners and staff should not make loans to, or guarantee the borrowings of, any audit client, or vice
versa.
(iii) Family or other close personal or business relationships
1. An officer (such as a director) or employee of an audit client, or a partner or employee of such a person, is
prohibited from accepting appointment as auditor of that client. Problems can also arise if an officer or senior
employee of an audit client is closely connected with a partner or senior staff member responsible for the conduct
of the audit (or anyone closely connected with them).
2. Closely connected persons generally include minor children and spouses. In this case, adult children and their
spouses, siblings, and any other relative to whom regular financial assistance is given (or who is otherwise indebted
to the partner or employee) are also included.
3. A member should not personally take part in the audit where he or she has been an officer or employee of a
company within the two years prior to the commencement of the first day of the period reported on.
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2 Internal controls
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(b) Internal controls
(i) Receipt, processing and recording
1. All orders taken should be recorded on a pre-numbered multi-part document generated by the computer. One part
might be a copy for the customer, one might form the invoice, one might be for the despatch department and one
might be retained for accounts receivable ledger purposes. Manual or computer systems should perform checks on
the completeness of the sequence of pre-numbered documents at various stages. Any documents unaccounted for
should be traced and investigated.
2. The computer system should apply the credit limits set by the credit controller and the system should reject any
orders that exceed customer credit limits at the point at which the order is taken, so that the customer can be
advised. Any override of credit limits should be authorised by the credit controller.
3. From time to time, there should be an independent check to ensure that the credit limits within the system are
being properly calculated and properly applied to individual transactions. Similar considerations apply to prices
maintained within the system.
4. The computer system should also reject any order for which there are no flowers available so that orders cannot
be taken for flowers that cannot be delivered.
5. All invoices should be posted to the sales daybook, the accounts receivable ledger and the accounts receivable
control account automatically by the system and the accounts receivable ledger and the accounts receivable control
account should be reconciled each month in order for sales and receivables records to be kept up to date.
6. There should be controls in place to deal with credit notes and other discrepancies involving the price, type or
quality of flowers delivered in order to maintain the accuracy of records and customer goodwill.
(ii) Collection of cash
1. At the end of each period, the system should produce a list of overdue receivables. There should be procedures for
chasing these customers and for putting a ‘stop’ on accounts where amounts are significant in order to control bad
debts.
2. When bank transfers are received from customers, they should be input into the system and matched with
individual transactions and controls should ensure that the correct amounts are allocated to the correct customers
and transactions.
3. An exception report should be produced for any unallocated bank transfers. Exceptions should be promptly
investigated. This will ensure that receivables information is accurate and up to date and that customers are not
chased for amounts that have been paid.
4. A bank reconciliation should be performed on a monthly basis in order to ensure that the company’s cash records
are complete, accurate and up to date.
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(ii) Expense accruals
1. If accruals are material to the financial statements, more evidence will be required than if they are not. If accruals
are not material, analytical procedures may be sufficient audit evidence.
2. A schedule of accruals should be obtained and checked for arithmetical accuracy. Individual accruals should be
reviewed by comparison with prior periods and budgets and any significant variations investigated, particularly if
accruals have been made in previous periods but have not been made in the current period.
3. The amounts paid after the period-end should be checked to the bank statement and the calculation of a sample
of amounts payable should be checked for accuracy, by reference to subsequent invoices.
4. If any accruals are payable more than one year after the balance sheet date, an appropriate split should be made
in the balance sheet.
(iii) Trade payables and purchase accruals
1. The nature and extent of testing will depend on the quality of controls over trade payables, as evidenced by interim
testing of internal controls. Evidence in relation to the completeness of trade payables and accruals is important,
but not always easy to obtain.
2. The auditors should form an opinion as to whether direct confirmation of trade payables is likely to provide valuable
audit evidence by discussion with the client.
3. It is sometimes possible to rely on supplier statement reconciliations instead of direct confirmation, but this depends
on the availability of supplier statements. Where supplier statement reconciliations are performed, it is important
to be aware of the possibility of forged or altered statements – originals rather than copies should be examined.
Some combination of supplier statement reconciliations and direct confirmation is often used.
4. If a decision to obtain direct confirmation of trade payables is taken, the client’s co-operation is required in
authorising the requests and in helping the auditors sort out any differences between the balances recorded by the
company and those recorded by suppliers.
5. Particular care should be taken if there are material balances for which there are no supplier statements or no
response to a request for confirmation. Consideration should be given to telephoning the supplier in this case.
6. Analytical procedures should be applied to the ageing and level of trade payables by comparison with prior periods.
Variations should be investigated and substantiated, with particular attention being paid to old outstanding
amounts.
7. A representative sample of individual trade payables should be traced back through the system from the schedules
supporting the financial statements to the ledgers, daybooks and source documentation to ensure that the amounts
recorded are accurate. The size of the sample will depend on the auditor’s assessment of risk in this area.
8. A schedule of purchase accruals should be obtained and checked for arithmetical accuracy and completeness by
comparison with prior periods and invoices received after the period-end. As with trade payables generally, there
is a risk of unrecorded items.
9. Both trade payables and purchase accruals should be tested for the accuracy of cut-off by reference to invoices and
inventory records for an appropriate period each side of the period-end.
10. A review of correspondence with trade creditors should be performed and any legal department should be
requested to provide details of disputes with creditors.
11. If any trade payables are payable more than one year after the balance sheet date, an appropriate split should be
made in the balance sheet.
(b) Company B
(i) Provisions for manufacturing warranty claims are heavily dependent on the judgement of directors. The auditors should
establish how the directors have arrived at the provision and assess it for reasonableness in the light of previous
provisions and claims. More work will be required if there has been a significant discrepancy between provisions and
claims in the past and more work will be required if the company does not have significant experience in dealing with
this type of warranty claim.
(ii) IAS 37 ‘Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets’ states that a provision is a liability of uncertain timing
or amount which should only be recognised when there is a present obligation, as a result of a past event, and where
it is probable that an outflow of resources will be required to settle the obligation, the amount of which can be reliably
estimated. It would appear that the warranty claim fits this description.
(iii) Such warranties are often underwritten by insurance and any arrangements with the insurance company should be
checked in detail so that the substance of the transaction can be reflected in the financial statements.
(iv) Auditors should check the calculation of the provision for arithmetical accuracy and to ensure that it is calculated in
accordance with the method determined by directors. This can be achieved by reviewing the level of claims and
payments both before and after the period-end.
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(v) If there has been a change in the method of calculating the provision, the auditors should ensure that it is reasonable
in the light of evidence available and that it is properly disclosed, if material. If there has been a change in the product
mix to which the warranty applies, this should also be considered, particularly if there are new, relatively untried
products which carry a higher risk of claims in the first few years.
(vi) If any previous provisions have been released in the current period because of over-provisions in previous periods, the
auditors should ensure that the amount released is reasonable, and is properly disclosed in the income statement as
appropriate. ‘Soft’ provisions such as these can be manipulated by the client and particular care therefore needs to be
taken.
(vii) A review of correspondence with customers should be performed and any legal department should be requested to
provide details of disputes with customers relating to claims.
4 Confirmations
(a) Management representations
Evidence
(i) Auditors obtain written representations from management on material matters where other sufficient appropriate audit
evidence cannot reasonably be expected to exist. ISA 580 ‘Management Representations’ deals with this subject.
(ii) Such matters might include confirmation that all related party transactions have been disclosed in the financial
statements and confirmation of all matters that rely principally on the exercise of judgement by directors – such as ‘soft’
provisions. The letter also usually includes confirmation that all matters occurring since the balance sheet date that
should be brought to the attention of auditors have been brought to their attention, and that all of the accounting records
have been made available to the auditors.
(iii) Management representations should not conflict with other audit evidence. If they do, the matter should be investigated
and resolved.
Practical difficulties
(iv) In practice, it is not always easy to obtain a signed management representation letter. The letter should be addressed
from the client to the auditor, but it can take the form of a letter from the auditor to management that is acknowledged
by management, or signed minutes of a board or similar meeting.
(v) If management refuse to provide representations, this may be grounds for a qualification of the audit report on the basis
of a limitation in the scope of the audit. However, this is an extreme step and auditors will always discuss with directors
alternative wordings that will be acceptable to them before considering qualification of the audit report. There may be
genuine uncertainty on the part of management as to the reasonableness of the representations that auditors request
them to make.
Alternative evidence
(vi) Unfortunately, because of the content of these letters, there is very little alternative evidence; that is why the letter is
requested in the first place.
(vii) Auditors need to think carefully about the content of the letter if management refuses to sign altogether, and consider
whether there is alternative evidence, whether the matters are truly material and whether an audit qualification is
needed. Auditors can exert some pressure on management to sign by making this threat, in practice.
(b) Direct confirmation of receivables
Evidence
(i) Auditors often seek direct confirmation of receivables to ensure that the amounts stated in the entity’s accounts
receivable ledger are not overstated. Confirmation also provides evidence in relation to certain frauds and the quality of
internal controls.
(ii) Confirmation that an amount is owed is not confirmation that the amount will be paid and auditors need additional
evidence on the recoverability of receivables.
(iii) There are two types of confirmation, positive and negative. In the former case, the customer is requested to reply in any
case, and the auditor can either insert the balance to be confirmed or the customer can be requested to do so. In the
latter case, a reply is only requested if the customer disagrees. This method is only suitable where receivables are well-
controlled.
Practical difficulties
(iv) The response rate to requests for confirmations is not always satisfactory and repeated requests may be necessary. It is
not uncommon for replies to be inaccurate, especially where the amount stated is too low.
(v) Where the customer is requested to insert the balance, the reconciliation can sometimes be very difficult, even with the
help of the client, and the customer’s assistance may be needed.
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Alternative evidence
(vi) Where no reply is received it is important that alternative evidence is obtained on the same balance (and not to test
another balance). Where there is a discrepancy between the client’s records and the customer’s records, the matter
should be investigated and resolved.
(vii) Sometimes, the customer can provide a reconciliation, particularly if the matter only relates to timing differences. On
other occasions there may be a dispute and a provision may be necessary.
(viii) Alternative evidence for receivables includes payment of the amount after the period-end, a review of contracts and
signed delivery notes, and analytical procedures on the ageing of receivables.
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5 Inventories
(a) Importance of inventory
(i) Inventories are important to the financial statements because the inventory figure, particularly for manufacturing
companies, may be material to the balance sheet and income statement, both in the current year and as a comparative
figure.
(ii) Inventories may be high risk if they are valuable, and/or easily portable. The valuation of inventories is a matter requiring
the exercise of judgement, which means that inventories are sometimes used to manipulate the appearance of both the
income statement and the balance sheet.
(iii) In the income statement, there is a direct relationship between the inventory figure and the profit for the period. If closing
inventories are overstated, profits will be overstated.
(iv) Many key accounting and performance ratios are calculated using the inventory figure. These include inventory turnover,
inventory days, the current ratio and working capital ratios. Many companies use these ratios for internal purposes and
many third parties, such as investment analysts, also use these figures to assess performance.
(v) Poor inventory control will be reflected in inventory figures at the period-end. For many companies, excess inventory is
a sign of serious problems.
(vi) Some significant cases of litigation against auditors have involved the alleged overstatement of inventories in financial
statements of companies where the auditors have issued an unqualified audit report before the company has been taken
over.
(vii) There is sometimes relatively little audit evidence for the inventory figure, particularly for small companies and it is
therefore important for auditors to scrutinise the evidence available carefully and consider the scope for misstatement or
deliberate manipulation of the inventory figure.
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(v) Fixed production overheads will include depreciation of machinery, the cost of heat and light in the factory, factory
administration overheads and storage space for work in progress. It is important to establish that the factory is operating
at a normal level of activity. If it is not, it is not appropriate to include overheads on the basis of an abnormal level of
activity.
(vi) Depreciation can be checked to asset registers. It is important that auditors examine both the accuracy of calculations,
and the reasonableness of the depreciation rates applied as costs may be inappropriately included as assets, otherwise.
Factory administration may include the wages and salaries of those administering the factory payroll for example, and
the costs of the offices in which such staff work. It may be necessary to split such costs out from general administration
overheads that should not be included. The attributable payroll and overhead costs can be checked in the same way as
for direct factory costs.
(vii) Analytical procedures can also be performed on all of the costs noted above and compared with prior periods and
budgets, as well as production levels, profits and factory capacity where they vary directly with production or sales.
Analytical procedures on gross margins will also provide audit comfort on costs.
(viii) Cut-off tests may include checks between inventory records, the inventory itself, and purchase and sales records for a
period just before and just after the period-end. It may also be necessary to examine provisions for goods despatched
or received but not invoiced before the period-end.
(ix) The net realisable value of finished goods will only be relevant if it is likely to be lower than cost, i.e. if furniture is to be
sold at a loss. Auditors should review inventory counting results and inventory records for old or slow-moving inventory
and form an opinion, in discussion with directors, as to whether any such inventories need to be reduced to net
realisable value.
(x) Evidence from post year-end sales or contracts is a good source of evidence in relation to net realisable value. If these
are not available, it is important to review the entity’s previous experience of having to sell furniture below cost. Current
market conditions are relevant as is the existence of a high level of inventories, which may indicate problems.
6 Risks
(a) Transfer, reduce or accept
(i) Contaminated foodstuffs – market share and profit margins
The business would reduce the risk relating to contaminated foodstuffs by having good quality control procedures in
place, by adhering to quality control standards such as ISO 9000, and by commissioning independent audits of the
production process. The business might also try and transfer the risk by means of insurance against the consequential
losses.
The business would reduce the risk of the loss of market share or profit margins by monitoring the activities of
competitors carefully, by monitoring production costs and techniques, and by maintaining an appropriate level of
advertising expenditure and other methods of promoting brand loyalty.
(ii) Non-availability of a basic element of production – injuries to employees or damage to property
It may be necessary to accept these risks as some insurance policies exclude liability caused by events such as ‘acts of
God’ and there is likely to be little cover for a significant world shortage of basic commodities such as sugar.
The business would reduce the risk relating to sugar by maintaining a variety of suppliers. In relation to earthquake, it
would implement normal health and safety procedures to prevent injuries to employees and would maintain the
buildings properly. It would attempt to transfer the risk of any damages payable to employees and the costs of repairing
property by means of insurance.
(iii) Minor damage to property
The business is likely to accept this risk or to transfer it by means of insurance.
Low impact, low likelihood risks are sometimes not viewed as risks at all. They are included for the sake of completeness
in the analysis to ensure that risks have not been ignored as a result of misclassification.
(iv) Drivers involved in vehicle accidents – production employees may be ill.
The business is likely to reduce the risk by maintaining its vehicles and training its drivers, and to transfer it by insuring
against the cost of repairs and lost time. Alternatively, it might require drivers to buy their own vehicles and maintain
them, but permit drivers to claim expenses. Another possibility is a fleet management program dealing with all matters
relating to vehicles, including providing alternative vehicles whilst others are being repaired.
The risk of production employees being ill is likely to be accepted as the cost of transferring it by insurance may not be
worthwhile. The business may reduce it by providing a good working environment, free or subsidised health insurance,
and incentives for good attendance records. It would also plan for a certain level of absences by production employees.
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(b) External auditor use of internal auditor work
(i) The external auditor may review the work performed by internal auditors because financial statement risk may be viewed
as just one part of the overall risk to the business.
(ii) The performance of the risk assessment itself is indicative of good overall management controls.
(iii) The external auditor, with the permission of management and the co-operation of the chief internal auditor, would review
the work performed by the department with a view to ensuring that it appears to be complete, and that classifications
are appropriate.
(iv) It is important to bear in mind that what is low risk or low impact to one entity may be high risk and high impact to
another.
(v) The external auditor will pay particular attention to those risks identified that are either high risk, or high impact. Such
risks may have a material impact on the financial statements.
(vi) The external auditor will then assess how the business has dealt with those risks (by transferring, reducing or accepting
them) and include that risk assessment in his or her own assessment of risk for the financial statements as a whole,
and for particular account areas. This will then affect the nature and extent of audit testing.
(vii) For example, if the risk of contamination to foodstuffs in the production process is not properly managed, there is more
likelihood that a provision may be required at the period-end and there may even be a risk that the business may not
be a going concern if the business is in breach of health and safety regulations.
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Part 2 Examination – Paper 2.6(INT)
Audit and Internal Review (International Stream) December 2002 Marking Scheme
Marks
1 External auditor objectivity
(a) Why external auditor objectivity may be, or appear to be, threatened
Up to 1 mark per point to a maximum of 12
subject to a maximum of 3 for each of the four categories
(b) Requirements
Up to 1 mark per point to a maximum of 8
subject to a maximum of 2 for each of the four categories ____
Total 20
2 Internal controls
(a) Key procedures
Up to 1 mark per point to a maximum of 10
subject to a maximum of 2 for each of the five categories
(b) Company B
Up to 1·5 marks per point to a maximum of 5
____
Total 20
4 Confirmations
(a) Management representations
Up to 1 mark per point to a maximum of 5
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Marks
5 Inventories
(a) Importance of inventory
Up to 1 mark per point to a maximum of 5
6 Risks
(a) Transfer, reduce or accept
For each item (i) – (iv)
Up to 1 mark per point to a maximum of 3 per item subject to a total of 12
Some flexibility of mark allocation is acceptable but all areas must have been
addressed in order to obtain maximum marks
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