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    Auditing

    Auditing and assurance includes a broad range of services that are provided by accountants and consultants. We often think of auditing in three ways. Typically, auditing refers to the financial audit of a public company's financial statements. These audits are conducted by independent external auditors who must provide an opinion about a company's financial reports. These auditors must adhere to Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) in the United States, and their opinions give investors reasonable assurance that a company's financial reports are true, fair, and adhere to applicable accounting standards. A financial auditor must also include an opinion about the effectiveness of a company's internal controls.

    Secondly, auditing may refer to forensic auditing. Forensic auditing looks at reviewing previous financial information in the case of disputes or litigation; for example, in the case of suspected tax evasion; in the case of bankruptcy, insolvency, or reorganization; in the case of fraud or suspected fraud; or when one party is seeking economic damages as a result of a tort or breach of contract claim.

    Thirdly, we can think of auditing by looking at the broad range of other services that accountants and consultants provide to businesses. Companies can hire an outside firm (an external auditor) or employees (internal auditors who are employed by the company directly) to provide feedback on the firm's processes, procedures and performance in specific areas. The list of services that auditors can provide is endless: they may provide valuations and assessments; they may look at the firms regulatory compliance and associated risks; or they might even look at the firm's energy consumption and environmental impact. When these services include a formal opinion about a company's policies, procedures or performance, we call this assurance. Assurance services over and above the traditional financial audit or forensic audit are an important part of the auditing industry. 

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    BrainMass Categories within Auditing

    External Auditing

    Solutions: 624

    External auditing is the practice of reviewing a firm’s financial statements and internal controls in order to provide an opinion on the truth and fairness of a firm’s financial information and the effectiveness of a firm’s internal controls over financial reporting. In the United States, only certified public accountants (CPAs) can perform audits and provide these opinions.

    Internal Auditing and Assurance Services

    Solutions: 82

    In addition to external audits, accountants provide a variety of other auditing and insurance services. Many firms employ internal auditors or hire external accounting firms who provide feedback on the firm’s processes, procedures and performance in specific areas.

    Forensic Accounting

    Solutions: 102

    Forensic accounting is the practice of reviewing a firm’s financial reports and other financial information for use in legal disputes. Forensic accounting is typically performed in cases of suspected tax evasion; bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization; suspected fraud; or civil litigation.

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    RNS audit assertions, audit risk, audit data and evidence

    Document your understanding of the relationship between audit risk, audit evidence, and financial statement assertions as it specifically relates to this company and industry. A. Describe the audit data or evidence your team will review. Why is this proof important? [ACC-411-01] B. What if a significant portion of the da

    Audit exam questions: assertions, evidence

    4. Auditors are more concerned with the COMPLETENESS assertion for expenditures than the OCCURENCE assertion because: A. Clients are more likely to overstate than understate expenses B. Clients are more likely to understate than overstate expenses C. It is difficult to determine when services have been performed D. The res

    Auditing: Sampling of controls or not

    Indicate which of the following audit procedures, used as tests of controls, do not involve audit sampling. 1. Observing and evaluating segregation of duties. 2. Testing of whether sales invoices are supported by authorized customer orders and shipping documents. 3. Reviewing client's procedures for accounting for the numer

    Audit: Contingent Liabilities

    Management will typically have a conservative view on contingencies and be hesitant to report them in the financial statements. They may feel that the disclosure of contingencies could lower stock prices and lead to lawsuits. As an auditor, you should look for contingencies and make sure they are properly reported. The proper ac

    CPA Ethics while Preparing Income Tax Returns

    CPAs that act as tax advisors are responsible for ensuring that their clients pay the proper amount of income tax. In other words, the clients should pay no more tax than he or she legally owes. While CPAs acting as tax advisors are not held to the same level of independence standards as those CPAs performing attestation work,

    Affordable Healthcare Act and Washington state

    Hi please help me to answer this question before 1/17/2016. Thanks. subject: CAFR of State of Washington for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2015 Comprehensive Annual financial Report (CFAR) starts with introduction section consisting of letter of transmittal which discusses profile of Washington State. It discloses the governm

    Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

    On July 21, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). Among the vast number of changes, there is good news. Dodd- Frank permanently relieves smaller public companies from the requirement of providing auditor attestation under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxl

    Auditing controls

    3.6 Madoff Investment and Securities: Understanding the Client's Business and Industry Synopsis During 2008, Bernie Madoff became famous for a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of as much as $65 billion. To satisfy his clients' expectations of earning returns greater than the market average, Madoff falsely asserted that

    Accounting derivivatives

    The megabanks hold a total of about $210 trillion dollars in derivatives, nearly all of which are not traded on transparent exchanges but instead are traded over the counter (OTC). Zero Hedge recently posted an illuminating blog entry on the business of derivatives trading and profit manipulation at the banks. According to Zero

    Case Studies: Auditing

    The Baptist Foundation of Arizona: Related Party Transactions Synopsis The Baptist Foundation of Arizona (BFA) was organized as an Arizona nonprofit organization primarily to help provide financial support for various Southern Baptist causes. Under William Crotts's leadership, the foundation engaged in a major strategic shift i

    CPA indiscretions and unethical behavior

    Respond to following: 1. Find a recent CPA case where the member was expelled (it's public information) and discuss the reasons why the member got in trouble. Sharon Hart of Glen Allen, Va., effective Dec. 31, 2011 In this case, the member was expelled because she failed to comply with corrective actions that were either educ

    Accountant's liabilities: Bernard L. Madoff

    Bernard L. Madoff Investment and Securities: A Focus on Auditors' and Accountants' Legal Liability Synopsis During 2008, Bernie Madoff became famous for a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of as much as $65 billion. To satisfy his clients' expectations of earning returns greater than the market average, Madoff falsely

    WorldCom Case Study

    2.3 WorldCom: Professional Responsibility Synopsis On June 25, 2002, WorldCom announced that it would be restating its financial statements for 2001 and the first quarter of 2002. Less than one month later, on July 21, 2002, WorldCom announced that it had filed for bankruptcy. It was later alleged that WorldCom had engaged in i

    Disciplinary Actions associated with AICPA

    In 2014 there were 724 disciplinary cases opened and 113 CPA's expelled from the profession by the AICPA and State boards, compared to 90 in 2013. Besides breaking the CPA ethics rules, a CPA can get lose their license for a certain period of time (suspended) or permanently (expelled) due to many acts including committing a fe

    The PCAOB Standards

    1. Does the PCAOB actually follow the FASB standard setting procedure? ie. do they create standards?, or are all the standards created by FASB and approved by PCAOB? how do they work together? Respond to following statements: 1. What is the AICPA's process for issuing a new standard? To create a new standard the AICPA follows

    Accounting Frauds

    Bernard L. Madoff Investment and Securities: The Role of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Synopsis During 2008, Bernie Madoff became famous for a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of as much as $65 billion. To satisfy his clients' expectations of earning returns greater than the market average, Madoff falsely

    PCAOB and accounting standards

    From the Journal of Accountancy: ASB addresses audits of ICFR integrated with financial statement audits, By Ken Tysiac October 27, 2015 The AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB) issued a new standard Tuesday to establish requirements and provide guidance that apply only when an auditor is engaged to perform an audit of intern

    Auditor's and internal controls

    1. The challenge with internal controls is that it is not always the line staff that break the controls. Most often, the person committing fraud is a manager responsible for the internal controls - someone with the authority to override the whole system. In this case, how do ensure that internal controls are in place? Also, do

    WorldCom: The Expense Recognition Principle

    Qwest: The Revenue Recognition Principle Synopsis When Joseph Nacchio became Qwest's CEO in January 1997, the company's existing strategy began to shift from just building a nationwide fiber-optic network to include increasing communications services. By the time it released earnings in 1998, Nacchio proclaimed Qwest's successf

    Auditor issues with reporting fraudulent income statements

    1. What are the major risks an auditor could encounter when planning an audit and how can this be avoided? 2. What is the definition of a material misstatement and how can this lead to conflict between the auditor and the client? 3. Is an auditor responsible for detecting fraud, or just making sure that the financial statement

    Qwest Case Study

    QUEST: THE FULL DISCLOSURE PRINCIPLE Synopsis When Joseph Nacchio became Qwest's CEO in January 1997, the company's existing strategy began to shift from just building a nationwide fiber-optic network to include increasing communications services. By the time it re- leased earnings in 1998, Nacchio proclaimed Qwest's successful

    Bernard L. Madoff Investment and Securities: Broker-Dealer Fraud

    Bernard L. Madoff Investment and Securities: Broker-Dealer Fraud Synopsis During 2008 Bernie Madoff became famous for a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of as much as $65 billion. To satisfy his clients' expectations of earning returns greater than the market average, Madoff falsely asserted that he used an innovati

    Accounting Statements

    Respond to following questions and answers.....elaborate more 1. 1. From the Key Players: Why is it important for the auditor to report to the audit committee? The audit committee oversees the work of the auditor. They select the auditor, the amount they earn, and oversee the tasks the auditor completes. The audit

    Audit Quesions

    1. From the Key Players: Why is it important for the auditor to report to the audit committee? 2. If the CPA auditor's spouse is a senior manager at the company to be audited, does the auditor have independence 3. What is the PACOB and why is it important for CPA's? 4. Give an example of an Audit firms systems of quality co

    Sample audit program

    Newham, Inc. Test of Controls Results - Revenue December 31, 2015 Of the 213 sales transactions examined, 82 "deviations" were identified: • No credit approval was found on 42 sample items • The wrong quantity billed was identified on five sample items • There was a mathematical error on 10 sample items • No s

    Performance measures considered important by ERM stakeholders

    The ultimate purpose of ERM is to increase shareholder value through a risk-return based strategy. I need to outline the following issues: • Identify the various stakeholders and outline what performance measures each of these groups consider important. • Explain why, as part of an ERM system, communicating performance

    Which Ratios Would Be Impacted by These Fraud Schemes?

    See the attached file. Question (2) — Financial Ratios and Fraud The following are independent fraud schemes. For each scheme indicate which of the below financial ratios could alert the auditor by an unusual increase (INC) or decrease (DEC) and provide and explanation for your answer. Each scheme might affect some or al

    Sarbanes-Oxley impact on audit and financial statements

    Need help with answering the questions Prior to Sarbanes-Oxley, auditing companies had engaged in non-auditing functions with the corporations they audited. Although this had been cause for concern by the SEC, rules were not promulgated until mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley. Now, auditing companies are forbidden to perform non-aud

    Identifying Deficiencies in an Audit Report

    QUESTION: Identifying Deficiencies in an Audit Report An audit report prepared by Singh and Rampersad, CPAs, is provided below. The audit for the year ended December 31, 2013 was completed on June 10, 2014, and the report was issued to CLICO Ltd, a private company, on June 30, 2014. List any deficiencies in this report without