audit and accounting

Questions: 1. Peter Harmon , professional accountant, does the bookkeeping, prepares the tax returns and provides various management services for Bunker Ltd.When providing these services it frequently advises its clients to buy its computer equipment from Computer Services Ltd. Computer Services has agreed to pay Harmon a 10% commission if the referral leads to sales for Computer Services?2. David Smith ,an auditor ,was asked by Allied Insurance,for its help in finding clients. David Smith subsequently referred ten clients to the insurance company without letting them know? 3. Wrench and company,Chartered Accountants,keeps details of its clients in its computer records at its office .Since it also has time available it will allow its clients to use its computers if they require? 4. Stephanie Barry has an audit client,Williams Pty Ltd ,which uses another public accountant for its management services work. Barry sends her firms literature regarding its management services capabilities to Williams on a monthly basis,unsolicited? 5. Katrina Ng is a manager on the audit of a not for profit entity.She is also a member of the Board of Directors for the not for profit entity,but the position is honorary and does not involve her acting in a management capacity for the not for profit firm?6. Peter Beattie , a public accountant , provides tax services, management advisory services,bookkeeping services and conducts audits for the same client .As the firm is small the same person frequently provides all the services?7. The Hornsby Auditors, have taken advertisements in the local newspaper with a bright colourful full page pictures of the staff and giving details of their being the top auditors in the district compared to other auditors and their ability to help clients get higher tax deductions.than all others in the district?8. David Cheadle conducted an audit of Nestree Ltd for the year ended 30 June 2015 .David has just started his audit of Nestree for the year ended 30 June 2016 .The audit fees for the year ended 30 June 2015 have not yet been paid? 9. Indicate the type of opinion? Answers: 1.The professional accountant Peter Harmon has violated an ethical principle by referring his client, Bunker L td to purchase computers at Computer Services Ltd so that he can earn a 10% cut. The referral advice, in which the client is to consider along with other options, is considered as a violation of fundamental principle 200.2a under code of ethics B section 200-230. In this case, the fundamental principle of objectivity has been violated that discourages biasness, any conflict of interest that can create threats, or influence on clients that can lead to change of mind on their business judgments. The violation also violates the threats and safeguard policy 200.4 under self-interest that discourages the assurance member from having direct financial interest in the audit client (Aicpa.com, 2017).2. David Smith, the auditor, violated an accounting principle by referring the ten clients to Allied Insurance even if he did not let the insurance know. The fundamental principle 200.2a on objectivity, that discourages biasness and undue influence that can override the clients professional or business judgment. Furthermore, the referral of these clients is not in his profession and has no legal authority to be referring clients to the insurance firm, the risk management department for the case of firms and insurance expert on individual case, conduct such a duty for the case of individuals (Ncsu.edu, 2017) .3. Wrench and company, Chartered Accountants, clients record have no problem with the involvement of auditors in data entrance, the violation of accounting policy arises when they allow clients to use the same computers during free time. The act of permitting the clients to use the computers can compromise the privacy and confidence of the clients in the register. The principle that can be violated by the accounting firm is under fundamental principles on confidentiality. It states that, the accountant should respect the confidentiality of the information obtained from the client as a result of business and professional relationship and has no right to disclose the information to any other party without the clients consent unless under legal obligation(our work, 2017).4. Stephanie Barrys professional relationship with Williams Pty Ltd, which is at the same time working with another public accountant for its management services, is violating the principles due to conflict of interest . Furthermore the act of sending monthly literature to the client regarding, unsolicited, worsens the chances of threats. The principle violated is found in code of ethics B section 200-230 under changes in professional appointment 210.6, that require a professional accountant, considering tendering for an engagement that is at the point being held by another professional should consider all the threats that come along with such a gesture. Stephanie Barrys has also violated principle 200.12 that requires the new auditor to notify to write to the existing auditor and notify him of the requests made by the client. Stephanie has not done so, furthermore, the unsolicited literature betrays the companys confidentiality (Icaew.com, 2017). 5. Katrina Ng involvement with a non-profit organization as a director discredits the engagement of the accounting firm. If the accounting firm was to engage an audit, for non-profit organization, it would violate the accounting code 200.7 that highlights familiarity threats. The code discourages the engagement with a client whose member of the audit team team is a close family member or a director or used to be an officer of the client and a member of the audit team who has a family member who is in apposition of influence in the clients firm. 6. Peter Beattie to be providing many services to one client at the same time, the engagement in which the accountant has with the client is far much better to both parties as the accountant is able to provide comprehensive advice due to the knowledge has gathered from the clients records. On the clients side the business will incur less service cost as it has an advantage of bargaining for the service fee. However all this is in order provide that the client observes the code of ethics 210.6, that states that before a professional accountant in public practice accepts an engagement with a client, the accountant is to evaluate whether the engagement complies with the fundamental principle. E.g. Assess whether the required competence such as current development in practise, legislation and techniques, necessary to carry out the engagement (Craswell, 2016).7. The Hornsby Auditors should in fact be arrested for advertising their services, as it not only violates the accounting code of conduct but the law of the land as well. An auditor is at all times prohibited from advertising accounting and auditing services leave alone belittles other auditing firms. The code of ethics states that an accounting firm shall not fetch clients by any means of communication or advertising, whether written, electronic or oral, in a manner that is deceptive, promote unsupported claims,make comparisons with other firms or claim to influence any regulatory body (Disciplinary Process, 2017) .8. David Cheadle, Davids actions seem to emanate from lack of knowledge on the code of ethics that allows an accountant to practice the right to lien, which is withholding the audit reports, not conducting any further audit until the fee from a previous audit is fully paid, or some sort of an agreement is reached upon. The code of ethics 210.16 under the transfer of records that states that an professional public accountant is to honor promptly with any justifiable plea to hand over the audit records to the client and may have the right to lien if there are any unpaid fees pertaining to the audit. Though the court directs that no lien can be exercised over company books or documents of a registered company that are made available for the audit (Dunmore and Sarah, 2013). 9. Qualified opinionThree major customer account receivables were not confirmed by the client. However through the reconciliation of the accounts receivable in the subsidiary ledger, the auditor was able to verify the transaction. It was confirmed that the transactions recorded in accounts receivable were valid, authentic and belonged to the respective clients. The balance represented on the subsidiary ledger is accurate and all the unallocated accounts have been properly written off (Duska and Duska, 2003). Therefore, the auditor will offer qualified opinion because the financial records were not complete.DisclaimerThe audit was conducted in line with the Australian auditing and accounting standards. According to the standards, the auditor is required to have a complete plan that shows how the audit is to take place. The audit aimed at identifying whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement that may arise from improper records. The audit process included exami ning the biasness of the records, collection of evidences the amounts recorded on the statements and disclosures on financial statements. The process also engaged in evaluation of accounting principles used as well as the estimates made by management and overall financial statement presentation. From the process conducted, we believe we have done the necessary enough to base our opinion. However, we did not audit property plant and equipment that is reflected on the balance sheet to comprise the 20% of the total assets. In our opinion, the assets reflected on the balance sheet are inconclusive, as they do not comprise our full evaluation as result of the restriction by the client to audit the property plant and equipment (Eshleman and Lawson, 2016).QualifiedThe audit was conducted in line with the Australian auditing and accounting standards. According to the standards, the auditor is required to have a complete plan that shows how the audit is to take place. The audit aimed at iden tifying whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement that may arise from improper records. The audit process included examining the biasness of the records, collection of evidences the amounts recorded on the statements and disclosures on financial statements. The process also engaged in evaluation of accounting principles used as well as the estimates made by management and overall financial statement presentation. From the process conducted, we believe we have done the necessary enough to base our opinion. Consequently, the client has not fully disclosed the information about a contingent liability; the records on the report are as of the previous audits, which are not reliable as per now. The non-disclosure has frustrated the conclusion of our report as the information is necessary to ascertain the state of the business therefore the report drafted indicate that the business has an qualified audit (Ghosh and Lustgarten, 2006). DisclaimerThe audit was conducted in line with the Australian auditing and accounting standards. According to the standards, the auditor is required to have a complete plan that shows how the audit is to take place. The audit aimed at identifying whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement that may arise from improper records. The audit process included examining the biasness of the records, collection of evidences the amounts recorded on the statements and disclosures on financial statements. The process also engaged in evaluation of accounting principles used as well as the estimates made by management and overall financial statement presentation. From the process conducted, we believe we have done the necessary enough to base our opinion. According to the code of conducts and ethics in audit and accounting, we conducted an audit on the business and unearthed some factors involving the business such as inconsistent financial records have prompted the unqualif ied report on the business (Guy et al, 2013). Unqualified The audit to this firm was in accordance to the accounting standards. The presented report is a comprehensive report based on the records and information presented by the client as well as the observation. Though the client refused to disclose the opening balances of accounts at the start of the financial year, the information provided is consistence as it was obtained from previous audits a move that is consistent with the law (Accaglobal.com, 2017).Qualified The audit was conducted in line with the Australian auditing and accounting standards. According to the standards, the auditor is required to have a complete plan that shows how the audit is to take place. The audit aimed at identifying whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement that may arise from improper records. The audit process included examining the biasness of the records, collection of evidences the amounts recorded on the statements and disclosures on financial statements. The proce ss also engaged in evaluation of accounting principles used as well as the estimates made by management and overall financial statement presentation. From the process conducted, we believe we have done the necessary enough to base our opinion. The audit activities were marred by the inconsistency of accounts record that was presented by the client. The report presented is qualified as it is based on the facts audited in the business, the inconsistency arise from improper accounting practices on the business side. The audit relied heavily on original transactions and records to base its opinion (Lehman, 2007).QualifiedThe audit we have conducted on the firm prove to repot accurate record pertaining is activities, however the repot is qualified due to improper use of inventory management policy that has led to variation in the inventory value. The company has broken the law on inventory management as it applies last in fist out inventory management, rather than, first in first out man agement of inventory, that is advocated by the standards of accounting.Since the company never took physical count of inventories; we were unable to use further audit procedures to satisfy our audit on inventory quantities. The size of our audit was not satisfactory to warrant us to express our opinion, and therefore we do not express, any opinion based on this information provided (Lennox and Park, 2007).Disclaimer We conducted an audit to this firm in accordance to the accounting standards. The presented report is a comprehensive report based on the records and information presented by the client as well as the observation. Though the client refused to disclose the opening balances of accounts at the start of the financial year, the information provided is consistence as it was obtained from previous audits a move that is consistent with the law References Aicpa.com. (2017). audit and accounting. [online] Available at: https://www.aicpa.org/Research/Standards/AuditAttest/DownloadableDocuments/AU-00508.pdf [Accessed 29 Jan. 2017].Accaglobal.com, A. (2017). Rulebook | ACCA Global. [online] Accaglobal.com. Available at: https://www.accaglobal.com/pk/en/member/standards/rules-and-standards/rulebook.html [Accessed 29 Jan. 2017].Ncsu.edu. (2017). Audit Report Examples. [online] Available at: https://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/b/buckless/www/audrpt450.htm [Accessed 29 Jan. 2017].Icaew.com. (2017). Code of Ethics B section 200-230 | ICAEW. [online] Available at: https://www.icaew.com/en/membership/regulations-standards-and-guidance/ethics/code-of-ethics-b/part-b-200-230 [Accessed 29 Jan. 2017].Craswell, A. (2016). Audit qualifications in Australia, 1950 to 1979. 1st ed. New York: Garland Pub.Disciplinary Process.(2017). Disciplinary Process. [online] Available at: https://www.irba.co.za/guidance-to-ras/disciplinary-process [Accessed 29 Jan. 201 7].Dunmore, P. and Sarah Shao, Y. (2013). Audit and Non?Audit Fees: New Zealand Evidence. Pacific Accounting Review, 18(2), pp.32-46.Duska, R. and Duska, B. (2003). Accounting ethics.1st ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.Eshleman, J. and Lawson, B. (2016). Audit Market Structure and Audit Pricing. Accounting Horizons.Ghosh, A. and Lustgarten, S. (2006). Pricing of Initial Audit Engagements by Large and Small Audit Firms. Contemporary Accounting Research, 23(2), pp.333-368.Guy, D., Carmichael, D. and Lach, L. (2013). Ethics for CPAs.1st ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.Lehman, C. (2007). Independent accounts. 1st ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.Lennox, C. and Park, C. (2007). Audit Firm Appointments, Audit Firm Alumni, and Audit Committee Independence. Contemporary Accounting Research, 24(1), pp.235-258.McPhail, K. (2014). Accounting ethics. 1st ed.