Confirmation of Accounts Receivable

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School

Temple University *

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Course

211

Subject

Accounting

Date

Nov 24, 2024

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pdf

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1

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Confirmation of Accounts Receivable The confirmation of account receivable is a required procedure during the audit of the accounts receivable. The auditor is confirming the existence of the account and the balance. The customer is considered a reliable external source for verifying the account balance. Unless the customer is related party. A confirmation is a request by the client. The letter is sent to the customer to confirm the balance in the account as shown in the customer subsidiary ledger account. An appropriate sample size must be determined. The sample should be a representation of the total population and provide reasonable methodology. The sample is often determined using a stratified, non-statistical method of selection. This method is based on the auditor’s judgement. The goal is to achieve a reasonable coverage of the total accounts receivable balance The auditor may use an accounts receivable subsidiary ledger sorted by balance from highest to lowest. How does the auditor know this list is complete? The total of the subsidiary ledger agrees with balance in the general ledger control account. Next, the auditor selects all accounts with a balance at or above a specified dollar. This threshold amount is based on materiality for accounts receivable. The remaining accounts are selected in a random manner to complete the sample. .You can see an example in the audit plan, Exhibit 3, procedure 6, which is testing all customers with a balance ≥ $1,000,000.00 plus some randomly chosen smaller accounts. Once the sample has been selected, the auditor controls the entire confirmation process. A list of customers may be given to the accounts receivable department for preparation of the confirmation letter on company letterhead. The letters are printed, and the auditor takes control of the process from the mailing to the receipt of the response. The confirmation letter requests the customer to respond directly to the accounting firm, not the company. Any confirmations sent to the company are treated as exceptions. Exemptions require the auditor to investigate the reason and determine the impact of the exception. The simplest exceptions to resolve are the ones where a timing difference is involved. Some examples of timing differences are: The customer had sent a payment before the date on the confirmation letter that the company had not received as of the date the sample was selected. The company records the sale when goods a shipped, FOB Shipping Point and the customer records the purchase when the goods are received. Goods had been returned; however, the company had not issued a credit memo to the customer’s account.
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