Hide-It (HI), a family-owned business based in Tombstone, Arizona, builds custom homes with special features, such as hidden rooms and hidden wall safes. Hide-It has been an audit client for three years.
You are about to sign off on a “clean” opinion on HI’s current annual financial statements when Art Hyde, the VP-Finance, calls to tell you that the Arizona Department of Revenue has seized control of a Hide-It bank account that includes about $450,000 of company funds; the account is not currently recorded in the accounting system and you had been unaware of it. In response to your questions about the origin of the funds, Art assures you that the funds, though not recorded as revenue, had been obtained legitimately. He explains that all of the money came from separately billed but unrecorded change orders to items in contracts completed before you became HI’s auditor, and before he or any members of current management became involved with the company. You subsequently determine that there is insufficient evidence to allow you to reconstruct the nature of these cash transactions, although the following analysis is available from the Arizona Department of Revenue:
Art also informs you that HI has agreed to pay a combined tax and penalty of 12 percent on the total funds deposited within 120 days as required by a recently enacted rule that provides amnesty for tax evaders. Furthermore, he states that negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service are in process.
Required:
- a. The professional standards define errors as unintentional misstatements or omissions of amounts or disclosures in the financial statements. Is the situation described an error?
- b. The professional standards state that fraud relates to intentional misstatements or omissions of amounts or disclosures in the financial statements. Misstatements due to fraud may occur due to either (1) fraudulent financial reporting or (2) misappropriation of assets. Does the situation appear to be fraud? If so, is it fraudulent financial reporting, misappropriation of assets, or both?
- c. The professional standards outline certain auditor responsibilities relating to identifying client noncompliance with laws and distinguish between laws with a “direct effect” on the financial statements and other laws. Does the situation herein relate to noncompliance with laws as discussed within the auditing standards? If so, is the noncompliance related to a law with a direct effect on the financial statements or another law.
- d. Should the CPA firm resign in this situation? If the decision is not clear-cut, what additional information would you desire before deciding?
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Chapter 2 Solutions
GEN COMBO LL PRINCIPLES OF AUDITING & OTHER ASSURANCE SERVICES; CONNECT AC
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- Dave Czarnecki is the managing partner of Czarnecki and Hogan, a medium-sized local CPA firm located outside of Chicago. Over lunch, he is surprised when his friend Juarez Foley asks him, “Doesn’t it bother you that your clients don’t look forward to seeing their auditors each year?” Dave responds, “Well, auditing is only one of several services we provide. Most of our work for clients does not involve financial statement audits, and our audit clients seem to like interacting with us.” Identify ways in which a financial statement audit adds value for clients. List services other than audits that Czarnecki and Hogan likely provides. Assume Czarnecki and Hogan has hired you as a consultant to identify ways in which they can expand their practice. Identify at least one additional service that you believe the firm should provide and explain why you believe this represents a growth opportunity for CPA firms.arrow_forwardRay, the owner of a small entity, asked Holmes, CPA, to conduct an audit of the entity’s records. Ray told Holmes that the audit was to be completed in time to submit audited financial statements to a bank as part of a loan application. Holmes immediately accepted the engagement and agreed to provide an auditors’ report within three weeks. Ray agreed to pay Holmes a fixed fee plus a bonus if the loan was granted.Holmes hired two accounting students to conduct the audit and spent several hours telling them exactly what to do. Holmes told the students not to spend time reviewing the controls but instead to concentrate on proving the mathematical accuracy of the ledger accounts and on summarizing the data in the accounting records that support Ray’s financial statements. The students followed Holmes’ instructions and, after two weeks, gave Holmes the financial statements, which did not include footnotes. Holmes studied the statements and prepared an unmodified auditors’ report. The…arrow_forwardJacqueline Mensah, manager of Expert Building Company, is a valued and trusted employee. She has been with the company from its start two years ago. Because of the demand of her job, he has not taken a vacation since she began working. She is in charge of recording collections on account, making the daily bank deposits, and reconciling the bank statement. Late last year, clients began complaining to you, the Managing Director, about incorrect statements. As Managing Director, you want to investigate this matter. Jacqueline tells you there is nothing to worry about. The problem is due to the slow mail: customers payments and statement are crossing in the mail. Because clients were not complaining last year, you doubt the mail is the primary reason for the problem. Required: What might be some of the reasons for the delay? What should be done to make sure the problems are avoided in the future?arrow_forward
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- Auditing: A Risk Based-Approach (MindTap Course L...AccountingISBN:9781337619455Author:Karla M Johnstone, Audrey A. Gramling, Larry E. RittenbergPublisher:Cengage Learning