Auditing: Financial Audit and Inventory

As focusing on each of the five management assertions for the inventory account, we discovered that there are some risky areas that indicate the need for further attention during the audit. First of all, for existence or occurrence, all items in the inventory account must physically exist and be available for sale. Thus, the auditors should physically count finished goods, copper rod, and plastic inventories, and determine actual increase of inventories at year end. Also, they should select items from the inventory ledger and locate them and reconcile the quantity. Second, for completeness, the auditors should make sure that all existing inventories have been recorded completely , go around the warehouse and ensure all the inventories are recorded in the inventory ledger. Third, for valuation or allocation, the auditors should make sure that Laramie Wire manufacturing sticks with one valuation method(For inventory items, valuation is based on the lower of cost or market value, with several alternative methods for calculating cost), find out if there is any scrap inventory that needs to be recorded and written off ,and ask about obsolescence items. Fourth, for rights and obligations, the auditor should ask them if there is any consigned inventory at their warehouse. If there is, those inventories should not be recorded in the company's inventory ledger. Finally, for presentation and disclosure, the auditors should review the company's financial

Also he may conduct bank reconciliations on pertinent accounts to make sure no discrepancies or misstatements are found. The auditor should also perform vertical and horizontal analysis for the income statements and balance sheets by the use of ratios.

This control is directly related to the accuracy transaction-related audit objective for sales. The auditor might test the effectiveness of this control by examining a sample of duplicate sales invoices for the clerk’s initials indicating that the unit selling price was verified.

The process requires Peyton Approved to discover how much inventory is sold and what the cost of goods will result in. The process requires the business to review three forms of merchandise inventory to determine which summary benefits the business’s operational behavior. One will discover when assuming that first inventory purchased by the store is the first to be sold, it is determined that the FIFO method displays the best financial outcome for the business. During the process of updating journal entries, one must enter the information proved appropriately into the T-accounts to add the balance under each record. Once the T-accounts for transactions and adjusted transactions are balanced, the next step is to enter the information provided on the balance sheet. The balance sheet will list Peyton Approved assets, liabilities and stockholders equity after added during the T-account process (Nobles, 2014). Once the balance sheet is completed the income statement, statement of retained earnings, and closing entries can be filled with the information proved. This will give the business a full review from journal entry to closing entries of the business for the six month accounting

Read the auditor’s report included in the annual report of the company and explain its purpose. Identify the name of the auditing firm.

According to an article in the CPA Journal, the auditor considers reliability of audit evidence collected and the reliability of that evidence to reduce the risk of financial statements containing undetected material errors. Compare and contrast at least two (2) types of evidence, and make a recommendation as to which you believe is the most reliable in reducing risk. Support your position.

The client wants to know if you will be present at the year-end inventory. What is your decision and why? What role or actions will you take at the inventory if you decide to attend the inventory. Why?

I would discuss with the supervisor and coworkers about how much percentage of the inventory should be valuated so that auditors can conclude that the inventory has no material discrepancies. And also, I will negotiate with the client in order to have a little more time to finish required valuation of inventory. Since I believe that providing unqualified and faithfully represented financial reports is an essential mission of an accounting firm, and that the investors and governmental authority consider CPAs and auditors should be responsible for the quality of financial reports (the punishment is quite harsh for not doing a good job), I would intend to sacrifice more time and costs for more accurate financial information.

b. The inventory write down recorded, as an expense by the company is $4.4 million. It is measured at lower of cost and net realizable value. Cost is measured by weighted average using standard cost method or

In the early 1980 the consumer electronics industry was growing at an explosive pace. Between the 1981 and 1984 the total sales for the industry doubled. To support increasing sales massive amounts of inventory has to be procured, marked up and sold to consumers. Inventory becomes the biggest asset a retailer has. As part of the audit planning processes the inspection of the inventory system and verification of the actual inventory numbers should have been a priority. Crazy Eddie was able to inflate its financial results by fraudulently altering its inventory counts and was able to conceal these activities from the auditors for several years.

a. The falsification of inventory count sheets. – Auditors should have observed a physical count of the inventory to check for accuracy. The case had mentioned that Eddie Antar would ship inventory to his retail stores before auditors arrived to conceal any shortages. (Knapp, 2011) These sites should have been audited unannounced in order to hinder any attempt by the client to conceal fraud.

The purpose of analyzing subsequent collections because it a way to check and make sure that the existence of the action took place. Also checking subsequent collections allows the auditors to check the adequacy of the allowance for uncollectible accounts. This helps the auditor to better calculate the amount that is uncollectible from customers

The purpose of an audit is to enhance of confidence in the financial statements. An auditors opinion validates this purpose.

The auditor’s responsibilities are to audit annual financial statements and internal controls over financial reporting, and reports from the 10-Q quarterly reports. The auditor must also advice on new accounting pronouncements, and consolidating financial statements. (Intel Proxy Statement 2011, 48)