Investigating The Financial Statements Of A Company

The auditor must remember that all information collected during the audit needs to be sufficient enough to further the audit process. The information must not only possess the two qualities, relevance and reliability, but it should also test various assertions. For instance, in the audit of Walmart, the auditor should make an attempt to acquire information such as financial statements from the company’s bank, as opposed to acquiring the statements from Walmart’s management. Taking such crucial information from Walmart’s management will put the reliability of that information into question. It is possible that management may manipulate the financial statements, so that they are more appealing to the public and investors. Management may do things

17) The risk that the auditor will NOT detect a material misstatement that exists in an assertion is

The auditor must obtain a sufficient understanding of the entity and its environment, including its internal control, to assess the risk of material misstatement of the FS whether due to error or fraud and to

The media article indicated that Coles was facing more than $4 million fines, as ACCC argued its behaviour of lying about bread freshness could constitute breach of consumer law (SMH 2015). As the total amount of fines could be considerable, along with a negative impact on reputation, Coles could have entered into financial distress. The reason I chose this article was that most Australian people shop in Coles every week, thus the case is closely related to our life which is worth talking about. Besides, the article covered issue of sales and non-compliance of law which often attract auditors’ attention. The event mentioned in the article posed a risk to auditors in terms of inherent risk. Inherent risk means an auditor fails to identify or correctly understand the business risks that could result in material misstatement (Clubb 2015b). It is apparent that Coles’ behaviour is a non-compliance of law, which is included in business risk (Clubb 2015b). Therefore, auditors need to better understand the event highlighted in the article to increase the possibility of uncovering material misstatement. Auditors are held accountable for the problem because the problem may relate to potential misstatement in financial statements. If an auditor fails to uncover the misstatement, it is likely that he or she will issue a false opinion. However, auditor should express a true and fair view to increase the confidence of the external

Two traditional approaches to fund programs are grants and donations. Grant funding is typically the largest revenue source for a human service organization. Vast arrays of different grants are available for funding purposes. The XYZ Corporation can utilize these funds from government private foundations. The second traditional fundraising method to fund programs is donations. Building a relationship with the community and having a confident CEO that will reach out for donations can impact the amount of donations your organization receives annually. The XYZ Corporation has a large clientele and therefore should be able to gain recognition within the community and gain donations.

An important decision for any shareholder is deciding whether or not to do business with that company. When a business is audited, the operations are reviewed to make sure that nothing is being hidden. An auditor will review the company’s financial statement and practices to confirm that each are direct and correct. The financial statements are the business’s way of representing them and showing that they are following the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The audit process is an important one because it provides a platform for the auditor’s opinion concerning the financial statements of the company. As part of the audit process the auditor will conduct an audit plan that outlines a number of actions that he or she will be perform while also detailing the reason for those actions. With every audit, the business’s management is in charge of handing over the financial statements that the auditor will review; while the auditor will review the statements for any material or immaterial misstatements.

There are many rules companies must follow whenever documenting financial information or any other data which is gather during any business transactions. In order for said companies to report financial information internal controls have to be put in place as companies have to adhere to certain laws and regulations. Internal controls can be defined as a process which companies follow in order to ensure all financial reporting is done in a reliable and lawful manner. Some think of it as a system which works within a system as it plays a major role on the success of a company’s accounting system. At the organizational level, internal control objectives relate to the reliability of financial

Section 404 of the act requires that the auditor attest to and issue a report on management’s assessment of internal control over financial reporting. To express an opinion on internal controls, the auditor obtains an understanding of and performs tests of controls related to all significant account balances, classes of transactions, and disclosures and related assertions in the financial statements (Arens, 2010).

The risk of material misstatement refers to the risk that the financial statements are materially misstated. Auditing Standard No. 12, Identifying and Assessing Risks of Material Misstatement, indicates that the auditor should assess the risks of material misstatement at two levels: at the financial statement level and at the assertion level. Risks of material misstatement at the financial statement level pervasively to the financial statements as a whole and potentially affect many assertions. Risks of material misstatement at the financial statement level may be especially relevant to the auditor’s consideration of the risk of material misstatement due to fraud. For example, an ineffective control environment, a lack of sufficient capital to continue operations, and declining conditions affecting the company’s industry might create pressures or opportunities for management to manipulate the financial statements, leading to higher risk of material misstatement (“Auditing Standard No. 8,” 2010).

Auditors are faced with the very difficult task of insuring the public, that in their opinion, the financial statements of their clients are accurate and free of any material misstatements. The problem is that materiality is a subjective figure. In the North Face case an immaterial revenue recognition entry ended up being material when compounded with additional misstatements.

It is easy to forget that pouring money into a problem will not fix it unless revenue flows continue or are increased and expenses are controlled. Some of the easiest computations can be made with information retrieved from balance sheets and income statements provided by accountants. Ratios such as the current ratio, long-term solvency ratio, contribution ratio, programs and expense ratio, general and management expense ratio, fund-raising and expense ratio, and revenue and expense ratio can provide a picture of where a company stands now compared to where it was in past years and what may need to be done in the future.

The auditor must obtain an understanding of the entity and its environment, including internal controls, so that they can identify and assess the risks of material misstatement on financial statements due to fraud or error and design and perform further audit procedures.

This article initiates with the introduction on what is audit planning. It basically addresses the audit plan strategy of K & S Corporation limited’s Financial Statements. Being an external auditor of the company, key factors to be considered in auditing the financials of the subject company have been discussed in the article. The most significant accounts at risk being materially misstated have been critically examined citing the possible risks associated with such accounts. Last but not the least, the article concludes with recommendations with respect to audit assessment plan of the company. Hence, this article seeks to act as a ready reckoner guide for an audit manager in audit planning of K & S Corporation Limited.

An important function of the accounting field is to provide external users of financial statements with assurance that the financial information being presented is both reliable and accurate. This basic function of accounting is so important that there is an entire field of experts, called auditors, dedicated to assuring its proper performance. Throughout history there have been many instances in which the basic equilibrium between an institution and current/potential investor has been threatened due to a lack of accountability and trust between the two parties. This issue has been the catalyst for many discussions regarding the proper procedures a firm should follow in order to provide

The role of internal audit is to provide independent declaration that an organization’s threatadministration, governance and internal control processes are functioning effectively. Internal auditors deal with concerns that are essentially important to the existence and success of any organization. Unlike external auditors, they aspect beyond financial possibilities and statements to reflect wider problems such as the organization’s reputation, development, its power on the location and the approach it treats its organizations.In summary, internal accountantssupport organizations to thrive.