11.7 Flashcards
An auditor’s purpose in reviewing credit ratings of customers with delinquent accounts receivable most likely is to obtain evidence concerning relevant assertions about
Valuation and allocation.
Assertions about valuation and allocation address whether (1) assets, liabilities, and equity interests are included in the financial statements at appropriate amounts and (2) resulting adjustments are properly recorded. Determining the net realizable value of accounts receivable includes assessing whether the client’s allowance for uncollectibility is reasonable. Reviewing the credit ratings of delinquent customers provides evidence for that purpose.
An auditor reconciles the total of the accounts receivable subsidiary ledger to the general ledger control account, as of October 31. By this procedure, the auditor would be most likely to learn of which of the following?
An opening balance in a subsidiary ledger account was improperly carried forward from the previous accounting period.
By reconciling the accounts receivable ledger to the general ledger control account, transfer misstatements will be identified.
Which of the following would be a consideration in planning a sample for a test of subsequent cash receipts?
Preliminary judgments about materiality levels.
Judgments about materiality will affect the sample sizes in a variables sampling plan. The smaller the levels of materiality, the larger the sample sizes needed to support the auditor’s conclusions.
When auditing a client’s statement of cash flows, an auditor will rely primarily upon
Cross-referencing to balances and transactions considered in connection with the audit of the other financial statements.
The statement of cash flows represents balances taken from the other statements as well as analysis of changes in those balances. Consequently, this statement is audited in conjunction with the balance sheet and income statement accounts.
An auditor ordinarily sends a standard confirmation request to all banks with which the client has done business during the year under audit, regardless of the year-end balance. A purpose of this procedure is to
Seek information about other deposit and loan amounts that come to the attention of the institution in the process of completing the confirmation.
The AICPA Standard Form to Confirm Account Balance Information with Financial Institutions is used to confirm specifically listed deposit and loan balances. Nevertheless, the standard confirmation form contains this language: “Although we do not request or expect you to conduct a comprehensive, detailed search of your records, if, during the process of completing this confirmation, additional information about other deposit and loan accounts we may have with you comes to your attention, please include such information below.”
An independent auditor asked a client’s internal auditor to assist in preparing a standard financial institution confirmation request for a payroll account that had been closed during the year under audit. After the internal auditor prepared the form, the controller signed it and mailed it to the bank. What was the major flaw in this procedure?
The form was mailed by the controller.
The AICPA Standard Form to Confirm Account Balance Information with Financial Institutions is used for specific deposits and loans. A confirmation is signed (requested) by the client, but it should be sent by the auditor. Thus, the auditor should control confirmation requests and responses. Control means direct communication between the intended recipient and the auditor to minimize possible bias of the results because of interception and alteration of the requests or responses.
The primary purpose of sending a standard confirmation request to financial institutions with which the client has done business during the year is to
Corroborate information regarding deposit and loan balances.
The AICPA Standard Form to Confirm Account Balance Information with Financial Institutions is used to confirm specifically listed deposit and loan balances. The form confirms the account name, account number, interest rate, and balance for deposits.
An auditor’s analytical procedures performed during the overall review stage indicated that the client’s accounts receivable had doubled since the end of the prior year. However, the allowance for doubtful accounts as a percentage of accounts receivable remained about the same. Which of the following client explanations most likely would satisfy the auditor?
The client opened a second retail outlet in the current year, and its credit sales approximately equaled those of the older, established outlet.
Typically, an increase in accounts receivable usually indicates that a company is either increasing sales or making its credit terms less stringent. If a company is making its credit terms less stringent, then it should have a corresponding increase in the allowance for doubtful accounts because it is more likely that customers will default on payments. Because the allowance for doubtful account percentage remained the same, a reasonable explanation is that sales increased.
The usefulness of the standard bank confirmation request may be limited because the bank employee who completes the form may
Be unaware of all the financial relationships that the bank has with the client.
The standard form is designed to substantiate only the information that is stated on the confirmation request. Thus, the auditor should be aware that the standard form is not intended to elicit evidence about the completeness assertion. The individual completing the form may not be aware of all the financial relationships that the bank has with the client.
An auditor suspects that a client’s cashier is misappropriating cash receipts for personal use by lapping customer checks received in the mail. In attempting to uncover this embezzlement scheme, the auditor most likely would compare the
Dates checks are deposited per bank statements with the dates remittance credits are recorded.
Lapping involves recording current cash payments on accounts receivable as credits to prior customers’ accounts to conceal a theft of cash. Comparing the date that a customer’s check was deposited with the date a record was made to reduce the balance determines whether the deposit was made prior to the recording date.
Analytical procedures performed during an audit indicate that accounts receivable doubled since the end of the prior year. However, the allowance for doubtful accounts as a percentage of accounts receivable remained about the same. Which of the following client explanations would satisfy the auditor?
The client opened a second retail outlet during the current year, and its credit sales approximately equaled the older outlet.
Opening a second outlet with about the same credit sales as the first explains the receivables effects. Given no change in credit policy, the characteristics of the customers served, or economic conditions, the ratio of doubtful accounts should not change.
An auditor discovered that a client’s accounts receivable turnover is substantially lower for the current year than for the prior year. This may indicate that
There was an improper cutoff of sales at the end of the year.
The receivables turnover equals net credit sales divided by average receivables. An improper sales cutoff could result in recognition of next-year sales in the current year. The effect of adding the amount of these presumably uncollected receivables to the numerator and denominator is to decrease a ratio that exceeds 1.0.
If the objective of a test of details is to detect overstatements of sales, the auditor should compare transactions in the
Accounting records to source documents.
Overstatements of sales likely result from entries with no supporting documentation. The proper direction of testing is to sample entries in the sales account and vouch them to the shipping documents. The source documents represent the valid sales.
Which of the following is not a principal objective of the auditor in the audit of revenues?
To verify cash deposited during the year.
The verification of cash deposits during the year is not part of the audit of revenues. Verification of cash and marketable securities is undertaken as a separate part of the audit program.
During the process of confirming receivables as of December 31, Year 1, a positive confirmation was returned indicating the “balance owed as of December 31 was paid on January 9, Year 2.” The auditor would most likely
Verify that the amount was received.
Responses to confirmation requests that involve significant differences are investigated by the auditor. Others are delegated to client employees with a request that explanations be given to the auditor. Such differences often arise because of recent cash payments. In that event, the auditor should trace remittances to verify that stated amounts were received.
