Auditing and ethical practice

Question: Discuss about the Auditing and Ethical Practice. Answer: 1. Threats to Fellowes and Associates The broad range of the circumstances and scenario may create threats. When there arises a threat because of the relationship and the circumstances, these threats can be compromised, or it can be perceived as compromised, a member should follow the principles and norms of the principles of the APES 110. An event can create one or more than one threat these threats may affect the compliance for one threat, and the threat may affect the compliance and the principles with the principle (Zadek et al. 2013). More than one principle may be affected at the time of the occurrences of the event. The threats may fall into the one and more of the following categories: The threat of self interest- The threat of self interest is the threat that particularly depends on the financials of the company and tends to change the judgment of the member. The threat of self review- The norms are the principles by which each of the members has to abide by looking at the financial statement of the company. The threat is evaluated on the basis of the previous judgment made by the member or the service that is performed by the member. Advocacy threat: The threat of advocacy is the threat where the objectivity of the member are compromised. The threat that the clients position will be promoted to the higher level. The threat of familiarity: This type of threat is the threat that provides the close relationship with the employer and the client. The member should be connected to the interest or with respect to the work that the member is doing. The threat to intimidation: The threat that is connected with the objectivity. The objectivity of the company is perceived by the members and establishes the pressure on the member. 2. Safeguards According to APES 110 the safeguards of the principles are defined as the actions and the actions that may be levied to eliminate the threats that are faced by the company of form or the organization. The safeguards of the Act are divided into two categories: Safeguard that is created by the profession or are created by the legislation. Safeguard that is created by the work environment where one is working. However, the safeguards of the Act are compulsory and come into act when the member sees that the threats are not abiding by the law. The acceptable level of the threat are determined to be the threat that the third party that is concluding and giving their judgment has concluded the same with respect to the threat and is well informed about the threat. The third party takes into consideration all the facts available and reviewing the circumstances that is available with the firm as well with the third party who is reviewing the financial statements. The compliance and the norms are not compromised. The ethical conflict considers that the members have to abide by the law and resolve the conflict, which complies with the existing principles and norms of the principles. While resolving the ethical conflict the following factors may be considered relevant; The facts that are relevant The involvement of the ethical issues The internal procedures The courses of the action However, considering the above-mentioned points the member must take into account the appropriate course of action, taking into account the consequences that are attached with the each possible course of action. It should include the consulted decision of the other persons and the governance must be consulted. According to the issue that are faced by the members the issue that are faced by the members, the substance of the issue and the detailed discussion over the issue that has been held by the members with the third party reviewer must have an detailed documentation. Moreover, there can be the case where the conflicts cannot be resolved; states that the members can take the advice from the professionals or may seek the advice from the legal advisers and thus, ensure that the principles that are used shall not be breached. The confidentiality can be achieved with the help of the discussing the issues with the legal advisers on an anonymous basis or consult the issue with the professional body. The principles of the APES 110 states that a member should not remain with the issue if the ethical conflicts are unresolved. A member should refuse to remain with the same issue. Section 200 includes many instances of the threats that are thus, been made in the public practice and the Act also provides the safeguards to eliminate these threats. A member that is included with respect to the public practice must not legally take the custody of the assets of the clients until it is permitted by the law. For example, assuming the custody of the client assets may create the threat of the self-interest to the professional behavior and the objectivity. Under, Section 270 states the custody of the client assets a member of the public practice shall not take into account the custody of the assets of the clients until and unless it is permitted by the law to do the same (Ferrell Fraedrich 2015). Therefore, the member may keep the firms assets separate from that of the personal assets. Firm will be accounted for all those liabilities that are levied on the assets and any income that is generated by the assets and the income and a dividend that is generated by the assets are provided to the firm. Reference Zadek, S., Evans, R., Pruzan, P. (2013).Building corporate accountability: Emerging practice in social and ethical accounting and auditing. Routledge. Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J. (2015).Business ethics: Ethical decision making cases. Nelson Education. Auditing and ethical practice Question : Discuss about the Auditor ? Answer : Introducation The broad range of the circumstances and scenario may create threats. When there arises a threat because of the relationship and the circumstances, these threats can be compromised, or it can be perceived as compromised, a member should follow the principles and norms of the principles of the APES 110. An event can create one or more than one threat these threats may affect the compliance for one threat, and the threat may affect the compliance and the principles with the principle (Zadek et al. 2013). More than one principle may be affected at the time of the occurrences of the event. The threats may fall into the one and more of the following categories: The threat of self interest- The threat of self interest is the threat that particularly depends on the financials of the company and tends to change the judgment of the member. The threat of self review- The norms are the principles by which each of the members has to abide by looking at the financial statement of the company. The threat is evaluated on the basis of the previous judgment made by the member or the service that is performed by the member. Advocacy threat: The threat of advocacy is the threat where the objectivity of the member are compromised. The threat that the clients position will be promoted to the higher level. The threat of familiarity: This type of threat is the threat that provides the close relationship with the employer and the client. The member should be connected to the interest or with respect to the work that the member is doing. The threat to intimidation: The threat that is connected with the objectivity. The objectivity of the company is perceived by the members and establishes the pressure on the member. According to APES 110 the safeguards of the principles are defined as the actions and the actions that may be levied to eliminate the threats that are faced by the company of form or the organization. The safeguards of the Act are divided into two categories: Safeguard that is created by the profession or are created by the legislation. Safeguard that is created by the work environment where one is working. However, the safeguards of the Act are compulsory and come into act when the member sees that the threats are not abiding by the law. The acceptable level of the threat are determined to be the threat that the third party that is concluding and giving their judgment has concluded the same with respect to the threat and is well informed about the threat. The third party takes into consideration all the facts available and reviewing the circumstances that is available with the firm as well with the third party who is reviewing the financial statements. The compliance and the norms are not compromised. The ethical conflict considers that the members have to abide by the law and resolve the conflict, which complies with the existing principles and norms of the principles. While resolving the ethical conflict the following factors may be considered relevant; The facts that are relevant The involvement of the ethical issues The internal procedures The courses of the action However, considering the above-mentioned points the member must take into account the appropriate course of action, taking into account the consequences that are attached with the each possible course of action. It should include the consulted decision of the other persons and the governance must be consulted. According to the issue that are faced by the members the issue that are faced by the members, the substance of the issue and the detailed discussion over the issue that has been held by the members with the third party reviewer must have an detailed documentation. Moreover, there can be the case where the conflicts cannot be resolved; states that the members can take the advice from the professionals or may seek the advice from the legal advisers and thus, ensure that the principles that are used shall not be breached. The confidentiality can be achieved with the help of the discussing the issues with the legal advisers on an anonymous basis or consult the issue with the professional body. The principles of the APES 110 states that a member should not remain with the issue if the ethical conflicts are unresolved. A member should refuse to remain with the same issue. Section 200 includes many instances of the threats that are thus, been made in the public practice and the Act also provides the safeguards to eliminate these threats. A member that is included with respect to the public practice must not legally take the custody of the assets of the clients until it is permitted by the law. For example, assuming the custody of the client assets may create the threat of the self-interest to the professional behavior and the objectivity. Under, Section 270 states the custody of the client assets a member of the public practice shall not take into account the custody of the assets of the clients until and unless it is permitted by the law to do the same (Ferrell Fraedrich 2015). Therefore, the member may keep the firms assets separate from that of the personal assets. Firm will be accounted for all those liabilities that are levied on the assets and any income that is generated by the assets and the income and a dividend that is generated by the assets are provided to the firm. Reference Zadek, S., Evans, R., Pruzan, P. (2013).Building corporate accountability: Emerging practice in social and ethical accounting and auditing. Routledge. Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J. (2015).Business ethics: Ethical decision making cases. Nelson Education. Auditing and Ethical Practice Question: Discuss about the Auditing and Ethical Practice. Answer: Intending Accountant Threat It had been found by Tania Fellowes, the partner of the audit team in 2014 before accepting the assignment, that one of the intended team member of the audit team for HCGC is holding the shares of the HCGC group. It is a probable threat to the independence of the audit team as the audit performance of HCGC may be dictated by that intended accountant to find some confidential financial information which may have the ability to control the stock price of HCGC in near future. As the auditor, Fellowes and Associates, was offered the assignment of audit work of HCGC group, the audit team and its members would have to come across the financial information of the company which may be vital for its future performance so far revenue and subsequent profit is concerned. As these are directly related to the factors which govern the stock price of the company, the information is precious for the stockholders of the company. This threat is defined as Self Interest Threat as specified in APES 110 vide section 100.12(a). It is to be given main emphasis that the appointment of the auditors are made by the investors of the company to project the true accomplishment of objective through financial statements generated from financial information. Hence the primary job of the auditors is to ensure project true and fair projection of facts as per available information gathered from the financial transactions of the company for a certain period. If any person is involved in this operation with the background of shareholder of the company, it may influence his performance through the effort of finding out the information. This information may be beneficiary for the investors with future action plan to be chalked out with the help of the information (Apesb, 2008). Safeguard To safeguard the independence of the auditors to perform duties complying with the code of ethics as specified in APESB guideline, there are two options for the management of the audit team related to that intended accountant for the audit work of HCGC- a) he should not be included in the audit work of HCGC at all, or b) he can be deployed in the audit activities in such extent from where he can not access the final stage of the financial reports which can prove conclusive to find out the financial health of the organization. This is to ensure that the financial report or its excerpts should not be divulged to anybody who has direct interest related to the financial performance of the company. Moreover before the stipulated time of disclosing the annual financial report, the report or any part of such report should not be leaked out to the third parties as this is clearly an act of breach of conduct so far ethical practice of auditors are concerned. This is specified in APES 110 thro ugh Code 100.16 (Cpaaustralia, 2014). Evaluation of Intellectual Property Threat As per APES 110, the threat of evaluation of intellectual property is falling under 100.12(b) named as Self Review Threat. As intellectual property is falling under the long term asset category under the sub heading of intangible assets, which can neither be valued nor viewed in material aspect, threat of evaluation of the same can only be done through the process patent or copyright valuation. As it is contributing to the assets of the company, proper evaluation is necessary. Higher or lower value detection of intellectual property leads to subsequent impact in the asset of the company which will not portraying the actual image of the financial position of the company (Ifac, 2006). Safeguard Refer to APESB; the action related to evaluation of intangible assets is the duty of the management as per section 290.162 and 291.143. It is duty of the auditors to find out probable threats and safeguard the same. Respective safeguard in the evaluation of intellectual property of any organization is featured with prospective steps through Code 100.18 and 100.19 of APES 110 on the part of the auditors. The related safeguards are prescribed with the provisions which are mainly to emphasize dependence in relevant detailed facts, along with other factors like standard principle followed regarding the practice of the matter, the practiced standardized system followed by the corporate internally with the option of alternative action through invitation of involvement by the Board of Directors or the Audit Committee who can add value through their expertise suggestions. These steps can be opted with the objective of mitigating the risk of evaluation of intellectual property of the company. Ultimately the improper evaluation of intellectual property can lead to the misleading projection of financial statement of the company which may have direct or indirect impact on the corporate image of the company to their stakeholders (Intheblack, 2015). References: Apesb. (2008, February). APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. Retrieved January 03, 2017, from Apesb: https://www.apesb.org.au/uploads/standards/apesb_standards/standard1.pdf Cpaaustralia. (2014, April). An overview of APES 110 code of ethics for proffessional accountants . Retrieved December 03, 2017, from Cpaaustralia: https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/~/media/corporate/allfiles/document/professional-resources/ethics/an-overview-of-apes-110-code-of-ethics.pdf Ifac. (2006, July). Code of ethics for professional accountants. Retrieved January 03, 2017, from Ifac: https://www.ifac.org/system/files/publications/files/ifac-code-of-ethics-for.pdf Intheblack. (2015, January 06). 6 key threats to auditor independence. Retrieved January 03, 2017, from Intheblack: https://intheblack.com/articles/2015/01/06/6-key-threats-to-auditor-independence Auditing and Ethical Practice Introduction Question: Describe the purpose and concepts of analytical procedures based on the applicable auditing standards (ASA) in Australia. Answer: Executive Summary The report helps to prove a clear and precise idea about the purpose and concept of the analytical procedure and its significance in determining the performance, risk and continuity of the business of the companies. The knowledge of the analytical procedure helps to determine and analyse the financial statement of the company. The financial statement helps to provide a brief notion on the company financial position in the market. The repost consist of the comparison between the three company listed in Australian stock exchange which states the company insolvency, auditors opinion on the going concern issues and company without any qualified opinion. The report helps to provide an idea about the performance and risk and continuity of the companies on the basis of the analytical procedure. In the last of the report a precise idea about the reliability of information and auditors judgement is critically analysed. Introduction Financial statement considered to be one of the most vital element which helps to determine the basis for the analytical procedure of the company. Analytical procedure consist of overall evaluation and detailed analysis of financial information such as balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement of the company which help to throw light on the company several key business risk which are solvency risk, measure the performance and other key risk related to the company. Analytical procedure is executed on the basis of the study of reasonable relationship between the financial and non financial data. Financial data and non financial data proves to be the platform which help to determine and analyse the company several key ratio which eventually give a clear and precise idea about the company efficiency, profitability, performance and risk related issues. The financial information of balance sheet help to throw light on the asset and liabilities aspect, income statement helps t o provide an idea on the profitability aspect and cash flow statement helps to throw light on the company three primary activities financing, investing and operating activities. Purpose and concept of analytical procedures The purpose of the analytical procedure helps to provide a set of standard which ensure that the company is preparing and publishing the financial statement on the basis of proper analysis of the last year performance of the company. Auditor have the significant responsibility which help to perform the analytical procedure near the end pg the audit that will eventually help to guide and thus form key observation related to the company performance, solvency and risk relate to the company overall operation in the coming future. Analysis of the Three Selected Companies Selection of Companies First of all, in order to carry out the effective analysis of the individual companys performance, risk related factors and continuity of the business procedures, selecting or identifying a company according to the requirement is considered as a major stage. The rest of the analysis procedure will be performed on the selected company and the method will be chosen on the nature of analysis (Champlain, 2003). In this case, the selection criteria are known to be the Australian Public Companies listed in the ASX between the time periods of 2011 2014. Integrating to the initial criteria, three companies named as, Amcom Telecommunications Ltd, Automotive Holdings Group Ltd and Metlifecare Ltd. In this case, it is worth to mention that the first company of Metlife is going through the process of facing the insolvency risk, the second one named as Automotive Holdings is needed the auditors opinion on the current concerns and issues, lastly, Amcom is company which is without any qualified op inion. Analysis of Performance, Risk and Continuity In this particular portion, the performance, risk and continuity of the three selected companies will be discussed by considering the appropriate analytical procedures as the part of company auditing process (Harms and Rosen, 2002). The different financial statements of these three different companies will be evaluated in order to perform the analysis on the specifically mentioned areas. In this specific context, the entire process of analysis can be done easily and smoothly on the basis of calculating the ratios from different areas of operation by the companies and the generated value can give the overall picture of regarding the identified areas. The first company, named as Metlife Ltd has the lack of business performance and the fact can be generated by looking at the current ratio of the company. The value of current ratio for the company in the three different financial years (2012, 2013 2014) are not looking strong as they never crossed the benchmark of one (Knell, 2006). Therefore, the company has not been able to utilize its assets to cover up the debts. This individual factor proves that the company is more open to the risks of being insolvent in the near future if it continues to give the same picture. As a matter of concern, the trend of the current ratio is constantly shows the downward picture as 0.03, 0.08 and 0.74 in the three respective financial years. In an addition, the continuity of the company depends on its profitability and growth in the market. In this case, the growth of the company can be referred by the net margin and it has improved slightly in the current financial year but was diminished in the pr evious year. The financial performance in case of Automotive Holdings Group Ltd is much improved by depending on the current ratio. Throughout the current and also the previous two financial years, the company has been able to display a good and health value out of the current ratio (Koletar, 2003). 1.27, 1.23 and 1.23 are resulting values that are obtained from the calculation of current ratio. The risk associated with the company can be ascertained by considering the debt-to equity ratio and in this case, a Debt-to-Equity value of 0.50 or less is considered as the standard margin. This company has been able to keep the values of Debt-Equity well under that margin throughout the every financial year that have been considered. Therefore, the risk factor is minimized for the concern of this company. Alternatively, compared to 2012 and 2012, the net income has not increased in the recent financial year and that is why the company should need to look into this matter. In the last three financial years of 2012, 2013 and 2014, the financial performance of the company named as Amcom Telecommunications Ltd is much improved and the fact can be established by considering the current ratios of 1.12, 1.16 and 1.11 respectively (Schou, 2011). By analysing the Debt-to Equity ratio, the significant business operation and their continuity can be concerned as it is determined that the company is pursuing the operation by avoiding the huge burden of risks or debts. The Debt-Equity ratio for the three examined financial years displayed as 0.29 0.30 and 0.12. Apparently, analysing the growth of the company, it is acknowledged that the company was able to recover from a downward situation to achieve significantly from the market. Analysing the net margin of the company, it should need to look after the diminishing return in the current financial year as compared to the previous ones. Comparison and Contrast of Opinion In this portion, the effective comparison and contrast of the three previous discussed areas of these three selected companies will be discussed in order to reach an effective auditing conclusion (Stallings et al., 2008). In the areas of performance, the analysis reports of these three companies suggest that Metlifecare Ltd is weak in terms of financial abilities among the two companies. Alternatively, Amcom Telecommunications Ltd is among the selected three companies which has significantly shown the consistent financial performance in every financial years examined. Considering the diminishing trend of the current ratio, the company of Metlifecare Ltd is vulnerable to the associated business risks and the other two companies have been able to mitigate the business risks and continued to perform in the business world (Taylor, 2006). The entire analysis is supported by the calculation of Debt-to-Equity ratio. In case of continuity of the companies, the analysis was carried out by evaluating the growth percentage and net margin for the individual companies. Determined from the year-based comparison of the result of the particular companies, Metlifecare Ltd has been able to improve slightly in the recent financial year while the other two companies must need to look after their earning capabilities to achieve the desired growth and continuity. Impact of Reliability of Information and Auditors Judgement The analytical procedures play the significant role in the part of the auditing process and it consists of the analysis and evaluation of the financial information that are generated from the study of plausible relationships among the non-financial and financial data (Thomsett, 2007). From the range of simple comparisons to utilization of the complex models can be involved in order to carry out the analysis relating the elements of data. The plausible relationships among the various data and reasonability are the factors that should be present in any form of analytical procedure. With the absence of these desired characteristics, the different variations in the particular relationships can be observed and these are known as the events like transactional changes, business changes, accounting changes, misstatements and several other fluctuations. Analytical procedures Purpose It is very important to conduct the appropriate audit process by the auditor. Analytical procedures mainly consist of evaluation of financial information with the help of standard analytical technique (Schou, 2011). The analytical procedures are used throughout the audit process to achieve accurate result. Financial statements are critically reviewed and analysed throughout the audit process. ISA 520 is one of the most reliable and standard evidence obtains from substantial analytical technique. Concept Substantive analytical providers are more effective than the other procedures and for this particular purpose the auditors uses this particular technique in recent times to achieve the precise result of the audit. However, There are several steps are followed by the auditors to complete the entire process of audit by using the standard techniques and among them establishment of independent exception is one of the most initial and significant stage that is taken under consideration (Zakhem, et al., 2008). There are some factors were involved that provide critical impact on the analytical procedures such as disaggregation, data reliability and predictability. These factors were considered by the auditors while conducting the audit process and valuable measures were taken to prevent any kinds of damage that can hamper the process of auditing. The assurance of the analytical procedures is being considered upon the consistency and continuation of the recorded amount with the exceptions developed from the data generated from the other sources (Zadek, et al., 2013). The reliability of the data depends on the generated results should be appropriate and match the expectations for the desired level of assurance from the analytical procedure. One auditor must examine the reliability of the information by considering the source from where the information is generated and the condition from which it was developed. Also, in this case, the knowledge of the auditor about those information is judged as the key factor for performing the analysis. According to the referred journal articles of AU Section 329A, some of the factors have been identified as they influence the auditors consideration related to the reliability of information in order to achieve the auditing objectives (Zakhem, et al., 2008). They are known as the following: Information generated from the independent source situated outside or inside the entity Independency of the sources within the entity for those who are responsible for auditing the amount The development of the information is resulted under the reliable system with the presence of adequate controls The collected information is subjected to the audit testing in the current or prior year The desired expectations are met by the information generated from the variety of sources Conclusion In the concluding portion of this paper, it should be mentioned that the effectiveness of the analysis procedure depends on the proper approaches of auditing while considering the ethical dilemmas. It is the effective part of the reviewing process of any company and it assists the auditor in assessing the different financial and non-financial concerns of the organization to reach the effective conclusion. The overall evaluation can be done on this basis and the presentation of the entire financial statements can be secured by the process (Schou, 2011). The fact is also gathered that there is the presence of wide variety of useful analytical procedures for the specific purpose of the company. In this case, an auditor must consider his/her knowledge to identify the factors of adequacy of the evidence related to the gathered data and unexpected or unusual balances or relationships. This can support the company to reach for the effective outcome as a result of auditing practices. References Champlain, J. (2003).Auditing information systems. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley. Harms, D. and Rosen, E. (2002).The impact of Enron. New York: Practising Law Institute. Knell, A. (2006).Corporate governance. Amsterdam: Elsevier/CIMA. Koletar, J. (2003).Fraud exposed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Schou, D. (2011).Going concern. Frederiksberg. Stallings, W., Brown, L., Bauer, M. and Howard, M. (2008).Computer security. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Taylor, E. (2006).The effects of in-group bias and decision aids on auditors' evidence evaluation. [Tampa, Fla]: University of South Florida. Thomsett, M. (2007).Annual reports 101. New York: American Management Association. Zadek, S., Evans, R. and Pruzan, P. (2013).Building Corporate Accountability. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Zakhem, A., Palmer, D. and Stoll, M. (2008).Stakeholder theory. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.