The Environmental, Strategic, And Organizational Changes That Occurred Over The Life Of Andersen

The Auditor, an instructional novella written by James K. Loebbecke, tells the story of Jack Butler, a man from the San Francisco Bay area, who goes to college, majors in accounting, and goes to work for a large accounting firm referred to as “The Firm.” The story is loosely based upon the real world experiences of the author, and is written to give students a look into the world of public accounting that goes beyond a textbook. The Auditor not only gives students a chance to follow Jack Butler’s journey up the company ladder at The Firm, but also reiterates the relative importance of conventional lessons learned in school.

The audit profession is a relative new comer to the accounting world. The Industrial Revolution, with the growing business sector, was the spark that resulted in auditing techniques being sought out and utilized. Initially, audit techniques and methods were adopted by companies to control costs and detect fraud, which is more closely aligned with internal auditing. However, the need for mandatory oversight of public companies was recognized after the great stock market crash of 1929 (Byrnes, et al., 2012). This brought about the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 creating the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At that point, the SEC was tasked with

The goal in the life of a college student is graduating and getting the dream job in the career field that is chosen. To achieve this goal takes more than just having the knowledge and heart for the career; it also takes technical skills to be able to perform the tasks. The Auditor: An Instructional Novella stretches beyond the standard textbooks to reveal the principles and practices of auditing as they are in the real world. The book consists of a few key aspects such as: targets students’ natural curiosity about the field of accounting, supports traditional teaching tools, shapes the potential challenges that awaits public accountants.

Discuss the 4 stages of the audit and the major activities performed by the auditor in each phase. Give an example of how each of these specifically applies to the Smackey Dog Food, Inc audit. For instance, examine the apparent internal control weaknesses and possible negative outcome of each.

2. What is your assessment of the accounting problems at Dollar General? Did anything unethical occur? What evidence indicates that the misstatements were simply errors, with no deliberate intent? What reasons can you think of that would account for why the misstatements might well have been deliberate and not simply inadvertent errors?

Refer to the Dow Chemical financial statements for 2008 in answering the following: 1. Who are Dow’s external auditors? Describe the two opinion letters that Dow received for 2008. In your own words, explain what these opinions mean. Why are the opinions dated several weeks after Dow’s year end? 2. Use a spreadsheet to construct common-size income

This research paper is being submitted on March 10, 2013, for Tiffany Krogman, A340/ACG3085 Section 03, Advanced Auditing Concepts & Standards.

1. Why is audit planning so important?  What is the most important step in audit planning?  Why is this step so important?

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.

Analyze the audit opinion formulation process and suggest at least one (1) improvement to the process to strengthen audit opinions. Provide a rationale to support your suggestion.

Another important factor discussed in New Century’s case was whether audit engagement team was able to obtain a sufficient understanding of the underlying business activities, and analyze the effectiveness of internal control system. KPMG’s auditors does not understand the subprime mortgage sector of the lending industry and did not try to point out inadequate accounting procedures or resolve the internal control deficiencies in New Century’s accounting system that eventually lead to a significant understatements of company’s loan loss reserve account. In Jack Greenberg Inc, Fred refused to upgrade to computerized accounting system and the company’s

Arthur Edward Andersen built his firm, Arthur Andersen & Company, into one of the largest and most respected accounting firms in the world through his reputation for honesty and integrity. “Think straight, talk straight” was his motto and he insisted that his clients adopt that same attitude when preparing and issuing their periodic financial statements. Arthur Andersen’s auditing philosophy was not rule-based, that is, he did not stress the importance of clients complying with specific accounting rules because in the early days of the U.S. accounting profession there were few formal

C. As the predecessor auditor to Price Waterhouse, did E&W follow the professional standards in paragraphs .03-.10 in their communications with Price Waterhouse? In your answer using guidance and details from the case, explain what E&W was supposed to do and what they did do (did they follow the standard or violate a part of the standard guidance? If so, then which part?). Especially address under what circumstances is a predecessor auditor

3. The retail consumer electronics industry was undergoing rapid and dramatic changes during the 1980s. Discuss how changes in an audit client’s industry should affect

The lack of independence for external auditors will lead to the neglect of auditing risks (William R.K., 2003), which are the main reasons for the failure of certified accountants and professional accounting organizations. The consequence of the external auditors deprived of independence would be very serious. And there are many cases, which aroused by the failure of external auditors and most are related to the lack of independence. One famous example is the bankruptcy of Enron and the role played by its external auditor, Arthur Andersen (Todd, S., 2003). Arthur Andersen was once one of the biggest accounting companies in the world, and was canceled for the involvement in the Enron bankruptcy scandal.