Category Archives for "Auditing"

Confirmation of Receivables: Is It Required?

By Charles Hall | Auditing

When is the confirmation of receivables required?

Confirmation of Receivables is Usually Required

AU-C 330 paragraph 20 states the following:

The auditor should use external confirmation procedures for accounts receivable, except when one or more of the following is applicable:

1. The overall account balance is immaterial.
2. External confirmation procedures for accounts receivable would be ineffective.
3. The auditor’s assessed level of risk of material misstatement at the relevant assertion level is low, and the other planned substantive procedures address the assessed risk. In many situations, the use of external confirmation procedures for accounts receivable and the performance of other substantive procedures are necessary to reduce the assessed risk of material misstatement to an acceptably low level.

If receivables are material and confirmation procedures will be effective, then confirmations must be sent. (Normally, the existence assertion related to receivables is moderate to high. So, 3. above is not in play.)

When are Confirmations Ineffective?

AU-C 330.A56 states:

External confirmation procedures may be ineffective when based on prior years’ audit experience or experience with similar entities:

• response rates to properly designed confirmation requests will be inadequate; or
• responses are known or expected to be unreliable.

If the auditor has experienced poor response rates to properly designed confirmation requests in prior audits, the auditor may instead consider changing the manner in which the confirmation process is performed, with the objective of increasing the response rates or may consider obtaining audit evidence from other sources.

Alternative Procedures When Confirmations are not Sent

What audit procedure should be performed if confirmations are not sent? Usually, the auditor will examine cash collections after the period-end. Care must be taken to ensure that the subsequent collections examined relate to receivables that existed at period-end and not to sales occurring after period-end.

Required Documentation When Confirmations are not Sent

AU-C 330.31 states that “the auditor should include in the audit documentation the basis for any determination not to use external confirmation procedures for accounts receivable when the account balance is material.” So, it is not sufficient to simply state that the use of confirmations is ineffective. We should state that we tried to confirm receivables in a prior year without effective results or that we tried to confirm receivables for clients in a similar industry, but without effective results.

The auditor should include a memo to the file or add comments on the receivables work paper explaining why confirmations were not sent.

See my post: Auditing Receivables and Revenues.

Group Audit Standards Applicability: One Firm

By Charles Hall | Auditing

Do the group audit standards apply when one firm audits all of the entities comprising a consolidated whole?

Yes.

You say, “confusing.” I say, “I agree.”

The confusion–at least for me–lies in the pre-clarity auditing standard, AU 543, Part of Audit Performed by Other Independent Auditors, which focused on who was performing the audit. The clarity standard, AU-C 600 Special Considerations — Audits of Group Financial Statements, focuses on what is being audited. The word group (as applied to the group audit standards) does not mean more than one auditor.

Regarding applicability (of the group audit standards), we look at the entities and business activities being audited rather than how many audit firms are involved. We used to focus on the interaction with other auditors; now we focus on the risks associated with the group financial statements.

Group Audit Standards When There is Only One Audit Firm

The AICPA’s Technical Questions and Answers (8800.24) says the following about the applicability of AU-C Section 600 (Audits of Group Financial Statements) when only one engagement team is involved:

Inquiry—Company X consolidates the operations of Entity A. The same group engagement team that audits Company X also audits Entity A. Because only one engagement team is involved, does AU-C section 600 apply? If so, what does AU-C Section 600 require that is not already covered by other auditing standards?

Reply—AU-C section 600 applies to all audits of group financial statements, which are financial statements that contain more than one component. In the circumstances when the same engagement team audits all components of the group, the considerations addressed in AU-C Section 600 that relate to component auditors are not relevant. However, considerations addressed in AU-C section 600, such as understanding the components; identifying components that are significant due to individual financial significance and the significant risk of material misstatement; determining component materiality; understanding the consolidation process; and addressing the risks, including aggregation risk, of material misstatement in the group financial statements; are relevant in all group audits.

What does this mean?

If your firm audits consolidated financial statements, then the group audit standards apply, and you do need to comply with certain provisions (even though your firm audits all entities included in the consolidation). Consequently, you have some additional documentation requirements. Your audit file should contain the following documentation:

• Your understanding of the components
• Your identification of significant components (due to financial significance or risk)
• Component materiality
• Your understanding of the consolidation process
• How you plan to address the identified risk of material misstatement (including aggregation risk)

Group Financial Statements

What are group financial statements? They are statements that include the financial information of more than one component.

Here are examples of components:

• Subsidiaries
• Geographical locations
• Divisions
• Investments (equity method)
• Products or services
• Component units of a state or local government

You can see from these examples of components, the concept of group financial statements is broader than that of consolidated or combined financial statements.

The idea behind the group audit standards is to highlight the risk of material misstatement whether at the group level or a lower level. If for example, a component is not financially significant but it has particularly risky assets (e.g., derivatives), then the group audit standards direct our attention here.

Examples of When Group Audit Standards are Applicable

Here are examples of when the group audit standards are in play:

• Consolidated subsidiary
• Combined financial statements due to common control
• Investment accounted for using the equity method
• Consolidated affiliate (due to variable-interest considerations)

Notice we made no mention of other auditors in these examples. It is possible that another firm may audit a subsidiary (for example), but this factor is not the determinant of when the group audit standards apply.