CQUniversity Australia

School of Business & Law

ACCT20040 – Financial Auditing and Ethics

Assessment Task – Term 1, 2015

The object of this report is to assist students to develop research skills, critical thinking skills and business report communication skills on an accounting topic relating to fundamental concepts in planning an audit and designing the audit approach.

This assessment item assesses the following learning outcomes as identified in the Course Profile for ACCT20040:

• Evaluate critically significant auditing standards and ethical questions
• Describe final verification audit testing of financial reports
• Evaluate the appropriateness of and then prepare different types of audit reports

The report is due on Wednesday, 6^th May 2015 at 11.45pm AEST. The report is to have a minimum word length of 1,000 and maximum word length of 2,000 words. Please note that penalties will apply for not following the formatting instructions.

The Report must consist of:

• Cover page which shows the title of the report, the author (Student name and ID number) and the word count
• a one-page executive summary outlining the major findings of the report
• table of contents
• an introduction telling the reader what the report will cover and how it is structured
• the report itself
• a conclusion/recommendation
• references
• appendices (if applicable – not included in the word count)

Presentation. The report is required to be prepared using 1.5 line spacing, using a Times New Roman 12 point font, with 2 cm margins on all sides (remember penalties apply for not following instructions). You are required to cite at least three (3) current sources which should include items from the following categories: academic literature, media, and websites. It is vital that the sources used are reliable, reputable, and relevant, cited in an accurate manner and properly referenced using the Harvard method. (Please note: Lecture slides do not count as part of your required citations)

The report should be presented in simple language and in an interesting, easy-to-read format.

Digital file. The entire document is to be prepared in an electronically-friendly format as a single file.

Submission. The report is to be submitted online through the Moodle site for this unit.

Note: Assignments will be checked for plagiarism

Content Resources:

• Where to start (Note: you must use sources from each of these three groups of resources):
  • Academic literature:

Academic journals can be accessed through the CQU library catalogue. You can start your search on Google Scholar for these articles. If the full text is not available through Google Scholar, you can use the library catalogue to access it as CQU has subscriptions to most Accounting journals. Some journals you may find useful are Auditing and Accountability Journal, International Journal of Auditing and Current Issues in Auditing (available online through CQU Library).

• Media:
  • Financial media, e.g. Business Review Weekly, The Financial Review (available online through CQU library databases).
• Websites:
  • Websites of accounting standard setters and other regulators, especially AUASB, IAASB, ASIC, APRA. See, for example, http://www.auasb.gov.au/Home.aspx, ifac.org/auditing-assurance, www.asic.gov.au.
  • Websites of Australian professional accounting bodies: CPA Australia, Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA), Institute of Public Accountants (IPA), and The Institute of Internal Auditors – Australia.
  • Websites of international accounting firms, e.g. Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC.

This list is not exhaustive; we encourage you to look beyond the sources listed here.

For information relating to applying for an extension please see CQUniversity Policies on the Course Profile.  Late assignments that do not have an approved extension will not be marked.

Please complete and attach your signed assignment cover sheet to the front of your report.

You have graduated with your business degree and recently commenced work with a leading firm of public accountants in north Queensland.  Your firm has just received a request from a client for an audit and your firm’s audit partner has asked you to prepare a report for the audit team.

Your firm has been approached by Queensland Fun In The Sun Pty Ltd (Qld FITS), a family owned resort company based on the Great Barrier Reef.  Qld FITS offers holiday and leisure activities.  As well as a five-star resort, they also offer backpackers’ accommodation and a family hotel.  Its operations also include boating, surfing and diving activities.  Robert and Eunice Leatherwood own the majority of the shares in the Leatherwood Group which controls Qld FITS.  Eunice is the CFO of Qld FITS as well as director of both companies and Robert is the chairman of the board of directors of both Qld FITS and the Leatherwood Group.

The audit partner has informed you that in January 2015, Robert Leatherwood approached your audit firm to carry out the Qld FITS audit for the financial year ending 30 June 2015. As an unlisted company, there has been no requirement for Qld FITS to be audited in the past, however the company’s bank and a new private equity investor group (which has just acquired a 25 per cent share of Qld FITS) has requested an audit of the 2015 financial statements.

Qld FITS employs full-time staff, part-time staff and casual staff.  While part-time and casual staff are used during peak periods, the business also employs 35 full-time staff in administration, accounting, catering, cleaning and hotel/ restaurant duties.  Robert and Eunice have a fairly relaxed management style.  They trust their workers to work hard for the company and reward them well.  The accounts staff, in particular, are very loyal to the company.  Robert told the audit partner that some accounts staff enjoy their jobs so much that they have never taken any annual leave, and hardly any workers ever take sick leave.

The accounts department currently consists of three people.  Senior accounts manager, Mary Lamb, reports directly to the CFO, Eunice Leatherwood.  Mary has started her transition to retirement and hopes to fully retire within two to three years.  She delegates most of the work to the two accounts staff, George and Katie.  Mary claims that she has to do this because she is very busy developing a policy and procedures manual for the accounting department.  This delegated work includes opening mail, processing payments and receipts, banking funds received, performing reconciliations, posting journals and performing the payroll function.  Katie is a recent CPA graduate.  George works part-time, coming into the office three days per week.  He is responsible for posting all journal entries into the accounting system and the payroll function.  Katie does the balance of the work, but they often help each other out in busy periods.

An investigation has recently been completed (by a Royal Commission) into the effects of global warming on the Great Barrier Reef.  The Royal Commission’s report reveals that climate change is likely to cause increasing damage to the coral reefs and devastating tropical storms over the next 10 years.

Requirements

The audit partner requires a written short report to be presented in simple language and in an interesting, easy-to-read format. It should:

1. Examine the background information in relation to the types of risk that you would consider when determining preliminary materiality for the 2015 audit of Qld FITS
2. Identify the factors that would impact on the risk of material misstatement and explain the effect of those factors on planning materiality and risk.

Due date: The report is due on Wednesday, 6^th May, 2015 at 11.45pm, prior to the audit team’s next meeting

Length. The report is to have a minimum length of 1,000 words and a maximum word length of 2,000 words, excluding the appendices, if any (appendices not required or expected).

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