Assignment 2: BytezHarry has been with Zayn & Associates CPAs for a little over six months now and in his sixmonth evalu...
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Assignment 2: Bytez
Harry has been with Zayn & Associates CPAs for a little over six months now and in his six
month evaluation he was deemed âsatisfactory.â Harry graduated with honors and was used to
being âexceptional.â But, because the comments were positive, he figured that he should be
satisfied. However, the firm just lost a major client, and there are questions as to whether there
might be some layoffs. In fact, one audit senior was joking at lunch the other day about having
"fewer of the staff auditors congesting the cubicles" if the firm doesnât pick up some new workâ
but it's hard to read him since, while he is very intelligent, he has a sick sense of humor and a
somewhat negative slant on life.
One comment in Harryâs evaluation was that several of his in-charge seniors thought that while
his work was always thorough and conscientious, he was often so thorough as to spend too much
time worrying about things that just don't matter that much. During his review, he was reminded
that while it is true that an auditorâs first responsibility is to obtain sufficient appropriate
evidence as opposed to meeting the budget, he should try to start considering materiality more.
Reading the comments about the budget, Harry rolled his eyesâit seems that making the budget
is extremely important to advancement in the firm.
Harry is currently working on the audit of Bytez which prides itself on having the culture of a hip
start-up. Bytez designs and sells software, including its relatively new Globl operating system.
Globl has a much smaller following than Windows, but the number of companies adopting Globl
has increased each year. Globl is shaping up to become a viable competitor.
One night Harry goes up to the 5th floor, the same floor as the chief financial officerâs office, to
review some personnel files for payroll testing. Since itâs late, the 5th floor was empty save for
Harry and the CFO. The CFO has one of those voices that carries, especially since his office door
was open, and Harry overheard him talking on the telephone. As best Harry could hear, it
sounded like the call was from an employee at Lingo that the CFO knew; Lingo is a major
customer. It was clear that the conversation was about the $10,000 receivable confirmation Harry
mailed and that Lingo had some sort of disagreement with respect to the amount. Harry couldn't
tell for sure, but he thought that he heard the CFO say, "Listen, these little differences happen
every year, and we straighten things out. If you send it back as is right now we'll straighten it out
after the audit. In fact, sign it, and I'll give you the new version 3.5 software."
Harry considered calling the in-charge senior who was out of town on another job for the next
day or two but decided to give this some thought before discussing it with anyone. Three days
after overhearing the conversation, the confirmation from Lingo came back with no exceptions
noted.
Harry knows that since confirmations are normally considered very reliable, the $10,000 amount
will be accepted as audited without any further investigation. Total Accounts Receivables at yearend is over $1,000,000, and income for the year is over $3,000,000. Performance materiality for
A/R has been preliminarily set at $40,000. Because A/R is still in the process of being audited,
Harry is unsure if other misstatements have been found.
Harry eventually brings up the overheard conversation with the in-charge senior. She suggested
reviewing the documents relating to the Lingo saleâthe Lingo purchase order, the sales invoice,
etc.âto make certain that there is nothing "wrong" there. She also suggested that reviewing any
correspondence between the two companies to see if any dispute is apparent.
After doing this, everything seemed in order. She then said, âWell, let's just keep our eyes open
and for certain just keep the confirmation in the working papers. Don't document anything else
on your other work related to this.â
Based on the case above, answer the following questions:
Why do you think Harry waited to discuss the overheard conversation with his in-charge senior?
What other courses of action could Harry have taken instead? For each course of action you
identify, discuss factors that would influence the decision to choose or not choose that course of
action (e.g., personal standards, societal norms, professional standards, etc.) and the possible
effects of choosing that course of action. Given the other options, do you think Harry chose the
best course of action?
Must an auditor document every procedure during an audit? Was it proper to only save the
confirmation? Would you feel a need to take this matter further? If so, what would you do?
Harry has been with Zayn & Associates CPAs for a little over six months now and in his six
month evaluation he was deemed âsatisfactory.â Harry graduated with honors and was used to
being âexceptional.â But, because the comments were positive, he figured that he should be
satisfied. However, the firm just lost a major client, and there are questions as to whether there
might be some layoffs. In fact, one audit senior was joking at lunch the other day about having
"fewer of the staff auditors congesting the cubicles" if the firm doesnât pick up some new workâ
but it's hard to read him since, while he is very intelligent, he has a sick sense of humor and a
somewhat negative slant on life.
One comment in Harryâs evaluation was that several of his in-charge seniors thought that while
his work was always thorough and conscientious, he was often so thorough as to spend too much
time worrying about things that just don't matter that much. During his review, he was reminded
that while it is true that an auditorâs first responsibility is to obtain sufficient appropriate
evidence as opposed to meeting the budget, he should try to start considering materiality more.
Reading the comments about the budget, Harry rolled his eyesâit seems that making the budget
is extremely important to advancement in the firm.
Harry is currently working on the audit of Bytez which prides itself on having the culture of a hip
start-up. Bytez designs and sells software, including its relatively new Globl operating system.
Globl has a much smaller following than Windows, but the number of companies adopting Globl
has increased each year. Globl is shaping up to become a viable competitor.
One night Harry goes up to the 5th floor, the same floor as the chief financial officerâs office, to
review some personnel files for payroll testing. Since itâs late, the 5th floor was empty save for
Harry and the CFO. The CFO has one of those voices that carries, especially since his office door
was open, and Harry overheard him talking on the telephone. As best Harry could hear, it
sounded like the call was from an employee at Lingo that the CFO knew; Lingo is a major
customer. It was clear that the conversation was about the $10,000 receivable confirmation Harry
mailed and that Lingo had some sort of disagreement with respect to the amount. Harry couldn't
tell for sure, but he thought that he heard the CFO say, "Listen, these little differences happen
every year, and we straighten things out. If you send it back as is right now we'll straighten it out
after the audit. In fact, sign it, and I'll give you the new version 3.5 software."
Harry considered calling the in-charge senior who was out of town on another job for the next
day or two but decided to give this some thought before discussing it with anyone. Three days
after overhearing the conversation, the confirmation from Lingo came back with no exceptions
noted.
Harry knows that since confirmations are normally considered very reliable, the $10,000 amount
will be accepted as audited without any further investigation. Total Accounts Receivables at yearend is over $1,000,000, and income for the year is over $3,000,000. Performance materiality for
A/R has been preliminarily set at $40,000. Because A/R is still in the process of being audited,
Harry is unsure if other misstatements have been found.
Harry eventually brings up the overheard conversation with the in-charge senior. She suggested
reviewing the documents relating to the Lingo saleâthe Lingo purchase order, the sales invoice,
etc.âto make certain that there is nothing "wrong" there. She also suggested that reviewing any
correspondence between the two companies to see if any dispute is apparent.
After doing this, everything seemed in order. She then said, âWell, let's just keep our eyes open
and for certain just keep the confirmation in the working papers. Don't document anything else
on your other work related to this.â
Based on the case above, answer the following questions:
Why do you think Harry waited to discuss the overheard conversation with his in-charge senior?
What other courses of action could Harry have taken instead? For each course of action you
identify, discuss factors that would influence the decision to choose or not choose that course of
action (e.g., personal standards, societal norms, professional standards, etc.) and the possible
effects of choosing that course of action. Given the other options, do you think Harry chose the
best course of action?
Must an auditor document every procedure during an audit? Was it proper to only save the
confirmation? Would you feel a need to take this matter further? If so, what would you do?
