AFM202 Lecture 4: Class 4 part 3

Assignment 3: External and Internal Audit

Auditing is a very broad topic that covers all aspects of an organization. An audit not only examines the accuracy of financial statements but also examines the effectiveness of internal controls as well as the efficiency of overall operations of the organization. To accomplish the objectives of different types of audit within an organization, the audit function is broken down into the role of internal auditor and the external auditor.

In your role as a partner in the CPA firm Dewey, Wright, and Moore, review the following information.

In preparation for your scheduled meeting, research the external and internal audit function using your textbook, the Argosy University online library resources, and the Internet. Complete the following:

Compare the similarities between the responsibilities of the external and internal audit functions.

Compare the differences between the benefits of the two functions.

Make a recommendation to the management team based on your research

Present the comparisons in a chart. Include a 3-5 page report summarizing and explaining the chart as well as outlining how you think Dewey, Wright, and Moore can use the services of the internal auditors as part of the overall audit the firm would provide. Give reasons for your assertions and cite your sources.

Submit your chart and report in Word format. Utilize at least three resources in preparing your report. Apply APA standards for writing style to your work.

18-28 The following auditor’s report was drafted bya staff accountant of Nathan and Matthew, CPAs, at the completionof the audit of the comparative inan- cial statements of MontereyPartnership for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012.Monterey is a privately held company that prepares its inan- cialstatements on the income tax basis of accounting. The report wassub- mitted to the engagement partner, who reviewed mattersthoroughly and properly concluded that an unmodiied opinion shouldbe expressed. The draft of the report prepared by a staff accountis as follows:
Auditor’s Report
We have audited the accompanying inancial statements of MontereyPartnership, which comprise the statements of assets, liabilities,and capital–income tax basis as of December 31, 2013, and therelated statements of revenue and expenses–income tax basis and ofchanges in partners’ capital accounts–income tax basis for the yearthen ended, and the related notes to the inancial statements.
Auditor’s Responsibility
We conducted our audit in accordance with standards established bythe AICPA. Those standards require that we plan and perform theaudit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the inancialstatements are free from material misstatement.
An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidenceabout the amounts and disclosures in the inancial statements. Theprocedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including theassessment of the risks of material misstatement of the inancialstatements, whether due to fraud or error. An audit also includesevaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used as wellas evaluating the overall presentation of the inancialstatements.
We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is suficientand appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.
Opinion
In our opinion, the inancial statements referred to above presentfairly, in all material respects, the assets, liabilities, andcapital of Monterey Partnership as of December 31, 2013, and itsrevenue and expenses and changes in part- ners’ capital accountsfor the year then ended in conformity with generally acceptedaccounting principles applied on a consistent basis.
Basis of Accounting
We draw attention to Note 2 of the inancial statements, whichdescribes the basis of accounting. The inancial statements areprepared on the basis

of accounting the Partnership uses for income tax purposes.Accordingly, these inancial statements are not designed for thosewho do not have access to the Partnership’s tax returns. Ouropinion is not modiied with respect to this matter.
Nathan and Matthew, CPAs April 3, 2014
Required:
Identify the errors and omissions in the auditor’s report asdrafted by the staff accountant. Group the errors and omissions byparagraph, where applicable. Do not redraft the report.

Accounting 467 – CASE – Fall 2016 (75 pointspossible)

Use the format provided on page 3 to word process yourmemo. The solution to this final case is the completed memo. Thelength is 2-3 pages single spaced, but concise and direct in yourmemo. The partner, Linda Smith, works with many clients so youshould avoid assuming she will fully recall all relevant facts, orthat she will immediately recognize all important implications ofthose facts. Be sure to describe the specific facts you considerrelevant and explain the implications for the Freja auditengagement.

Freja, Inc. is an international retailer and designer ofathletic apparel. The company, founded in 1998, makes a number ofdifferent types of athletic wear, including performance shirts,shorts, and pants, as well as lifestyle apparel and yogaaccessories. They sell their clothing internationally. In 2005, thecompany went public to support business expansion throughacquisition of other athletic apparel lines and designs. Theexpansion happened in two ways 1) a 2006 purchase of three patentsfrom the original designers of a technically designed compressionwear, marketed to biking enthusiasts and 2) the 2011 acquisition ofCrescent Moon, a company with a high quality line of yogaapparel.

To maximize the investment in the patents, Freja built a newproduction facility to increase production of biking compressionapparel in hopes of selling more and capturing at least 30% of themarket share. The production facility is located in Cambodia andbegan production in 2008.

The Crescent Moon yoga apparel is produced by a Guatemalasupplier. Freja has maintained the supply relationship.

A distribution facility was completed in January 2016. Thefacility is located in Memphis, Tennessee. The cost was $15,000,000and the building has an estimated 40 year life. Freja uses thestraight-line depreciation method.

You are the senior auditor on the team assigned to the Frejafinancial statement audit for the year end, December 31, 2016. Itis December 29, 2016 and the interim work for the December 31, 2016financial statement audit is completed. Your firm, RJN, acquiredFreja as a client in 2002. Freja anticipated going public in 2005and changed auditors to work with a firm that is PCAOB registeredand has more experience with SEC filings. Freja’s board ofdirectors is independent of the executives of the company, exceptfor the CEO, Marcy Madden. All of the board members own shares ofFreja. The majority of the board was in place when Freja wentpublic. Freja’s audit committee of the board is meeting in 2 weeksand has asked the RJN engagement partner, Linda Smith, to explainthe significant risks identified during RJN’s interim audit testsand the year-end audit planning.

Smith has asked you to prepare an audit planning memorandum thataddresses significant engagement issues, and specificallyidentifies matters relevant to the audit committee. To prepare therequested memo you have consulted last year’s audit file -EXHIBITI, findings of interim audit procedures – EXHIBIT 2, a memoprepared by Smith following a December 15, 2016 client meeting –EXHIBIT 3 and the preliminary December 2016 unaudited balance sheetand income statement – EXHIBIT 4. Freja shut down operations forthe remainder of 2016 beginning December 24, 2016. The preliminarybalance sheet and income statement were prepared on December28.

REQUIREMENTS

Your task as the senior on the audit team is to prepare a memofor the engagement partner based on the Freja information providedin the case, including EXHIBITS 1, 2, 3 and 4. The planning memoshould address the following: 1) Client business risks, 2) Auditrisk factors, 3) Accounting issues, 4) the accounts with the mostsignificance to the audit. Prepare the audit planning memorandumusing the following format (Italicized text gives instructionsfor completion of the memo):

RJN, CPA’s W/P Reference

Date: 12/20/2016

Client: Freja,Inc.

Period End: 12-31-2016

Purpose of the memorandum

The purpose of this memo is to document…(finish thesentence(s))

Business Risks Facing Freja, Inc.

(Write an overview paragraph here)

(Bullet-point descriptions of each business riskhere)

Audit Risk Factors to be Considered by RJN

(Write an overview paragraph here)

(Bullet-point descriptions of each audit risk here)

Accounting Issues Identified

(Write an overview paragraph here)

(Bullet-point descriptions of each accounting issuehere)

For the bullet-point descriptions of each accounting issue,include sub-headings as follows:

Accounting Issue:

Significant Accounts due to identified client businessrisks, audit risks, and accounting issues:

Accounts:

Concluding Remarks

EXHIBIT 1

Observations Noted in RJN’s Last Year’s 2015 AuditFile

2015 sales increased but the gross profit rate decreased2%. The sales growth indicates the goal of increasing market sharein the biker compression apparel is being realized. The grossprofit on the product line is lower than planned. Competition fromUnder Armour is stronger than expected.

In the last six weeks of 2015 it was discovered thereusable bags made of polypropylene Freja orders from a Chinasupplier had high levels of lead and concerns about possible leadpoisoning were being evaluated. Freja has used these bags topackage all products since 2009. At the time of the discovery,$340,000 of the bags were on hand. The company halted use of thebags and was investigating possible costs of recall, destruction ofinventory and any possible claims of injury as the year ended. Theprobability of loss and any estimate of dollar cost could not beassessed at the date of the 2015 audit report.

Accounts receivables are from the independent retailers.Business customers who market the company apparel and sportsorganizations or team that custom order for their athletes buy oncredit terms. Individual consumers buy at Freja’s retail locationsor online. Those customers purchase with third party credit cards.The client is monitoring the collection of the receivables butagreed to increase the allowance for the 12/31/15 financialstatements.

Freja implemented a new sales incentive plan in 2015.The sales management team earns a bonus based on increase in bothsales volume and sales dollars and gross profit dollargrowth. The sales bonus pool is calculated on the yearend financials and paid by March 15 of the followingyear.

EXHIBIT 2

Findings from Interim Audit Procedures

Conducted in September and November 2016

Accounts receivable were confirmed as of November 30,2016. The accounts receivables are related to the apparel sold tobusiness customers and custom orders for sports organizations. Thetotal sales through November 30 for those products were$46,000,000. The number of days to collect sales has increased from43 days to 50 days for the accounts receivables due from thesecustomers. The allowance for doubtful accounts aging percentageshave not been increased to reflect the slower paying customers.Credit terms for the business and sports organizations customershave been revised to allow more days to pay and establish highercredit limits.

A sample of cash disbursements was tested. The controlssurrounding disbursements were operating effectively. It was notedFreja is paying vendors on the average of 40 days from vendorinvoice date, an increase from the average of 36 days to pay in the2015 audit.

Inventory of all product lines has increased. Thecompany estimates the various apparel products have market appealfor up to 10 months. Even though the products do not lose quality,the market expects changes in color and style. Freja attempts tosatisfy the market with updated colors and styles every eightmonths. The company typically sells outdated inventory to outletand liquidation retailers at 20% below cost. As of November 30,Freja estimates 40% of the inventory is made up of the outdatedcolor and style apparel. Freja has not made any valuationadjustments.

A building addition depreciation expense was notcalculated as of the November 30 interim date.

EXHIBIT 3

Audit Partner Memo to File

December 15, 2016 Audit Planning Meeting withClient

On April 16, Freja declared a $2,000,000 dividend, paidon May15.

Freja issued new shares of stock on December 10 and usedthe cash to repay a portion of the debt incurred with the CrescentMoon acquisition.

The recall of the bags in the previous year continues tobe investigated. Freja has been named a defendant in three lawsuitsclaiming persons have health issues related to the lead content inthe polypropylene bags. Freja has not assessed the likelihood ofloss or estimated a dollar amount of a possible loss.

The goodwill asset was recorded with the Crescent Moonacquisition. At the time of the acquisition Crescent Moon had 55%of the yoga apparel market. As yoga has become more popular morecompetitors have entered the yoga apparel business. Crescent Moonhas experienced a 3% sales decline in each of the last 4 years andnow has 40% of the market share. The value of the overall businesshas decreased. The valuation of goodwill needs to beassessed.

Two of the three patents purchased in 2006 provedvaluable and are the designs for two apparel lines that areprofitable. The design for the third patent proved too costly toproduce. Freja allocated $3,600,000 to that patent, with a life of12 years. The client has abandoned hope of using the patent, buthas not written it off as of December 2016.

The production facility in Cambodia was established totake advantage of lower cost labor. A production plant in Ohio wasclosed when the Cambodia plant opened. Management has concerns howthat arrangement may be altered when Donald Trump assumes the U.S.presidency in January 2017. The facility has a carrying value of$13,000,000 as of 2016 year end.

EXHIBIT 4