Assurance: independent professional services that improve the quality of informa on for users
Or, an engagement in which a prac oner aims to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence in order to
express a conclusion designed to enhance the degree of confidence of the intended users other than
the responsible party about the subject ma er informa on
Audit: opinion by an independent auditor on whether financial statements are in all material aspects
present fairly in accordance with GAAP
Professional judgment: risk, materiality, evidence
Behavioural requirements: independence, scep cism
An audit is:
Reasonable assurance
Use Materiality
Exercise professional judgment
Risk, Materiality, Evidence
Behavioral requirements
Independence
Skep cism
The building blocks of the audit are:
Materiality: significance of the FS informa on to decisionmakers
Risk: auditor can never be 100% certain that asser ons are en rely free of misstatements
Audit evidence: informa on that gives the auditor an indica on whether an asser on is true
Ethics
Exogenous: demand by outside interven on (e.g. government) (US-based)
Stock market demand
Focus of profitability
Audit role: valua on
Endogenous: demand arises within the economy (e.g. supply-demand) (Bri sh tradi on)
Statutory audit
Focus on investment protec on
Audit role: stewardship efficiency contract
Agency theory: differences in incen ves, reflect informa on asymmetry
Adverse selec on: principle cannot observe the quality of the firm
Moral hazard: agent ac ons not observed yet incen vized (work hard/shirk)
1
,Theory of the firm
Firm is nexus of contracts
Different contractual arrangements provide different incen ves for opportunis c behavior
You want to enforce contracts = agency costs:
Bonding costs: made by the agent = out-of-pocket costs
Monitoring costs: made by the principal = out-of-pocket costs
Residual loss = opportunity costs
If endogenous independent audit reduces incen ve problems should exist in earliest firms
If exogenous audits are product of government interven on
Audit existed early in the development of corpora ons (endogenous)
Evolved to mandatory audit by first English Companies Act (exogenous)
Monitoring crucial to forma on of firms
Long survival of audit: efficient tool for organizing a firm
Increase in demand in independent audits audit firms = cost efficient response
Paper 1: is independency necessary?
Only audits vs audits + consultancy
Only audits lower quality
A rac veness of audits is lower people like consultancy
You can no longer use the knowledge you gain from consul ng for other firms
Independence in ISA’s
Independence of mind not affected by influences (e.g. management)
this paper
Independence of appearance avoidance of facts and circumstances that make
people think you’re not independent when you actually are
Baseball card cer fica on
Similari es with audit: pay for exper se, standards, reputa on of cer fier ma ers
Differences with audit: no post-audit nego a ons and adjustments, no nego a on,
cer fiers are either pure auditors or cross-sellers
Results:
Grade = informa on is associated with return
Grader-iden ty = reputa on is associated with return
Market is dominated by cross-seller
Independent graders do not have a larger market share, and this is not valued
So, independent audi ng is not be er
Risk : a threat to an organisa on that reduces the
likelihood that the organisa on will achieve one or
more of its objec ves.
Risk assessment: iden fica on, measurement,
priori sa on
Risk management: control, share or transfer,
diversify or avoid
Risk monitoring: process level, ac vity level,
en ty level
2
, Audit Risk: the auditor expresses an inappropriate audit opinion when financial statements are
materially misstated
Type 1: incorrect rejec on
Type 2: incorrect acceptance (most important to auditor = risk)
AR = f (RMM, DR)
AR = Audit Risk
RMM = Risk of Material Misstatement: risk that FS’s are misstated prior to the audit
o Business risks
o Suscep bility to assets to the
o Ease of informa on manipula on
o Informa on processing risks
o Non-rou ne/complex transac ons
o Judgement risks es mates
o Internal control limita ons
DR = Detec on Risk: risk that auditor will not detect a material misstatement
o Samples
o Selec on of ineffec ve audit procedures
o Applying procedures ineffec ve
o Evalua ng the results of procedures incorrect
Audit risk model:
Inherent risk = understand the business (understand)
Internal control risk = understand and assess controls (understand)
Detec on risk = auditor response (response)
Paper 3: Audit risk model, (audit) business risk and audit planning:
Iden fy condi ons under which the audit risk model does (not)
describe audit planning and pricing
Audit risk = RMM
Engagement risk = audit business risk = risk of loss to and auditor’s
prac ce due to client rela onships
Li ga on risk: degree to which users rely on the FS’s of the client
Regulatory penal es: enforcement by public authori es
Reputa on loss
Lack of profitability: bankruptcy etc.
Results:
Likelihood of error = high
o Audit risk model dominates business risk
o No risk premium
Likelihood of irregularity = high
o Business risk model dominates audit risk model
o Risk premium
If the audit risk model is a complete model for the auditor’s response, then it
shouldn’t ma er if an auditor is confronted with an error or an irregularity
This is not true irregularity standard is incomplete
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