Kim Bryan, a new staff auditor, is confused by the inconsistency of the three audit partners she has been assigned to on her first three audit engagements. On the first engagement, she spent a considerable amount of time in the audit of cash disbursements by examining cancelled checks, electronic payments, and supporting documentation, but almost no testing was spent in the verification of fixed assets. On the second engagement, a different partner had her do less intensive tests in the cash disbursements area and take smaller sample sizes than in the first audit, even though the company was much larger. On her most recent engagement under a third audit partner, there was a thorough test of cash disbursement transactions, far beyond that of the other two audits, and an extensive verification of fixed assets. In fact, this partner insisted on a complete physical examination of all fixed assets recorded on the books. The total audit time on the most recent audit was longer than that of either of the first two audits despite the smaller size of the company. Bryan’s conclusion is that the amount of evidence to accumulate depends on the audit partner in charge of the engagement.
Required
a. State several factors that can explain the difference in the amount of evidence accumulated in each of the three audit engagements as well as the total time spent.
b. What could the audit partners have done to help Bryan understand the difference in the audit emphasis on the three audits?
c. Explain how these three audits are useful in developing Bryan’s professional judgment. How could the quality of her judgment have been improved on the audits?
d. Which audit most likely represents an integrated audit of a public company’s financial statements and internal control over financial reporting?
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