4 You are an audit manager in Smith & Co, a firm of Chartered Certified Accountants. You have recently been made

responsible for reviewing invoices raised to clients and for monitoring your firm’s credit control procedures. Several

matters came to light during your most recent review of client invoice files:

Norman Co, a large private company, has not paid an invoice from Smith & Co dated 5 June 2007 for work in respect

of the financial statement audit for the year ended 28 February 2007. A file note dated 30 November 2007 states

that Norman Co is suffering poor cash flows and is unable to pay the balance. This is the only piece of information

in the file you are reviewing relating to the invoice. You are aware that the final audit work for the year ended

28 February 2008, which has not yet been invoiced, is nearly complete and the audit report is due to be issued

imminently.

Wallace Co, a private company whose business is the manufacture of industrial machinery, has paid all invoices

relating to the recently completed audit planning for the year ended 31 May 2008. However, in the invoice file you

notice an invoice received by your firm from Wallace Co. The invoice is addressed to Valerie Hobson, the manager

responsible for the audit of Wallace Co. The invoice relates to the rental of an area in Wallace Co’s empty warehouse,

with the following comment handwritten on the invoice: ‘rental space being used for storage of Ms Hobson’s

speedboat for six months – she is our auditor, so only charge a nominal sum of $100’. When asked about the invoice,

Valerie Hobson said that the invoice should have been sent to her private address. You are aware that Wallace Co

sometimes uses the empty warehouse for rental income, though this is not the main trading income of the company.

In the ‘miscellaneous invoices raised’ file, an invoice dated last week has been raised to Software Supply Co, not a

client of your firm. The comment box on the invoice contains the note ‘referral fee for recommending Software Supply

Co to several audit clients regarding the supply of bespoke accounting software’.

Required:

Identify and discuss the ethical and other professional issues raised by the invoice file review, and recommend

what action, if any, Smith & Co should now take in respect of:

(a) Norman Co; (8 marks)

3 You are an audit manager in Webb & Co, a firm of Chartered Certified Accountants. Your audit client, Mulligan Co,

designs and manufactures wooden tables and chairs. The business has expanded rapidly in the last two years, since

the arrival of Patrick Tiler, an experienced sales and marketing manager.

The directors want to secure a loan of $3 million in order to expand operations, following the design of a completely

new range of wooden garden furniture. The directors have approached LCT Bank for the loan. The bank’s lending

criteria stipulate the following:

‘Loan applications must be accompanied by a detailed business plan, including an analysis of how the finance will

be used. LCT Bank need to see that the finance requested is adequate for the proposed business purpose. The

business plan must be supported by an assurance opinion on the adequacy of the requested finance.’

The $3 million finance raised will be used as follows:

$000

Construction of new factory 1,250

Purchase of new machinery 1,000

Initial supply of timber raw material 250

Advertising and marketing of new product 500

Your firm has agreed to review the business plan and to provide an assurance opinion on the completeness of the

finance request. A meeting will be held tomorrow to discuss this assignment.

Required:

(a) Identify and explain the matters relating to the assurance assignment that should be discussed at the meeting

with Mulligan Co. (8 marks)

3 The Stiletto Partnership consisted of three partners, Clint, Ben and Amy, who shared the profits of the business

equally. On 28 February 2007 the partners sold the business to Razor Ltd, in exchange for shares in Razor Ltd, with

each former partner owning one third of the new company.

The recent, tax adjusted, trading profits of the Stiletto Partnership have been as follows:

￡

Year ended 30 June 2006 92,124

1 July 2006 to 28 February 2007 81,795

Clint, who was 65 on 5 October 2006, retired when the business was sold to Razor Ltd. He is now suggesting that

if the sale of the partnership, and his retirement, had been delayed until 30 April 2007, his total tax liability would

have been reduced. Clint’s only other income is gross pension income of ￡6,100 per year, which he began receiving

in the tax year 2005/06. Clint did not receive any salary or dividends from Razor Ltd. It is estimated that the

partnership’s tax adjusted trading profits for the period from 1 March 2007 to 30 April 2007 would have been

￡20,760. Clint has overlap profits of ￡14,250 brought forward from when the partnership began trading.

Razor Ltd manufactures industrial cutting tools. On 1 July 2007, Razor Ltd will subscribe for the whole of the ordinary

share capital of Cutlass Inc, a company newly incorporated in the country of Sharpenia. It is intended that Cutlass

Inc will purchase partly finished tools from Razor Ltd and customise them in Sharpenia. It is anticipated that Cutlass

Inc’s annual profits chargeable to corporation tax will be approximately ￡120,000.

Ben and Amy will be the directors of Cutlass Inc, although Ben will not be involved in the company’s business on a

day-to-day basis. Amy intends to spend one or two weeks each month in the country of Sharpenia looking after the

company’s affairs. The remainder of her time will be spent in the UK. Amy has employment contracts with both Razor

Ltd and Cutlass Inc and her duties for Cutlass Inc will be carried out wholly in Sharpenia. Cutlass Inc will pay for

Amy’s flights to and from Sharpenia and for her husband and baby to visit her there twice a year. Amy is currently

UK resident and ordinarily resident.

The system of income tax and corporation tax in the country of Sharpenia is broadly similar to that in the UK although

the rate of corporation tax is 38% regardless of the level of profits. There is a double tax treaty between the UK and

Sharpenia based on the OECD model treaty. The clause in the treaty dealing with company residency states that a

company resident in both countries under domestic law will be regarded under the treaty as being resident only in the

country where it is effectively managed and controlled. Sharpenia is not a member of the European Union.

Required:

(a) (i) Calculate Clint’s taxable trading profits for the tax years 2006/07 and 2007/08 for both of the

alternative retirement dates (28 February 2007 and 30 April 2007). (3 marks)

6 Discuss how developments in each of the following areas has affected the scope of the audit and the audit work

undertaken:

(a) fair value accounting; (6 marks)

(ii) Briefly explain the extent to which the application of sensitivity analysis might be useful in deciding

which refrigeration system to purchase and discuss the limitations inherent in its use. (3 marks)

(b) On 1 April 2004 Volcan introduced a ‘reward scheme’ for its customers. The main elements of the reward

scheme include the awarding of a ‘store point’ to customers’ loyalty cards for every $1 spent, with extra points

being given for the purchase of each week’s special offers. Customers who hold a loyalty card can convert their

points into cash discounts against future purchases on the basis of $1 per 100 points. (6 marks)

Required:

For each of the above issues:

(i) comment on the matters that you should consider; and

(ii) state the audit evidence that you should expect to find,

in undertaking your review of the audit working papers and financial statements of Volcan for the year ended

31 March 2005.

NOTE: The mark allocation is shown against each of the three issues.

(c) Suggest ways in which each of the six problems chosen in (a) above may be overcome. (6 marks)