2 Your firm was appointed as auditor to Indigo Co, an iron and steel corporation, in Septe

Question

2 Your firm was appointed as auditor to Indigo Co, an iron and steel corporation, in September 2005. You are the

manager in charge of the audit of the financial statements of Indigo, for the year ending 31 December 2005.

Indigo owns office buildings, a workshop and a substantial stockyard on land that was leased in 1995 for 25 years.

Day-to-day operations are managed by the chief accountant, purchasing manager and workshop supervisor who

report to the managing director.

All iron, steel and other metals are purchased for cash at ‘scrap’ prices determined by the purchasing manager. Scrap

metal is mostly high volume. A weighbridge at the entrance to the stockyard weighs trucks and vans before and after

the scrap metals that they carry are unloaded into the stockyard.

Two furnaces in the workshop melt down the salvageable scrap metal into blocks the size of small bricks that are then

stored in the workshop. These are sold on both credit and cash terms. The furnaces are now 10 years old and have

an estimated useful life of a further 15 years. However, the furnace linings are replaced every four years. An annual

provision is made for 25% of the estimated cost of the next relining. A by-product of the operation of the furnaces is

the production of ‘clinker’. Most of this is sold, for cash, for road surfacing but some is illegally dumped.

Indigo’s operations are subsidised by the local authority as their existence encourages recycling and means that there

is less dumping of metal items. Indigo receives a subsidy calculated at 15% of the market value of metals purchased,

as declared in a quarterly return. The return for the quarter to 31 December 2005 is due to be submitted on

21 January 2006.

Indigo maintains manual inventory records by metal and estimated quality. Indigo counted inventory at 30 November

2005 with the intention of ‘rolling-forward’ the purchasing manager’s valuation as at that date to the year-end

quantities per the manual records. However, you were not aware of this until you visited Indigo yesterday to plan

your year-end procedures.

During yesterday’s tour of Indigo’s premises you saw that:

(i) sheets of aluminium were strewn across fields adjacent to the stockyard after a storm blew them away;

(ii) much of the vast quantity of iron piled up in the stockyard is rusty;

(iii) piles of copper and brass, that can be distinguished with a simple acid test, have been mixed up.

The count sheets show that metal quantities have increased, on average, by a third since last year; the quantity of

aluminium, however, is shown to be three times more. There is no suitably qualified metallurgical expert to value

inventory in the region in which Indigo operates.

The chief accountant disappeared on 1 December, taking the cash book and cash from three days’ sales with him.

The cash book was last posted to the general ledger as at 31 October 2005. The managing director has made an

allegation of fraud against the chief accountant to the police.

The auditor’s report on the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2004 was unmodified.

Required:

(a) Describe the principal audit procedures to be carried out on the opening balances of the financial statements

of Indigo Co for the year ending 31 December 2005. (6 marks)

Answer 1

正确答案：
2 INDIGO CO
(a) Opening balances – principal audit procedures
Tutorial note: ‘Opening balances’ means those account balances which exist at the beginning of the period. The question
clearly states that the prior year auditor’s report was unmodified therefore any digression into the prior period opinion being
other than unmodified or the prior period not having been audited will not earn marks.
■ Review of the application of appropriate accounting policies in the financial statements for the year ended 31 December
2004 to ensure consistent with those applied in 2005.
■ Where permitted (e.g. if there is a reciprocal arrangement with the predecessor auditor to share audit working papers
on a change of appointment), a review of the prior period audit working papers.
Tutorial note: There is no legal, ethical or other professional duty that requires a predecessor auditor to make available
its working papers.
■ Current period audit procedures that provide evidence concerning the existence, measurement and completeness of
rights and obligations. For example:
? after-date receipts (in January 2005 and later) confirming the recoverable amount of trade receivables at
31 December 2004;
? similarly, after-date payments confirming the completeness of trade and other payables (for services);
? after-date sales of inventory held at 31 December 2004;
? review of January 2005 bank reconciliation (confirming clearance of reconciling items at 31 December 2004).
■ Analytical procedures on ratios calculated month-on-month from 31 December 2004 to date and further investigation
of any distortions identified at the beginning of the current reporting period. For example:
? inventory turnover (by category of metal);
? average collection payment;
? average payment period;
? gross profit percentage (by metal).
■ Examination of historic accounting records for non-current assets and liabilities (if necessary). For example:
? agreeing balances on asset registers to the client’s trial balance as at 31 December 2004;
? agreeing statements of balances on loan accounts to the financial statements as at 31 December 2004.
■ If the above procedures do not provide sufficient evidence, additional substantive procedures should be performed. For
example, if additional evidence is required concerning inventory at 31 December 2004, cut-off tests may be
reperformed.