Test Bank For Auditing and Assurance Services, 13th Edition Alvin A. Arens
Test Bank For Auditing and Assurance Services, 13th Edition Alvin A. Arens
eu/Test-Bank-for-Auditing-and-Assurance-Services,-13th-
Edition-Alvin-A.-Arens
Chapter 1
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Recording, classifying, and summarizing economic events in a logical manner for the purpose
easy of providing financial information for decision making is commonly called:
c a. finance.
b. auditing.
c. accounting.
d. economics.
2. In the audit of historical financial statements, which of the following accounting bases is the
easy most common?
c a. Regulatory accounting principles.
b. Cash basis of accounting.
c. Generally accepted accounting principles.
d. Liquidation basis of accounting.
3. Any service that requires a CPA firm to issue a report about the reliability of an assertion that is
easy made by another party is a(n):
b a. accounting and bookkeeping service.
b. attestation service.
c. assurance service.
d. tax service.
5. (SOX) The organization that is responsible for providing oversight for auditors of public companies is
easy called the ________.
d a. Auditing Standards Board.
b. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
c. Public Oversight Board.
d. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
7. Providing quantitative information that management and others can use to make decisions is the
medium function of:
d a. management information systems.
b. auditing.
c. finance.
d. accounting.
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9. The ___________ rate may be defined as approximately the rate a bank could earn by investing
medium in U.S. treasury notes for the same length as the length of a business loan.
c a. nominal
b. stated
c. risk-free
d. prevailing
10. The use of the Certified Public Accountant title is regulated by:
medium a. the federal government.
b b. state law through a licensing department or agency of each state.
c. the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants through the licensing departments
of the tax and auditing committees.
d. the Securities and Exchange Commission.
12. An audit of historical financial statements is most often performed to determine whether the:
medium a. organization is operating efficiently and effectively.
d b. entity is following specific procedures or rules set down by some higher authority.
c. management team is fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders.
d. none of these choices.
13. An examination of part of an organization’s procedures and methods for the purpose of
medium evaluating efficiency and effectiveness is what type of audit?
a a. Operational audit.
b. Compliance audit.
c. Financial statement audit.
d. Production audit.
14. An audit to determine whether an entity is following specific procedures or rules set down by
medium some higher authority is classified as a(n):
b a. audit of financial statements.
b. compliance audit.
c. operational audit.
d. production audit.
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16. Which of the following services provides the lowest level of assurance on a financial statement?
medium a. A review.
a b. An audit.
c. Neither service provides assurance on financial statements.
d. Each service provides the same level of assurance on financial statements.
17. The three requirements for becoming a CPA include all but which of the following?
medium a. Uniform CPA examination requirement.
c b. Educational requirements.
c. Character requirements.
d. Experience requirement.
19. Financial statement users often receive unreliable financial information from companies. Which
medium of the following is not a common reason for this?
d a. Complex business transactions.
b. Large amounts of data.
c. Lack of firsthand knowledge about the business.
d. Each of these choices is a common reason for unreliable financial information.
20. Which of the following is not a Trust Services principle as defined by the AICPA or CICA?
challenging a. Online privacy.
d b. Availability.
c. Processing integrity.
d. Operational integrity.
22. (SOX) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act prohibits a CPA firm that audits a public company from providing
challenging which of the following types of services to that company?
c a. Reviews of quarterly financial statements.
b. Preparation of corporate tax returns.
c. Most consulting services.
d. Tax services.
23. Which of the following audits can be regarded as generally being a compliance audit?
challenging a. IRS agents’ examinations of taxpayer returns.
a b. GAO auditor’s evaluation of the computer operations of governmental units.
c. An internal auditor’s review of a company’s payroll authorization procedures.
d. A CPA firm’s audit of the local school district.
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challenging a. Business risk.
b b. Information risk.
c. The risk-free interest rate.
d. Inherent risk.
26. Attestation services on information technology include WebTrust services and SysTrust
challenging services. Which of the following statements most accurately describes SysTrust services?
b a. SysTrust services provide assurance on business processes, transaction integrity and
information processes.
b. SysTrust services provide assurance on system reliability in critical areas such as security
and data integrity.
c. ysTrust services provide assurance on internal control over financial reporting.
d. SysTrust services provide assurance as to whether accounting personnel are following
procedures prescribed by the company controller.
Essay Questions
28. Two types of attestation services provided by CPA firms are audits and reviews. Discuss the
easy similarities and differences between these two types of attestation services. Which type provides
the least assurance?
Answer:
Two primary types of attestation services are: audits of historical financial statements and
reviews of historical financial statements. While both services involve the accumulation
and evaluation of evidence regarding assertions made by management in the company’s
financial statements, a review involves a less extensive examination and provides a lower
level of assurance about the client’s financial statements than an audit.
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29. Discuss the differences and similarities between the roles of accountants and auditors. What
medium additional expertise must an auditor possess beyond that of an accountant?
Answer:
The role of accountants is to record, classify, and summarize economic events in a logical
manner for the purpose of providing financial information for decision making. To do this,
accountants must have a sound understanding of the principles and rules that provide the
basis for preparing the financial information. In addition, accountants are responsible for
developing systems to ensure that the entity’s economic events are properly recorded on a
timely basis and at a reasonable cost.
The role of auditors is to determine whether the financial information prepared by
accountants properly reflects the economic events that occurred. To do this, the auditor
must not only understand the principles and rules that provide the basis for preparing
financial information, but must also possess expertise in the accumulation and evaluation
of audit evidence. It is this latter expertise that distinguishes auditors from accountants.
30. Discuss the similarities and differences between financial statement audits, operational audits,
medium and compliance audits. Give an example of each type.
Answer:
Financial statement audits, operational audits, and compliance audits are similar in that
each type of audit involves accumulating and evaluating evidence about information to
ascertain and report on the degree of correspondence between the information and
established criteria. The differences between each type of audit are the information being
examined and the criteria used to evaluate the information. An example of a financial
statement audit would be the annual audit of IBM Corporation, in which the external
auditors examine IBM’s financial statements to determine the degree of correspondence
between those financial statements and generally accepted accounting principles. An
example of an operational audit would be an internal auditor’s evaluation of whether the
company’s computerized payroll-processing system is operating efficiently and
effectively. An example of a compliance audit would be an IRS auditor’s examination of
an entity’s federal tax return to determine the degree of compliance with the Internal
Revenue Code.
31. Discuss the similarities and differences between the roles of independent auditors, GAO
medium auditors, internal revenue agents, and internal auditors.
Answer:
The roles of all four types of auditors are similar in that they involve the accumulation and
evaluation of evidence about information to ascertain and report on the degree of
correspondence between the information and established criteria. The differences in their
roles center around the information audited and the criteria used to evaluate that
information. Independent auditors primarily audit companies’ financial statements. GAO
auditors’ primary responsibility is to perform the audit function for Congress. IRS auditors
are responsible for the enforcement of federal tax laws. Internal auditors primarily perform
operational and compliance audits for their employing company.
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32. (SOX) What is an engagement to attest on internal control over financial reporting?
medium
Answer:
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires public companies to report management’s
assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. The Act further
requires auditors to attest to the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting.
This evaluation, which is integrated with the audit of financial statements, provides
forward-looking information, because effective internal controls reduce the likelihood of
future misstatements in the financial statements.
33. To do an audit, it is necessary for information to be in a verifiable form and some criteria by
challenging which the auditor can evaluate the information. (A) What information and criteria would an
independent CPA firm use when auditing a company’s historical financial statements? (B) What
information and criteria would an Internal Revenue Service auditor use when auditing that same
company’s tax return? (C) What information and criteria would an internal auditor use when
performing an operational audit to evaluate whether the company’s computerized payroll
processing system is operating efficiently and effectively?
Answer:
(A) The information used by a CPA firm in a financial statement audit is the financial
information in the company’s financial statements. The most commonly used criteria are
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
(B) The information used by an IRS auditor is the financial information in the company’s
federal tax return. The criteria are the internal revenue code and interpretations.
(C) The information used by an internal auditor when performing an operational audit of
the payroll system could include various items such as the number of errors made, costs
incurred by the payroll department, and number of payroll records processed each month.
The criteria would consist of company standards for departmental efficiency and
effectiveness.
34. Explain what is meant by information risk, and discuss the four causes of this risk.
challenging
Answer:
Information risk is the possibility that information upon which a business decision is made
is inaccurate. Four causes of information risk are:
remoteness of information,
biases and motives of the provider,
voluminous data, and
complex exchange transactions.
35. Attestation services fall into five categories. What are these categories?
challenging Answer:
The five categories of attestation services include:
audits of historical financial statements,
attestation on internal control over financial reporting,
reviews of historical financial statements,
attestation services on information technology, and
other attestation services that may be applied to a broad range of subject matter.
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36. Discuss four factors that are likely to significantly reduce information risk in the next five to ten
challenging years.
Answer:
Four factors that are likely to significantly reduce information risk in the next five to ten
years are:
technological advances,
more companies will go on-line, reducing the risk of investors obtaining outdated
information,
new accounting and auditing standards, and
auditors will find more efficient and effective audit techniques.
37. The criteria by which an auditor evaluates the information under audit may vary with the
easy information being audited.
a a. True
b. False
38. The criteria used by an external auditor to evaluate published financial statements are known as
easy generally accepted auditing standards.
b a. True
b. False
39. (SOX) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act establishes standards related to the audits of privately held companies.
easy a. True
b b. False
40. (SOX) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is widely viewed as having ushered in sweeping changes to auditing
easy and financial reporting.
a a. True
b. False
41. Only companies that file annual statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission are
easy required to have an annual external audit.
b a. True
b. False
42. The financial statements most commonly audited by external auditors are the balance sheet, the
easy income statement, and the statement of changes in retained earnings.
b a. True
b. False
43. The primary purpose of a compliance audit is to determine whether the financial statements are
medium prepared in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles.
b a. True
b. False
44. Results of compliance audits are typically reported to someone within the organizational unit
medium being audited rather than to a broad spectrum of outside users.
a a. True
b. False
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45. The primary role of the United States General Accounting Office is the enforcement of the
medium federal tax laws as defined by Congress and interpreted by the courts.
b a. True
b. False
46. CPA firms are never allowed to provide bookkeeping services for audit clients.
medium a. True
b b. False
47. (SOX) Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires public companies to have an external auditor
medium attest to their internal control over financial reporting.
a a. True
b. False
48. (SOX) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires a company’s chairman of the board of directors, CEO, and
challenging CFO to certify the company’s financial statements.
b a. True
b. False
49. (SOX) The criterion that is most likely to be used as a framework in evaluating a company’s internal
challenging control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is the Enterprise
b Risk Management framework.
a. True
b. False
50. Most public companies’ audited financial statements are available on the SEC’s EDGAR
challenging database.
a a. True
b. False
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