Mary Howard, CPA, has long audited the Wheat City Grain Company's financial statements. Much of Wheat City's assets consist of wheat stored in three of its grain elevators, and the Company maintains perpetual inventory records of the quantity of wheat stored there.
Concurrently, on a surprise basis, at different times each month, state grain inspectors also "count" the quantity of wheat found in these elevators-and have found no material differences in the perpetual records for the five years that they have performed this function. To save both time and audit fees, Mary wants to rely on the state inspectors' counts instead of her making independent counts thereof. Can Mary do this.