Case Study: The Missing Audit Workpapers By Dennis Greer FACTS: Major "Big 4" Certified Public Accounting firms have three sources of revenue or three divisions: Audit, tax, and Management Consulting. But the real power resides in the Audit Department because the Audit Partners earn between $100,000-750,000 per year. An annual audit of a large U.S. corporation can cost over $500,000 each year. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the federal government requires that all corporations selling stock on the New York Stock Exchange be audited annually by an independent national CPA firm. The Audit Partner in-charge of the engagement directs the staff auditors to keep audit workpapers for evidence in case of a lawsuit. These workpapers show that the corporation is or is not maintaining generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). During an audit in Hollywood, California a staff auditor was completing an audit of a home health care corporation. During the investigation it was noticed that some of the accounting records were missing. It was common knowledge that the prior corporate controller had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the corporation and had fled the United States. The staff auditor commented in the workpapers that the missing files could be due to the embezzlement. Upon reviewing the workpapers, the Audit Manager rebuked the staff auditor for mentioning the embezzlement in the workpapers.
QUESTIONS: Who are the stakeholders? What are the ethical issues involved here? What are the options? What would you do? Why? Should the audit workpapers be re-done? Are there any other facts that you would like to know before making your decision? What are the short and long term consequences of not reporting the embezzlement in the workpapers? What are the legal ramifications of this case? Whom does the note in the papers affect: stockholders, employees, auditors, the community in general?