Public Company Reporting

Term Project #1 – Public Company Reporting

Select one public company of the following:

Imageware Systems, Inc. of San Diego, California (ticker symbol IWSY) 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, filed with the SEC March 28, 2019.

Limoneira Inc. (ticker symbol LMNR) 10-K for the year ended October 31, 2018, filed with the SEC January 14, 2019. Note an unusual asset title.

PPG, Inc (ticker symbol PPG) 10-K/A (Amendment #1) for the ended December 31, 2017, filed with the SEC June 28, 2018. Note there is a subsequent 10-K filed for the year ended December 31, 2018 – please use the earlier 10-K/A for the year ended 2017.

For the company selected, go to their web site and a web site independent of the company that provides financial information and familiarize yourself with information regarding the company including the Company’s annual filing on Form 10-K and answer the following questions:

Company Name

Fiscal Year End

Industry

Exchange & Trading Symbol

Audit Firm or Firms

Financial information web site consulted for additional reference

Term Project #1 – Public Company Reporting

Part A

1. What kind of opinion has the audit firm issued on the financial statements and the system of internal control? Does anything appear unusual about the reports (financial statements and internal controls) from the independent auditors?
2. Can you locate in SEC filings (not in the 10-K) what the most recent annual audit fees are for the company?
3. What is the company’s industry and identify one unique risk factor for that industry?
4. Identify one competitor for this company. How does the company compare (market share, size, etc) to this competitor?

Part B

1. Identify what you think would be a specific detailed risk (do not use the terms “detection”, “control” or “inherent” risk) in the audit of this company and describe:

(A) The audit risk;

(B) Why you think this is a risk related to the audit; and

(C) How you might change your audit procedures to address this risk. Include references to the financial statements in your comments, and if you are making assumptions, state those assumptions.

2. Identify a significant account grouping on the balance sheet and suggest some procedures you think the audit team would use to complete their audit work on the these accounts. (Examples – cash accounts or accounts receivables or inventory)

Term Project # 2

Part A.

The management of a team of auditors involves knowledge of professional standards and leadership of the individuals on the team. Stress and unexpected developments are not unusual events during an audit. The team leaders have to be prepared to react and make decisions that perhaps they have never experienced before.

Please describe what you think are appropriate actions if you were the audit team leader as a manager, and you had the following issues arise on the audit(treat them as individual, unrelated items):

1. Your deadline to finish the audit is in two weeks, and you, as the manger on the audit, have five staff working to finish the audit at the client’s office. One of the newer staff members asks to visit with you in private. This staff tells you that one of the two audit seniors has been acting “funny” and sometimes not very focused on their work – very distracted. The staff person is worried that this senior may have a “substance abuse” issue or is in some other way not right. What do you do with this information?
2. A member of the client’s senior accounting team asks you about team member A – indicating that “A” seems to paying too much attention to a junior member of his client team. While there is a reason for business interaction between the two (your team member is working on accounts receivable and this client person is in that group) – it seems to be too personal and extensive to be just about accounts receivable. What do you do with this information?
3. While in the client’s break/coffee area, you overhear a conversation between two client personnel – they are talking about a new rumor that there might be personnel layoffs announced soon. What do you do with this information?
4. During your early morning workout at the gym, you listen to two people talking about their employer – a company with an office next door to your client’s office. Their conversation suggests that their company will be buying the building that your client is in as soon as your client moves the business to the next state – and the announcement of the move will be made shortly. What do you do with this information?

Part B. 

The PCAOB web site has a section titled “Settled Disciplinary Orders”. Locate the findings involving Richard H. Huff, Jr., of Blue Bell, Pa., from February 2019.

1. Describe the situations and audit issues that led to the disciplinary action by the PCAOB.
2. There were warning signs of Huff’s performance as an audit partner – describe.
3. What can you find of Huff’s background? Which CPA firm is he with now? Can you find out where he went to university?
4. What do you think of the Huff’s understanding of generally accepted auditing standards and generally accepted accounting principles? Name one specific area where auditing standards were violated.
5. Two lessons you learned from reading of this audit situation?

Last Updated on May 29, 2019