1. Lauren Yost & Co., a medium-sized CPA firm, was engaged
to audit Stuart Supply Company. Several staff were involved in the
audit, all of whom had attended the firm's in-house training
program on effective auditing methods. Throughout the audit, Yost
spent most of her time in the field planning the audit, supervising
the staff, and reviewing their work.
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2 Read the requirements .
Requirement a. What defense should Lauren Yost & Co. use
in the suit by Stuart?
Yost and Co. should use the defenses of (1)
Supply Company was a reasonably (3) suggested by Yost.
In most circumstances it (5)
and (2) one and (4)
. The fraud perpetuated by Stuart
to uncover except by the procedures
be necessary to physically count all inventory at different
locations on the
same day. Furthermore, the president of the company
contributed to the failure of finding the fraud by (6) . There is
evidence of that through his signed statement.
Requirement b. What defense(s) should Lauren Yost & Co.
use in the suit by First City National Bank? (Select all that
apply.)
A. breach of contract
B. lack of privity of contract
C. contributory negligence
D. the firm employed due care and followed auditing standards
in the audit of inventory
Requirement c. Is Yost likely to be successful in her
defenses?
She is likely to be (7) in her defense against the client
because (8) . She is likely to be (9) in her defense against the
bank because (10) .
Requirement d. Would the issues or outcome be significantly
different if the suit was brought under the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934?
The issues and outcomes should be (11) under the suit brought
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If the suit were brought
under Rule 10b-5, it is certainly (12) that the plaintiff would be
successful, inasmuch as there was (13) .
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A significant part of the audit entailed verifying the
physical count, cost, and summarization of inventory. Inventory was
highly significant to the financial statements, and Yost knew the
inventory was pledged as collateral for a large loan to First City
National Bank. In reviewing Stuart's inventory count procedures,
Yost told the president she believed the method of counting
inventory at various locations on different days was highly
undesirable. The president stated that it was impractical to count
all inventory on the same day because of personnel shortages and
customer preference. After considerable discussion, Yost agreed to
permit the practice if the president signed a statement that no
other method was practical. The CPA firm had at least one person at
each site to audit the inventory count procedures and actual count.
There were more than 40 locations.
Eighteen months later, Yost found out that the worst had
happened. Management below the president's level had conspired to
materially overstate inventory as a means of covering up obsolete
inventory and inventory losses resulting from mismanagement. The
misstatement occurred by physically transporting inventory at night
to other locations after it had been counted in a given location.
The accounting records were inadequate to uncover these illegal
transfers.
Both Stuart Supply Company and First City National Bank sued
Lauren Yost & Co.