Question

Matthew Damon has been appointed as a junior auditor of AwesomewaterhouseCoopers (AwC). One of his first tasks is to review the firm’s audit clients to ensure that independence requirements of APES 110 (Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants) are being met. His review has revealed the following:

(1) Wendy Machineries Limited (WML) has been an audit client of AwC since the past two years. AwC has recently completed a review of internal controls for WML. AwC has been requested by WML to take responsibility to implement a new software system that will form a significant part of internal controls over WML’s financial reporting process and run a three hour training session for its accounting staff.

Required:

Using the conceptual framework in APES 110 (Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants), identify potential threat(s) to independence & recommend safeguards (if any) to reduce the independence threat(s) identified. Also, provide an objective assessment of whether audit independence can be achieved.

Answer 1