Reference no: EM131622140
Question: Errors in an Accountants' Review Report. M. Jordan & E. Stone, CPAs, audited the financial statements of Tech Company, a nonissuer, for the year ended December 31, 2013, and expressed an unmodified opinion. For the next year, ended December 31, 2014, Tech issued comparative financial statements. Jordan & Stone reviewed Tech's 2014 financial statements and B. Kent, an assistant on the engagement, drafted the accountants' review report that follows. Stone, the engagement supervisor, decided not to reissue the prior-year audit report but instructed Kent to include a separate paragraph in the current-year review report describing the responsibility assumed for the prior-year audited financial statements. This is an appropriate reporting procedure. Stone reviewed Kent's draft and indicated in the following supervisor's review notes that the draft contained several deficiencies (assume that U.S. GAAP is the appropriate reporting framework).
Accountants' Review Report-Kent's Draft We have reviewed and audited the accompanying balance sheets of Tech Co. as of December 31, 2014 and 2013, and the related statements of income and comprehensive income, retained earnings, and cash flows for the years then ended, in accordance with Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and generally accepted auditing standards. All information included in these financial statements is the representation of the management of Tech Company. A review consists principally of inquiries of company personnel and analytical procedures applied to financial data. It is substantially less in scope than an audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, the objective of which is the expression of an opinion regarding the financial statements taken as a whole. Based on our review, we are not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the accompanying financial statements. Because of the inherent limitations of a review engagement, this report is intended for the information of management and should not be used for any other purpose. We audited the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2013, and our report was dated March 2, 2014. We have no responsibility for updating that report for events and circumstances occurring after that date. Jordan and Stone, CPAs March 1, 2015
Required: These supervisor's review notes may or may not be correct. For each item a-o, indicate whether Stone is correct (C) or incorrect (I) in the criticism of Kent's draft.
a. The report should contain no reference to the prior-year audited financial statements in the first (introductory) paragraph.
b. All current-year basic financial statements are not properly identified in the first (introductory) paragraph.
c. The report should contain no reference to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in the first (introductory) paragraph.
d. Accountants' review and audit responsibilities should follow management's responsibilities in the first (introductory) paragraph.
e. The report should contain no comparison of the scope of a review to an audit in the second (scope) paragraph.
f. Negative assurance should be expressed on the current-year reviewed financial statements in the second (scope) paragraph.
g. The report should contain a statement that no opinion is expressed on the current-year financial statements in the second (scope) paragraph.
h. The report should contain a reference to "conformity with generally accepted accounting principles" in the second paragraph.
i. The report should not express a restriction on the distribution of the accountants' review report in the third paragraph.
j. The report should not contain a reference to "material modifications" in the third paragraph.
k. The report should indicate the type of opinion expressed on the prior-year audited financial statements in the last paragraph.
l. The report should indicate that no auditing procedures were performed after the date of the report on the prior-year financial statements in the fourth (separate) paragraph.
m. The report should not contain a reference to "updating the prior-year auditor's report for events and circumstances occurring after that date" in the fourth (separate) paragraph.
n. The description of procedures performed in a review engagement in the second (scope) paragraph is incomplete.
o. The review report should have paragraph headings similar to those in an audit report.