Public vs. Private Company Controls Standards

Facts taken from problem 5.64 in your textbook.

Your long-time client, Central Office Supply, has been rapidly expanding, and the board of directors is considering taking the company public. CEO Terry Puckett has heard that costs of operating a public company have increased significantly as a result of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act. Puckett is particularly concerned with reports that audit fees have doubled because of internal control provisions of the act and PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 2201. Puckett has asked you to explain the possible effects on the audit of complying with the requirements of Sarbanes–Oxley.

Required:

Outline for yourself your thoughts on the changes in the company’s responsibilities for internal control and changes in the audit due to Sarbanes–Oxley and PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 2201. Then use your outline to create:

a PowerPoint presentation that summarizes your findings for Puckett to educate him on the requirements, and
a Word document with your talking points that elaborate on the PowerPoint slides.

If you have the capability to do so, please combine the PowerPoint slides and the Word document into one .pdf file to turn in to your instructor. If not, two files are acceptable. Be sure to use the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA as a guide to format your documents. Your combined documents should be at least 4 pages in length, but no more than 6 pages in length, not including the title page and reference page. Outside academic resources not required, but they would likely assist with your analysis. If they are used, citations must be provided.

Solution Preview

Auditing Public Firms

Accounting and financial reports are an integral part of any business as they aid the different stakeholders in the decision-making process. However, Patterson and Smith (2007), highlight the existence of accounting fraud as one of the serious issues that affect the accounting profession. Irrespective of the rules and codes of conduct that guide actions by employees within the auditing profession, there are often cases of misreporting, that ultimately influence the stakeholders adversely. Consequently, the government has a responsibility to protect investors from possible fraudsters that would otherwise use their positions as auditors to advance their nefarious agenda at the expense of the business. Pursuant to such arguments, organizations with greater public involvement are more likely to have tougher rules to ensure the protection of public funds from possible accounting fraud than is the case with private firms.

(1,227 words)