CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR TAX & FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS
Self-Study

Cost-Saving Strategies for Small Audits

4 Credits: Auditing

$116.00$136.00

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Cost-Saving Strategies for Small Audits

Format
Self-Study
Course Level
Basic
CPE Credits

4 Credits: Auditing

Course Description

High quality and efficiency are the basic objectives for audit engagements of all sizes. However, the costs and time associated with an audit can be daunting for small companies. The key is creating a process that minimizes cost and risk, while maximizing profitability. This course provides an overview of a simplified small audit approach, quality control policies and procedures, audit strategies, and audit planning for profits. The goal is simple: to help you create a strategy for small audits that includes compliance with applicable auditing standards and, at the same time, is effective and lucrative.

This course covers material also contained in Streamlining Small Audits: Quality plus Profitability.

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Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

Chapter 1

  • Recognize the philosophies underlying cost-beneficial audit strategies for audits of small- to medium-size entities.
  • Identify the components of designing audit strategies for small audits that will comply with all applicable professional standards and achieve high levels of profitability.
  • Recognize performance measures and documentation requirements for auditing procedures that result in both quality and efficiency.
  • Recognize components and characteristics of audit risk, materiality calculations, and sampling decisions.
  • Identify appropriate engagement completion procedures.
  • Define small business by identifying common characteristics.

Chapter 2

  • Identify the quality control policies and procedures that comply with the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct and the Statement on Quality Control Standards No. 8, A Firm’s System of Quality Control (Redrafted) (QC 10).
  • Recognize the components of the AICPA Practice Aid Establishing and Maintaining a System of Quality Control for a CPA Firm’s Accounting and Auditing Practice (Practice Aid), the AICPA Conceptual Framework for Independence Standards, a Guide for Complying with Rules 102-105 (integrated into the AICPA’s updated Code of Professional Conduct), and AICPA Instructions for Quality Control Materials Reviews.
  • Identify when independence is required, potential impairments to independence, threats to rules violations, and preventative safeguards.
  • Recognize factors that affect risk at the financial statement level and their impact on the planning process.
  • Recognize when a CPA firm is responsible for establishing and maintaining a system of quality control over the development of quality control materials and what modifications can be made to established practice aids.
  • Select components of integrity.

Chapter 3

  • Recognize factors that influence the control environment and which entities are at risk from an ineffective control environment.
  • Recognize audit risks for certain financial statement classifications and when an auditor can reduce overall evidence requirements based on assessed levels of risk of material misstatement.
  • Identify the components that comprise risk of material misstatement in order to understand when to perform and document risk assessment procedures.
  • Recognize the definition of assertions and key cost-beneficial audit strategies for small audits.
  • Identify factors that influence audit responses to potential risks of material misstatement.

Chapter 4

  • Recognize components of an audit plan as required by auditing and quality control standards.
  • Identify the steps of audit planning that prioritize the purposes and substance of engagement planning first and the procedures and documentation second.
  • Recognize the importance of engagement planning activities in promoting audit efficiency and profitability.
  • Recognize the importance of a standardized planning document in planning and organizing audit documentation before beginning the work.
  • Recognize the purpose of an engagement letter and how it should be incorporated throughout an engagement.
  • Identify time-savings opportunities for clerical tasks.
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Course Specifics

Course ID
9159014
Revision Date
July 5, 2022
Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites.

Advanced Preparation

None

Number of Pages
134

Compliance Information

NASBA Provider Number: 103220

CFP Notice: Not all courses that qualify for CFP® credit are registered by Western CPE. If a course does not have a CFP registration number in the compliance section, the continuing education will need to be individually reported with the CFP Board. For more information on the reporting process, required documentation, processing fee, etc., contact the CFP Board. CFP Professionals must take each course in it’s entirety, the CFP Board DOES NOT accept partial credits for courses.

Meet The Experts

Larry L. Perry Headshot

Larry L. Perry, CPA, has been in practice for over 40 years. He writes accounting and auditing manuals and is currently an author and presenter of live staff training seminars, live webcasts, and self-study CPE programs, including self-study courses for Western CPE. He’s a managing member of CPA Firm Support Services, LLC, an organization that provides resources, training, and consulting to smaller CPA firms. Larry focuses on practical ways to perform effective and efficient accounting and auditing engagements.