On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
*Explain professional standards related to a variety of assurance engagements.
*Identify potential ethical violations and relate those violations to specific ethical rules.
*Identify company business functions and explain the business risks associated with those functions.
*Distinguish business risks affecting information relevance and reliability from other business risks.
*Explain which internal controls can effectively mitigate information risks.
*Design assurance services procedures to gather evidence for specific management assertions about the reliability and relevance of identified information used for decision-making.
*Analyze Case Studies and Current Events Relating to the Profession
*Prepare well-organized, concise, and grammatically correct written business communications and presentations
*Work effectively in problem-solving teams and determine how best to manage team dynamics.
This course is designed to help you obtain an in-depth understanding of the audit profession from a practical perspective. The profession involves the issuance of audit reports by independent accountants and recommendations generated by internal auditors on the fairness and accuracy of information used to make business decisions.
Through examination of current events and relevant case study application, we will analyze internal and external factors impacting the market for internal and external audit services. We will begin with a discussion of factors affecting the demand for audit services and other assurance services. We will continue with a discussion of how the assurance services market relates to and differs from other services offered by accountants and internal organizational functions performing audit activities.
We will use the identification of key business risks faced by companies to distinguish risks related specifically to the reliability and relevance of information used for business decision making (e.g., risks that financial statements are materially misstated) from other operational risks.
