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Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: Auditing

Course Title: Department: Instructor: Telephone:

BU431 - Auditing Business Paula A. Beiser, CPA, MBA E-Mail | Vita 757-874-4976 (before 9pm each day, Eastern Standard Time). Please leave a message on the answering machine if I am not in at the time you call.

• Certified Public Accountant. Certified Information Technology Professional.

• B.S. in Accounting (Christopher Newport University, 1991).

• M.B.A. - Concentration in Accounting and Software (College of William and Mary, 1995).

• Eighteen graduate hours in Accounting (Old Dominion University, 2000).

• Sixteen years of work experience which includes governmental auditing, and financial accounting (supervisor, manager, and controller positions).

• Current partner in a small business, and current accounting/software consultant.

• Current adjunct instructor for Canyon College.

• Personal - married with an eight-year-old son, Tyler, and a four-year-old son, Jake. I also have 2 cats. My husband and I enjoy scuba diving and boating. We are advanced divers and enjoy diving and traveling. Our dives include Cozumel reefs and caverns, Key West reefs, Freeport/Bahamas reefs and wrecks, Florida springs, Cape Hatteras and Outer Banks wrecks, and Australia and Fiji reefs/wrecks. My aunt lives in Melbourne, Australia, and we went to visit her recently.

OTHER CONTACTS:

IF FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON, YOU CANNOT CONTACT THE INSTRUCTOR, PLEASE CONTACT support@canyoncollege.edu

MEETING TIMES:

On-line
Completion of the course is not to exceed 2 months from start date.

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

The course will consist of message board/bulletin board discussions, analysis of cases and problems, research, and assessment via exams.

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES:

Auditing is designed to provide the student with a thorough introduction to auditing concepts and principles and practice. BU431 instructs students in planning an audit, gathering evidence, testing internal controls and account balances, audit sampling, creating audit work papers and audit reports. Ethical conduct and legal liability of auditors is also covered along with auditing within a computerized environment. The course will cover the essential material needed to take the CPA exam for this subject.

The modern auditor is faced with many challenges, including a burgeoning literature, a complex practice environment, difficult legal issues, sophisticated technologies, and public misperceptions. For one to succeed in this demanding field of work requires integrity, intelligence, fortitude and dedication.

• Define auditing, describe the nature of audits, contrast the various types of audits, and explain why auditing is demanded by society.
• Describe the 10 generally accepted auditing standards; discuss the responsibility of the auditor to detect errors, fraud, and illegal acts, and describe the key elements of the auditor’s standard report.
• Explain the nature of ethics and the concept of independence.
• Discuss the auditors’ legal liability..
• Explain the relationship between evidence and audit risk and identify and explain the components of audit risk. Describe the types of evidential matter.
• Explain an auditor’s responsibilities in planning an audit. Describe how an audit is affected by the assessment of materiality and audit risk. Identify the objectives of audit programs and the major steps in the audit process.
• Define internal control and distinguish among the major components of internal control. Describe the techniques used to obtain an understanding of internal control.
• Contrast the characteristics of a computer information system with a manual system. Explain how auditors obtain an understanding of internal control in a computer environment, and how auditors may test controls in this environment. Distinguish between general control, application control, and user control activities. Describe the nature of audit software programs, and the ways they are used by auditors.
• Describe the difference between statistical and non statistical sampling. Explain the basic sampling concepts, and how to plan and evaluate samples for tests of controls and substantive tests.
• Discuss the functions of audit working papers, the types of working papers, and how they are organized. Identify the general records examined by auditors.
• Describe typical tests of controls and substantive tests for the areas of cash and securities.
• Explain the types of procedures necessary to complete the audit; the auditors’ responsibilities for loss contingencies, and subsequent events; and the steps involved in evaluating audit findings.
• Describe the standard audit report and how materiality affects the type of report issued. Identify circumstances that may result in qualified opinions, adverse opinions, and disclaimers of opinion.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:   Online Bookstore

Principals of Auditing – 16th Edition
Ray Whittington and Kurt Pany
McGraw-Hill/Irwin (Glencoe)
ISBN: 0077217020 ISBN13: 9780077217021

WE WILL ONLY COVER CHAPTERS 1 THROUGH 10, and 16-17 IN THIS COURSE.

GRADE COMPONENTS:

Tests:	20% Test 1: Midterm Chapters 1-4 30% Test 2: Final Chapters 5-10, 16, 17
Homework:	15% (submitted on time using the grading format below)
Case Studies:	20% (2 assigned during the course)
Participation:	15% (postings on the message board/bulletin board)
Total:	100%

This course is a SOMEWHAT DEMANDING course requiring considerable outside work (especially in the on-line format). You are responsible for the material covered by the required due dates. However, IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS BEYOND YOUR CONTROL, PLEASE COMMUNICATE WITH ME, AND WE CAN ADJUST THESE DUE DATES ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. I AM EXTREMELY FLEXIBLE IF YOU WILL COMMUNICATE WITH ME. Participation in the message board/bulletin board discussions will be factored into your participation grade at the end of the term.

Homework: Homework is graded as to neatness, completeness, and timeliness. Certain homework problems must be turned in (via e-mail) by the required due dates (see course schedule). You may work individually or with others on these homework problems. The following grading system is applicable to the homework:

10 -	Full credit. Homework is neat, complete, and turned in on time. Effort will be considered if answers are not 100% accurate.
8 -	Partial credit. An average amount of homework is neat and/or complete and turned in on time. Homework is turned in one day late. Effort will be considered if answers are not 100% accurate.
6 -	Partial credit. A below average amount of homework is neat and/or complete and turned in on time. Homework is turned in two or more days late. Effort will be considered if answers are not 100% accurate.
0 -	No credit. No homework is turned in.

Tests: It is stressed that tests should be taken during the administered time. However, if circumstances arise beyond your control, please communicate with the instructor to reschedule. Tests will take approximately 3 to 4 hours (at one sitting) to complete via a take- home format. You have one week to finish the tests/exams from the time they are started. ALL TESTS SHOULD BE PERFORMED ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. YOU MAY NOT WORK WITH OTHERS ON THESE TESTS.

Case studies: PLEASE SEE THE COURSE SCHEDULE FOR THE CASE REQUIREMENTS. You may work individually or with others on these case studies.

Participation: Your participation grade will be a calculation of message board/ bulletin board discussions each week (you will be required to post comments back to me and 2 other students in this area of the web site); and also of submitting assignments by the required due dates. PLEASE SEE THE COURSE SCHEDULE FOR ALL DUE DATES AND MESSAGE BOARD/BULLETIN BOARD DISCUSSION REQUIRED.

GRADE SCALE:

A	90 - 100
B	80 - 89
C	70 - 79
D	65 - 69
F	0 - 64

SUGGESTED READINGS:

The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Business Week, Forbes, The Journal of Accountancy.

SUGGESTED WEB SITES:

AICPAs (American Institute of CPAs), VSCPAs (Virginia Society of CPAs), IMA (Institute of Management Accountants), IIA (Institute of Internal Auditors), AAA (American Accounting Association).

Also see the textbook website for an abundance of student resources.
http://www.mhhe.com/whittington16e

You can choose to view the chapter resources (choose a chapter to the left of the website).

ACADEMIC HONESTY/STUDENT BILL OF RIGHTS:

Students should familiarize themselves with the Canyon College procedure for Academic Honesty and the Student Bill of Rights.