Evaluating Fraud Risk in a Financial Statement Audit (ARF4)

Overview

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners says that there is fraud lurking in all businesses, including not-for-profit organizations. It often goes undetected for years and when uncovered, management and the board may question why an auditor did not identify it. The auditor’s responsibility in a financial statement audit is to assess risk and perform sufficient procedures to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement due to fraud or error. However, failure to perform an adequate fraud risk assessment and report deficiencies in internal control, such as a lack of segregation of duties, can leave a firm vulnerable. This course will discuss the audit procedures that should be performed in accordance with AU-C 240 as recently amended, best practices in performing fraud risk assessment procedures, when and how to report control deficiencies noted in an audit, and the most frequent types of fraud found in small to mid-sized entities along with internal controls that could be implemented to help prevent and detect them. We will look at various cyber fraud schemes and how they might be prevented or detected, the use of analytics as fraud risk procedures, and assessments of fraud risk in a Single Audit. This course features case studies.

Highlights

• The fraud landscape in the United States
• Fraud risk procedures as updated by recently issued standards
• Most likely fraud types found in small to mid-sized entities
• Internal controls to prevent and detect fraud
• What to do when fraud is identified or suspected
• Case studies based on recent frauds

Prerequisites

None

Designed For

CPAs in either public or private practice with accounting, financial reporting, or attest responsibilities

Objectives

• Understand the drivers of fraud risk in a financial statement audit
• Conduct procedures required by professional literature to assess the risk of fraud
• Develop discussion points to review with management and those charged with governance
• Identify the main types of fraud that occur in small to mid-sized companies and develop internal controls responsive to those risks
• Evaluate fraud case examples and identify how fraud occurred and how it could have been prevented or detected