Assume you have been requested by the Upton Corporation to prepare a report expressing an opinion on management's assertions about internal control. In each of the five years Upton has been an audit client, you have issued an unqualified opinion on management's financial statements, and in each year your consideration of internal control has not revealed any reportable conditions. Because no reportable conditions have been detected. Ken Pontarelli, Upton's CFO, asks that you issue a report on internal control without performing any additional procedures. Pontarelli says: "Simply issue the opinion, stating it's based on procedures performed during the audit. You know as well as I do that additional procedures won't disclose anything significant.

So why make us pay for work that is a waste of time?"

Required:

1. Respond to Pontarelli's request, indicating why you could or could not issue an opinion on Upton Corporation's internal controls.

2. What are the similarities and differences between your report on internal control issued in conjunction with the audit and a report expressing an opinion on Upton Corporation's internal control?