You have been assigned by your firm to complete the audit of the financial statements of Carter Manufacturing Corporation. The senior accountant and an inexperienced assistant who began the engagement were hospitalized because of an accident. The engagement is about one-half completed. Your auditor's report must be delivered in three weeks, an agreement made when your firm accepted the engagement. You estimate that by utilizing the client's staff you can complete the engagement in five weeks.

Your firm cannot assign an assistant to you.

The working papers show the status of work on the audit as follows:

a. Completed: cash, plant assets, depreciation, mortgage payable, and stockholders'
equity.

b. Completed except as noted later: inventories, accounts payable, tests of purchase transactions, and payrolls.

c. Nothing done: trade accounts receivable, inventory receiving cutoff and price testing, accrued expenses payable, unrecorded liability test, tests of sales transactions, payroll deductions test and observation of payroll check distribution, other expenses, analytical procedures, vouching of December purchase transactions, auditor's report, consideration of internal control, letter on control structure deficiencies, minutes, preparation of tax returns, procedural recommendations for management, subsequent events, supervision, and review.
Your review discloses that the assistant's working papers are incomplete and were not reviewed by the senior accountant. For example, the inventory working papers present incomplete notations, incomplete explanations, and no cross-referencing.

Required:

1. What field work standards have been violated by the senior accountant who preceded you on the assignment? Explain why you feel the standards you list have been violated.
2. In planning your work to complete the engagement, you should scan the working papers, schedule certain work as soon as possible, and identify work that may be postponed until after the report is issued to the client.

a. List the areas on which you should plan to work first—say in your first week of work—and explain why each item deserves early attention.

b. State which work you believe could be postponed until after the report is issued to the client, and give reasons why the work may be postponed.