FRONTLINE FOCUS Too Much Trouble-Susan Makes a Decision usan was beginning to realize that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was a mixed Susan thought for a moment about asking her boss to let her put a small team together to do this one, but then she realized that by not deliv- reassure investors, and it was certainly bringing her firm plenty of business, ering on the small favor he had asked, she could be ruining her chances for but now she was faced with this small favor" to her boss. On the face of it getting assigned to some of the bigger audits down the road. So she ran she couldn't really understand why they just didn't tell this guy that they only the numbers, multiplied them by four, and submitted the price quotation worked with clients worth a dollar figure that was higher than his company's Unfortunately, the quotation was so outrageous that the small-business valuation and be done with it, but her boss was so paranoid about the firm's client complained to the PCAOB, which promptly wrote a letter demanding reputation, and he was convinced that the next big client was always just a full explanation of Susan's company's pricing schedule. around the corner Susan spent a couple of hours reviewing the file. Steven's assessment QUESTIONS had been accurate--this was a simple audit with no real earning poten- 1. What could Susan have done differently here? 2. What do you think will happen now? tial for the company. If they weren't so busy, they could probably assign a junior team- her team perhaps-and knock this out in a few days, but 3. What will be the consequences for Susan, Steven Thompson, and Steven had bigger fish to fry, their auditing firm