The following are independent situations for the auditor when he carries out audits in different businesses in the year ended 30 June 2021.

(a) The Children’s Help Line is a charity that provides assistance to children who are in unfortunate situations by providing short term financial assistance, counselling and other help for children who need them. During COVID its donations have declined by 65% and so it has had to reduce its services and some of its staff. This has meant that receipts have only been provided to donors who have requested them and the accounting records are only being updated when the accountant comes in once a week when the Administrative officer gives everything to the accountant .Due to the effects of COVID these are the only remaining staff with any administrative /accounting knowledge remaining at The Children’s Help Line

(b) Smollett Ltd is a building contractor with a varying workload depending on the state of the economy and consumer confidence . Due to the irregularity of its building projects, Smollett also purchases large vacant blocks of land that it later subdivides for the construction of houses and units. Smollett then sells these on its own account. Your analysis suggests that the apportionment of costs between houses and units has between kept low with a substantial impact on increasing profits . It has also resulted in the material overvaluation of the unsold property. The directors of the company maintain that the stock of properties is correctly valued.

(c) The Big Entertainment Company arranges for popular entertainers to perform in Australia. The band Event was booked by the Big Entertainment company to play in various venues across the country with the contract specifying payment was to be made in US dollars. To reduce costs the Big Entertainment company decided not to hedge the amounts that would be payable . Subsequent to year end the Australian dollar fell against the US dollar and a substantial loss was predicted. The management of the Big Entertainment Company tried unsuccessfully to renegotiate the band’s contract for the tour and has been unable to obtain finance to cover the expected shortfall. The Big Entertainment Company has now cancelled the tour and expects a substantial claim from Event. It is clear to you, as the auditor, that the Big Entertainment Company does not have the income, cash or other assets to sustain such a loss. The Big Entertainment Company has disclosed all this information in its financial statements ,including its difficulties in meeting the potential payout for the cancelled tour in its financial statements .

(d) The Cocoon company limited operated as a small proprietary limited company from 2016 until 2020 when it sought and was granted public company status .The company has previously prepared financial statements but has not followed the Australian accounting standards until 2019 when the company employed a CPA to prepare the company’s financial statements .From then the company followed the accounting standards when the financial statements were prepared .

(e) The Anglia company, has been a successful company until last year, 2020, and when the Coronavirus came it suffered a substantial reduction in profit with a $2million profit declining to a $8 million loss . The company was able to access a small payment from the Government during 2020 but this has now stopped. Anglia has had to reduce its staff by 80% and there is limited segregation of duties and the accountant is quite concerned about its ability to continue as a going concern but its directors and CEO have prepared the financial statements on the basis that they think Anglia will be able to continue operating provided they get a package of financial assistance.

Required: 

Assuming all amounts involved are material, identify and discuss the most likely auditor’s opinion which should be issued for each of the above situations providing reasons/explanation for your opinion.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

a The Childrens Help Line is a charity that provides assistance to children who are in unfortunate ... View the full answer