Your audit client is Techgiant, a listed company that invests in the technology sector. Techgiant recently acquired Woofer, a communication platform primarily used by people with pets to share funny photos,videos, and stories about their pets for free. Woofer has established such a strong community that it has also become known as a dating site. Techgiant plans to generate revenue by creating a paid service for enhanced dating functionality within Woofer. Techgiant paid $100m to acquire Woofer (a substantial premium over the existing stock price), which was funded by a ten-year $100m loan. Immediate repayment of the loan is required if Techgiant's assets (excluding Woofer) fall below $150m. Techgiant's assets(excluding Woofer) are currently valued at $200m, comprising investments in around 50 listed technology firms (accounting for $170m) and 10 unlisted technology startups (accounting for $30m). Techgiant likes to hold investments in startups for at least 5 years and typically makes 1-2 unlisted investment transactions per year.

Additional information

As part of your audit planning meeting with Techgiant you are discussing audit timing and indicate that you believe the audit can be completed in around 8 weeks after year-end. The Techgiant finance director proposes that as an incentive, they will pay a 20% bonus if your audit can be completed within 6 weeks, but will pay 20% less if your audit takes over 10 weeks.

Required

In accordance with APES 110 (2018), state:

a) whether Techgiant is a Public Interest Entity (PIE);

b) the most important Threat(s) relevant to this situation;

c) whether the threat(s) is/are at an acceptable level;

d) how the threat(s) could be addressed. (6 marks)