Auditing and Assurance Services

This document provides an overview of auditing and assurance services, with a focus on the introduction of ASA 701 and its rationale. It also analyzes the Key Audit Matters (KAMs) of companies in the Australian consumer discretionary industry. The report concludes with recommendations for auditors and users of financial statements.

Running head: AUDITING AND ASSURANCE SERVICES
Auditing and Assurance Services
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Rationale for ASA 701...............................................................................................................2
Explanation on ASA 701...........................................................................................................2
Analysis of KAMs of the Companies under Australian Consumer Discretionary Industry......3
Conclusion and Recommendations............................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Auditing is refereed to process to systematically analyse and inspect the financial
statements of the audit clients in order to make sure that they are free from material
misstatements due to fraud and errors (William Jr, Glover and Prawitt, 2016). Certain major
changes have been brought in the audit process in the recent years and the introduction of
ASA 701 Communicating Key Audit Matters in the Independent Auditor’s Report (ASA
701) can be considered as one of those significant changes (Carson, Fargher and Zhang
2016). There are two parts of the report. The aim of the first part of the report is the analysis
of rationale behind the introduction of ASA 701 and to discuss about it through considering
the related aspects. The aim of the next part of the report is the analysis is the effective in the
reporting of the Key Audit Matters (KAM) in all the ASX top 100 listed companies under the
Australian consumer discretionary industry. The report ends with a conclusion and
appropriate recommendation. This report is important for gaining understanding in different
aspects of KAM along with their proper auditing treatment.
Rationale for ASA 701
In the recent years, massive increase can be seen in the numbers of corporate
collapses where the auditing failure has played a crucial role. One of such cases is the
collapse of Lehman Bros. where the auditor provided unqualified audit report in spite of the
presence of certain issue in their financial statements. The management of Lehman Bros.
used Repos in order to hire the high leverage position at the time of auditing which boosted
the balance sheet of the company by $50 billion (theguardian.com, 2019). The auditor of
Lehman Bros. was well aware of these accounting manipulations and still provided
unqualified audit opinion by ignoring these aspects which led to the collapse of the company
(theguardian.com, 2019). The collapse of Lehman Bros. and the financial crisis of 2008 led to
the development of the new auditing standard of ASA 701 in the independent’s auditor’s
report. The main motive behind the development of this new auditing standard was to address
the auditing issues that the auditors did not adders in the case of Lehman Bros (Xu, et al.,
2013). It was needed to address the loopholes existed as a result of poor auditing and the new
standard was recommended for this. It would be possible to note as well as communicate
several key audit matters in case this new standard was applicable at the time of the collapse
of Lehman Bros (Xu, et al., 2013). The new standard puts the obligation on the auditors to
disclose the areas with high-audit risk. Basically, this new auditing standard takes into
consideration the areas with significant management judgments along with the effects of
crucial events and transactions of the companies on auditing. At the same time, there was a
need for providing description on the basis of the processes for determining the most crucial
maters that the auditor’s report should include (Andersen and Hansen, 2018). All these
reasons together majorly contributed towards the development of the new auditing standard
of ASA 701.
Explanation on ASA 701
ASA 701 is the new audit standard that is concerned with the auditing as well as
communicating the significant audit matters in the auditor’s report (auasb.gov.au, 2019).
Some of the main feature of ASA 701 are the approval of the KAM communication in the
listed companies in which the auditors get the scope to decide whether to include KAM in the
audit report or not, providing guidelines to the auditors on how to determine as well as
describe the KAMs, providing the basis for the determination of circumstances under which it
is not possible to communicate KAMs and providing the necessary requirements for
documentation (auasb.gov.au, 2019). According to ASA 701, the auditors can determine

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these key audit matters through the determination of the communicated matters and from the
matters charged with governance, accounting treatment of the high risk areas, judgments of
the auditors and the impact of significant events and transactions that need to be included in
the auditor’s report (Vik and Walter, 2017). In the present days, it has become the obligation
on the auditors of Australia to comply with the principles and auditing policies of ASA 701 at
the time of auditing the financial statements of the ASX listed firms (Tarr and Mack 2013).
Analysis of KAMs of the Companies under Australian Consumer Discretionary
Industry
Consumer discretionary industry is taken into consideration for the purpose of the
analysis of the KAMs of these companies under this industry. This industry is selected since
it is a major Australian industry with the presence of some of the major companies in it like
Wesfarmers, JB Hi-Fi Limited, Nine entertainment and others. The following discussion
analyses the efficiency of the auditors in addressing the KAMs of the companies under this
industry.
Aristocrat Leisure – PwC has reported four KAMs in revenue recognition, income taxes,
accounting for Plarium and Big Fish acquisition and estimated recoverable amount of
goodwill. Efficiency of the auditors can be seen in referring the notes regarding these issues
for better understandability. The auditors have focused the crucial areas that can lead to
material misstatements such as contractual arrangements for revenue, provision for uncertain
tax position for taxation, applied judgment regarding the acquisitions and assumption about
the forecasted future amounts growth rates for goodwill. After that, they have developed the
audit procedures by undertaking the internal systems related to these issues (ir.aristocrat.com,
2019). The users can gain more information about these issues from this KAM section.
Crown Resorts Limited – EY has considered significant audit matters in two areas; that are
carrying value of trade receivables and impairment testing of indefinite lived intangible
assets. The auditors have mentioned the note numbers related to these aspects. Efficiency of
the auditors can be seen in disclosing the reasons for considering these matters as KAM
which are the presence of complex judgment in these aspects. In addition, the auditors have
disclosed information on the steps taken to handle these KAMs such as test of trade
receivable ageing, group’s assessment of individual customers, assessment of relevant
controls, assessment of the adequacy of disclosure, evaluation of cash flow forecast,
assessment of applied methodology and others (crownresorts.com.au, 2019).
Domino PIZZA Enterprise – Deloitte has considered three matters of significant audit
interest; they are carrying value of goodwill and indefinite life intangible assets in the CGUs
of Japan and Germany, valuation of put option related to future exit of German non-
controlling interest and business acquisition of Hallo Pizza. The auditors have efficiently
examined the management’s judgments for the determination of the expected present value of
CGU, judgements related to valuation in the fair value hierarchy and other judgments like
identification of fair value attributes and useful lives determination of the intangible assets.
After that, they have developed the appropriate audit steps through the consideration of the
output of testing the judgments (annualreport2018.dominos.com.au, 2019).
Flight Centre Travel – EY has considered three matters as the KAMs which are impairment
testing of goodwill and other intangible assets, business acquisitions and recoverability of
override receivables. In order to come to conclusion of the KAMs, the auditors have
examined the group’s estimations and assumption for impairment testing, acquisition under
the business combination for business acquisitions and nature of judgments in recoverability
of override receivables (fctgl.com, 2019). The adopted audit procedures by the auditors are

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the outcome of these examinations; some of the crucial audit steps are assessment of the
mathematical accuracy of the cash flow model, assessment of cash flow forecast, assessment
of impairment sensitivities, assessment of existence of the transactions related to business
combination and others.
JB Hi-Fi Limited – There are two KAMs considered by Deloitte which are carrying value of
the Good Guys CGU and the acquisition of Good Guy. The auditors have assessed the used
value-in-use approach by the company for examining the relevant judgments regarding
goodwill worth $12.2 million (investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2019). In addition, the auditors have
also assessed the complex management’s judgements related to the acquisition of The Good
Guy worth $860 million. The audit procedures are the reflection of these assessments which
are understanding management’s processes over the use of model to determine the carrying
value, assessment of the application of value-in-use methodology, performing tests on the fair
value of assets and liabilities, testing goodwill calculation and others.
Nine Entertainment – EY has considered three issues with significant audit interest in the
areas of carrying value of intangible assets, valuation of property rights and recoverability
and classification of Stan loan. The auditors have considered these as KAMs because of the
presence of complex estimates and assumptions of intangible asset of 49% of total assets,
involvement of forecasting related judgments by the directors for recognising future
judgments and involved judgements related to the recoverability of consideration received
from Stan loan (prod.static9.net.au, 2019). The effective audit procedures adopted for these
matters include assessment of valuation model, evaluation of the process for determining the
cash flows, test of mathematical accuracy of the adopted valuation models, testing the
compliance of the recognition, valuation and amortization model as per the Australian
Accounting Standards and others.
Tabcorp Holdings Limited – EY has considered five matters as the KAMs which are Tatts
combination transaction, impairment assessment of licenced intangible assets and goodwill,
reliance on automated process and control, interest bearing liabilities and significant items.
The auditors have considered these as the KAMs due to the presence of complex level of
significant assumptions and judgments and in the presence of questionable accounting
policies (tabcorp.com.au, 2019). The adopted audit procedures include effectiveness of
control assessment, assessment of the completeness assertions of assets and liabilities
recognized from business combination, evaluation of the company’s future cash flows and
others.
The Star Ent Group – There are two significant audit matters that EY has considered as
KAM which are trade receivable recoverability and assessment of goodwill impairment. The
auditors have effectively assessed the used judgments by the Directors for the recoverability
of trade receivable and the critical accounting estimates as well as assumptions used by the
Directors for the purpose of impairment assessment of goodwill (static1.squarespace.com,
2019). The adopted audit procedures include reviewing the company’s data regarding
historical collection, assessing the existence of large trade receivables, assessing the
receivable disclosure, assessing the used methodology for goodwill impairment, testing the
mathematical accuracy of discounted cash flow model, evaluation of the performed
sensitivity analysis and others.
Wesfarmers Limited – EY has reported four KAMs which are impairment of non-current
assets including Target’s intangible assets, supplier rebate, discontinued operations of
Curragh and discontinued operations of Bunning UK and Ireland. The auditors have assessed
the key assumptions, judgements and estimates used for the impairment of non-current assets

5AUDITING AND ASSURANCE SERVICES
worth $306 million (wesfarmers.com.au, 2019). The company has examined key
assumptions, estimated and judgments related to the impairment charge worth $306 million,
disclosures related to the measurement as well as recognition of rebates, measurement of the
agreement related to sell Curragh worth $700 million and others and others. The adopted
audit procedures include evaluation of the assumptions and methodologies, assessing the
calculation of post-tax gain on disposal and others.
It can be seen from the above discussion that the auditors of these companies have
followed the standards of ASA 701 for the purpose of reporting the KAMs where they have
ensured the determination of the KAMs in the presence of concrete reasons, communication
of KAMs through the auditor’s report and appropriate documentation. In the presence of
these aspects, the users of the financial statements can gain the relevant information about
these KAMs in this section such as value of the assets or liabilities, significant judgments and
assumptions used for this and others. At the same time, the users become able in gaining
information about the undertaken audit procedure for the reduction of these audit risks to
minimized level. This information is essential for different decision-making process of the
users. All these aspects indicates towards the efficiency of the auditors towards reporting the
KAMs (Andersen and Hansen, 2018).
Conclusion and Recommendations
The above discussion states that the collapse of Lehman Bros. and 2008 financial
crisis led to the introduction of the new auditing standard of ASA 701. This new standard
requires the auditors in considering the crucial matters in audit as KAMs. It can also be seen
from the above discussion that the auditors of the companies under the selected industry have
shown great efficiency in handling the KAMs which is helpful for the users of the financial
statements to get more information on the matters related to KAMs. Some recommendations
are provided based on the whole discussion.
The guidelines as well as regulations of ASA 701 states that there needs to be strong
risk management strategies and policies and the recommendation for the auditors is ensure
the proper communication of the audit matters involving potential risky transactions and
events. It is needed for the auditing professionals to be more responsible and ethical. They are
needed to eradicate the excessive use of instruments like repos as well as misinterpretation of
the financial statements. It is recommended to the auditors to be more alert so that they can
identify these kinds of mischievous financial transactions in the accounting books of the audit
clients. Most important recommendation for the auditors is that they are needed to ensure
complying with the principles and standards of ASA 701 while conducting the audit
operations. Compliance with these recommendation will help the auditors in detecting,
communicating and documenting the KAMs in the most appropriate manner.

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References
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foretak (Master's thesis, Handelshøyskolen BI).
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2019].
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