Professional Auditing: Audit Planning Memorandum and Analytical Procedures

This article discusses the audit planning memorandum and analytical procedures for professional auditing. It covers the different factors that an auditor must consider before starting the audit, analytical procedures to identify possible areas of material misstatement in the financial reports, and six audit procedures for identified areas of risk.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
Professional Auditing
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors Note:

1
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
Contents
Part (a):............................................................................................................................................2
Audit Planning Memorandum:....................................................................................................2
Analytical procedures:.................................................................................................................7
Comparison between current ratios and ratios of previous year:..............................................10
Part (b):..........................................................................................................................................12
Six audit procedures for identified areas of risk:.......................................................................12
Part (c):..........................................................................................................................................15
Use of active data for CAAT purposes:.....................................................................................15
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................18
References:....................................................................................................................................19

2
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
Part (a):
Audit Planning Memorandum:
The banks in Australia are governed by the Banking Act, 1959 and Reserve Bank Act,
1959. Apart from that the provisions of Corporations Act, 2001 is also applicable for established
entities. The objective of conducting an audit of a bank is different from the objectives of
auditing an ordinary entity under the Corporations Act, 2001. Apart from independent
verification of financial information auditor of a bank also requires to verify the operations and
activities of the bank to make a compliance report (Zhang, 2017).
The new auditor of a bank or for that matter any other entity must consider the legal and other
implications of accepting an audit engagement. In this case the auditor of Sustainable Bank
Limited, here in after to be mentioned as SBL in the document, must consider the following
factors before starting the audit:
 Firstly, the new auditor must communicate the appointment with the previous auditor. In case
the previous auditor questions that such appointment should not be accepted or is not valid
then the new auditor must ask his predecessor the reasons of his objection to the appointment.
 In case there is any reasonable justification behind the objection of the previous auditor the
same must be verified and dealt with (Furnham and Gunter, 2015).
 The auditor should not accept the appointment in case the remuneration of the previous
auditor is due and still unpaid or the previous auditor has been forced to resign from his
position due to undue pressure from the management.
 The different legislations that apply to the audit of the bank.
 The banking regulations that must be followed in auditing the SBL.

3
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
 The minimum Statutory and Time deposit that the bank must maintain as per the instruction
and guidelines of Reserve Bank of Australia (Ettredge, Xu and Yi, 2014).
 Other specific banking regulations that apply to the audit of SBL.
Taking into consideration the facts provided about the operations and functions SBL in the case
study it is amply clear that the bank mainly serves the small and medium businesses and clients
by providing them financial assistance as per their requirements. SBL has 100 retail branches in
all across the country with extended network of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). The
money disbursements to 100 retail branches along with filling of ATMs involve significant
amount of risks. Thus, the auditor will have to carry out extensive substantial procedures on
processes and methods followed by the bank while disbursing cash to retail branches and ATMs
(Brown, Preiato and Tarca, 2014). Considering that the risk of defaults have increased
significantly subsequent to the downturn in Economy the auditor of SBL must also conduct a
thorough verification of the borrowers, both existing and potential, i.e. applicants who have
applied for loans. It is important to ensure that the management of bank has taken all necessary
precautions before approving loan applications of borrowers. Only those applicants that have
fulfilled the required criterions should be given loans. Thus, the area of loan disbursement should
also be scrutinized to ensure that a standard procedure has been followed by the bank. Use of IT
experts’ services to verify the risk in information and technological area of the bank. Since most
of the transactions are now a days are carried out on internet it is important that the system
within the bank is fully protected against the possible threats (Alles, 2015). The auditor must use
the services of an IT expert to ensure that the system is working properly and there is no apparent
risk of failure. However, since February 29, 2018 when a computer malfunction caused havoc in

4
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
the bank and its system it would extremely important for the auditor to take all necessary actions
to ensure there is no risk of failure of the system in the future (Alzeban and Gwilliam, 2014).
Apart from the above the financial reports of the bank shall be independently verified to assess
whether the financial information as provided in financial reports of the bank correctly discloses
the operating performance and position of the bank as on a particular date. Analytical procedures
shall be conducted by the auditor to identify possible areas in financial reports of SBL that could
include material error of fraud. As per the financial statements of the bank as provided in the
spreadsheet let’s calculate the analytical ratios to identify the areas of possible misstatements in
financial reports (Bierstaker, Janvrin and Lowe, 2014).
Analytical procedures:
Taking into consideration the financial information of the bank a detailed analytical
procedures shall be carried out on the financial information of the bank (Mahzan and Lymer,
2014).
2018 2017 2016
$m $m $m
Profit before income tax expense 203.
3
271.
1
297.
6
Total income after interest expense 747.
8
722.
1
718.
6
Rate of profit before income tax 27.1 37.5 41.4

5
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
864 433 139
Net interest income 449.
9
446.
0
468.
0
Total income after interest expense 747.
8
722.
1
718.
6
Percentage of net interest income to total
revenue
60.16
31
61.76
43
65.12
66
Total bad and doubtful debts on loans
and receivables
11.4 9.6 9.0
Net interest income 449.
9
446.
0
468.
0
Percentage of bad debt to net interest
income
2.533
9
2.152
47
1.923
08
Total expenses excluding interest
expense
544.
5
451.
0
421.
0
Total income after interest expense 747.
8
722.
1
718.
6
Percentage of total expenses to total 72.81 62.45 58.58

6
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
income 36 67 61
Net profit for the period 141.
6
196.
4
211.
5
Total income after interest expense 747.
8
722.
1
718.
6
Net profit ratio 18.93
55
27.19
84
29.43
22
2018 2017 2016
$m $m $m
Total current assets 20,125.30 19,902.50 17,631.30
Total current
liabilities
18,076.20 18,176.20 15,853.10
Current ratio 1.11 1.09 1.11
2018 2017 2016
$m $m $m

7
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
Due to other financial institutions 1,000.0 725.0 625.0
Total equity 2,162.1 2,039.4 1,939.8
Debt to equity ratio 0.462513
3
0.3555 0.3222
The analytical procedures help the auditor to identify the possible area of material misstatement
in the financial reports. Generally the significant fluctuations in profitability, liquidity or
solvency ratios would indicate presence of material misstatements in the books of accounts.
Thus, taking into consideration the above ratios for 2018 the auditor should compare these with
the same ratios of the bank for the previous two years (Shamsuddin et. al. 2015)). In case any
ratio shows significant fluctuations without any specific reason to justify such fluctuation the
auditor should use extensive audit procedures to verify those areas to corroborate necessary audit
evidence to come to specific conclusion on such areas of financial statements.
Comparison between current ratios and ratios of previous year:
Net income ratio in 2018 has decreased to 18.94% from 27.20% of 2017 and 29.43% of 2016.
The auditor must verify the reason for such reduction in net profitability of the bank by using
substantive audit procedures. The liquidity ratio has improved despite the decrease in
profitability suggests that the bank has managed its liquidity position better in 2018. The current
ratio of the bank in 2018 increased to 1.113 times from 1.094 times 2017. However, the auditor
must conduct necessary audit procedures to ensure that the current assets and current liabilities
have been correctly reported in the books of accounts (Sharon, 2014). Debt to solvency ratio has

8
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
deteriorated in 2018 with 0.46 compared to 0.36 and 0.32 of 2017 and 2016 respectively. The
reason for such significant deterioration in solvency position of the bank must be verified by the
auditor by using appropriate audit procedures.
Part (b):
Six audit procedures for identified areas of risk:
The cash disbursement to retail branches:
In order to ensure that the cash disbursement in retail branches has occurred under strict internal
security and controls the auditor must conduct a thorough check of the entire process followed
by the bank while disbursing cash to retail branches (Byrnes et. al. 2018).
Cash disbursement to ATMs:
The company has large network of ATMs throughout the country. The auditor must ensure that
the cash filling in ATM machines are safe and secure and there is no possibility of embezzlement
of cash. The mode of transportation used for transporting cash from central office of the bank to
different ATMs must have probationary officer, presence of security guards. The cash
transportation should be strictly as per the rules and regulations of Reserve Bank guidelines.
IT system evaluation:
The auditor must use the services of an IT expert to evaluate the information and technology
systems in place within the banks and in different regional branches of the bank. The auditor
preferably carry out transactions of different kind in different systems to verify that the systems
are working properly. It is important to ensure that the systems have worked effectively

9
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
throughout the period. Even a slimiest of error in IT system could led to huge financial losses a
bank and its customers. Thus, all necessary supports from experts shall be taken by the auditor to
document the findings of IT system verification.
Loan application processing:
The auditor should firstly verify the standard procedure followed by the bank to process loan
applications. The standard procedure of the bank must be in accordance with the standard
guidelines issued by the RBA. In case any of contraventions of the standard guidelines of RBA
the same shall be mentioned in the audit report of the bank after asking for justification for such
contravention. The auditor needs to verify that whether the loan applications that have been
granted have all fulfilled the minimum required criterions set by the bank and RBA in general. In
case of contravention in loan application processing the same must be reported in the audit report
of the auditor (Hall, 2015).
Reporting the amount of revenues and expenditures as per the accounting standards:
The banks and organizations in Australia are subjected to the provisions of accounting standards
(AASBs) issued by Australian Accounting Standards Board. The auditor needs to verify the
accounting policies and principles followed by SBL while recording the transactions in the books
of accounts of the bank. The entries must be recorded in the books of accounts following double
entry system of accounting and using the three fundamental accounting assumptions, these are
going concern, accrual basis and consistency (Kim, Mannino and Neumann, 2018). The auditor
must verify the books of accounts of the bank and check whether the entries have been correctly
posted in the books of accounts (Christ et. al. 2015). The expenditure vouchers and supporting
documents should be checked and verified with accounting entries recorded in the books of

10
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
accounts. The vouchers and supporting documents must be checked using sampling technique to
ensure that each and every single payment vouchers will have equal opportunity selection while
conducting the verification. The reason for reduction in the net profitability of the bank in 2018
from 2017 has to be assessed by taking into consideration the expenditures insured and reported.
Also whether revenues earned have been correctly reported by the bank is to be evaluated by
verifying the revenue generation and recording process (Raiborn et. al 2017).
Verification of statutory reserve maintained by the bank for time and demand liabilities:
Banks in Australia must maintain a minimum statutory reserve for meeting the time and demand
liabilities in case of emergency. RBA has strictly instructed each banks to maintain the minimum
amount of statutory reserve for time and demand liabilities (Pedrosa and Costa, 2014). The
Auditor in order to verify whether the bank has followed the guidelines of RBA of maintaining
minimum statutory reserves throughout the financial year must follow the following procedure:
I. Should select number of days to check the balances maintained with the RBA for time and
demand liabilities.
II. On these dates the actual amount of time and demand liabilities of bank shall be checked.
III. Necessary computations shall be made to evaluate whether the statutory reserve maintained
by the bank with RBA for time and demand liabilities is as per the minimum requirements set
by the RBA (DeZoort and Harrison, 2018).
IV. It is not feasible to conduct such analysis for each and every day thus, fortnight or other such
criterions shall be used to select number of days to analyses the statutory reserves of SBL
maintained with RBA for time and demand liabilities (Griffith, Hammersley and Kadous,
2015).

11
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
In addition to the above procedures for six risks areas identified in the audit of SBL it is
important for an auditor to conduct a thorough evaluation of internal controls and securities
within the bank to decide whether to rely on these controls and securities. The extent of audit
procedures both analytical as well as substantive procedures would increase significantly if an
auditor finds that the internal controls and securities within an organization are not
commensurate to the size of the organization (Trotman, Bauer and Humphreys, 2015). The
effectiveness and efficiency of these controls and securities would reduce the extent of audit
work for an auditor thus, the correct evaluation of these controls and securities is equally
important for the auditor of SBL. The auditor should follow the following procedures to evaluate
the internal controls and securities (Carcello et. al. 2017).
Internal controls and securities within the banks should be evaluated:
The internal controls and securities within the banks including accounting controls to ensure
each and every single transaction is recorded in the books of accounts must be evaluated to
ensure these are effective and worked accordingly, throughout intended period of reliance. In
case the internal controls and securities of the bank are effective and have worked effectively in
the entire period then the auditor can place significant reliance on these controls while
conducting the audit (Capper and Young, 2015).
Part (c):
Use of active data for CAAT purposes:
Spreadsheet:

12
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
Computer assisted audit techniques help an auditor to conduct an audit by using information and
technology and various system. The income statement below (assumed) of SBL for 2018 shall be
used for CAAT purposes. In case of income statement the changes in each items of revenue and
expenditures in 2018 has been calculated by using a spreadsheet.

13
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
Income Statement
2018 2017 2016
Income $m $m $m Change in 2018 from 201
Net interest income
Interest income 1,200.6 1,169.6 1,119.0 31.0
Interest expense 750.8 723.6 651.0 27.2
Net interest income 449.9 446.0 468.0 3.9
Other revenue
Dividends 8.1 6.0 6.6 2.1
Fees 181.6 157.0 132.3 24.6
Commissions 53.1 52.5 52.0 0.6
Other revenue 11.9 19.4 17.3 -7.5
Total other revenue 254.8 234.9 208.1 19.9
Income
Other income 10.0 6.3 5.0 3.7
Share of associates' and joint ventures net profit/losses 33.1 35.0 37.5 -1.9
Total income after interest expense 747.8 722.1 718.6 25.7
Expenses
Bad and doubtful debts on loans and receivables
Bad and doubtful debts 12.0 10.6 10.0 1.4
Bad and doubtful debts recovered 0.6 1.0 1.0 -0.4
Total bad and doubtful debts on loans and receivables 11.4 9.6 9.0 1.8
Other expenses
Finance costs 10.0 7.0 6.5 3.0
Staff and related costs 323.1 238.1 225.6 85.0
Rental expenses 38.1 41.0 34.5 -2.9
Amortisation of intangibles 7.5 6.9 6.3 0.6
Property, plant & equipment costs 12.5 11.9 10.0 0.6
Fees and commissions 23.1 21.3 22.5 1.8
Other 118.8 115.3 106.6 3.5
Total other expenses 533.1 441.4 412.0 91.7
Total expenses excluding interest expense 544.5 451.0 421.0 93.5
Profit before income tax expense 203.3 271.1 297.6 -67.8
Income tax expense 61.6 74.8 86.1 -13.2
Net profit for the period 141.6 196.4 211.5 -54.8
141.6 196.3 211.5 -54.7
Retained Earnings opening balance 817.5 724.1 615.6 93.4
Dividends –Preference 7.7 4.3 4.3 3.4
Dividends –Ordinary 98.7 98.7 98.7 0.0
Retained Earnings closing balance 852.8 817.5 724.1 35.3

14
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
The yellow column highlights the changes in items of revenue and expenditures in 2018 from
2017. This would help the auditor to identify the significant changes in different items of revenue
and expenditures in 2018.
From the active data of SBL of its customers opening balances the highest and smallest amount
of opening balances have been identified with the help of spreadsheet function of max and min.
Use of Max and Min functions in Spreadsheet Amount
of
customers
Max amount 37500
Minimum amount 84
Specialized software:
On each item of the income statement of the bank the auditor should use specialized software by
taking into consideration the specific software used by the bank for recording the transactions in
the books of accounts. For example an organization using Tally to record accounting entries can
use the special feature in Tally that allows an auditor to get exceptional report from the software.
CAATs help an auditor to make quick assertion about particular account balances and class of
transactions (Silverman, 2016). This is not possible in manual and traditional auditing system.
The audit efficiency and effectiveness would increase multiple folds provided an auditor can
make best use of CAATs in an audit of financial statements.
Statistical analysis:

15
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
Using excel to calculate different ratios of the bank is also part of CAATs as such ratio analysis
helps an auditor to identify possible areas in financial reports where there could be error or fraud.
The analytical procedure where the different ratios of the bank has been calculated to identify
possible material misstatements is also part of CAATs.
Business intelligence:
Business intelligence is another software that is used in conducting an audit efficiently. Business
intelligence is a software that has the knowledge of different experts to provide advice on
different circumstances and scenarios for an organization. The auditor in this case should use
Business intelligence to evaluate the IT systems within the bank.
Conclusion:
An audit of a bank is completely different compare to the audit of any other entity. An
auditor of bank is not only to provide his opinion on the financial reports of the bank as to their
true and fair nature but shall also report on the functions and operations of the bank. As can be
seen in this case that in order to conduct the audit of SBL it is important to make effective use of
analytical procedures to determine the extent of substantive procedures. Also the use of CAATs
is also important to discharge the responsibilities of an auditor.

16
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
References:
Alles, M.G., 2015. Drivers of the Use and Facilitators and Obstacles of the Evolution of Big
Data by the Audit Profession. Accounting Horizons, 29(2), pp.439-449. [Online] Available from:
http://www.aaajournals.org/doi/abs/10.2308/acch-51067?code=aaan-site [Accessed 21
September 2018]
Alzeban, A. and Gwilliam, D., 2014. Factors affecting the internal audit effectiveness: A survey
of the Saudi public sector. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, 23(2),
pp.74-86. [Online] Available from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1061951814000214 [Accessed 21 September
2018]
Bierstaker, J., Janvrin, D. and Lowe, D.J., 2014. What factors influence auditors' use of
computer-assisted audit techniques?. Advances in Accounting, 30(1), pp.67-74. [Online]
Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0882611013000631
[Accessed 21 September 2018]
Brown, P., Preiato, J. and Tarca, A., 2014. Measuring country differences in enforcement of
accounting standards: An audit and enforcement proxy. Journal of Business Finance &
Accounting, 41(1-2), pp.1-52.
Byrnes, P.E., Al-Awadhi, A., Gullvist, B., Brown-Liburd, H., Teeter, R., Warren Jr, J.D. and
Vasarhelyi, M., 2018. Evolution of Auditing: From the Traditional Approach to the Future Audit
1. In Continuous Auditing: Theory and Application (pp. 285-297). Emerald Publishing Limited.

17
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
Capper, C.A. and Young, M.D., 2015. The equity audit as the core of leading increasingly
diverse schools and districts. Leadership for increasingly diverse schools, pp.186-197.
Carcello, J.V., Eulerich, M., Masli, A. and Wood, D.A., 2017. Are Internal Audits Associated
with Reductions in Operating, Financial Reporting, and Compliance Risk?. [Online] Available
from: https://papers.ssrn.com/soL3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2970045 [Accessed 21 September
2018]
Christ, M.H., Masli, A., Sharp, N.Y. and Wood, D.A., 2015. Rotational internal audit programs
and financial reporting quality: Do compensating controls help?. Accounting, Organizations and
Society, 44, pp.37-59.
DeZoort, F.T. and Harrison, P.D., 2018. Understanding auditors’ sense of responsibility for
detecting fraud within organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 149(4), pp.857-874. [Online]
Available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-016-3064-3 [Accessed 21
September 2018]
Ettredge, M.L., Xu, Y. and Yi, H.S., 2014. Fair value measurements and audit fees: Evidence
from the banking industry. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 33(3), pp.33-58.
Furnham, A. and Gunter, B., 2015. Corporate Assessment (Routledge Revivals): Auditing a
Company's Personality. Routledge.
Griffith, E.E., Hammersley, J.S. and Kadous, K., 2015. Audits of complex estimates as
verification of management numbers: How institutional pressures shape practice. Contemporary
Accounting Research, 32(3), pp.833-863. [Online] Available from:

18
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1911-3846.12104 [Accessed 21 September
2018]
Hall, J.A., 2015. Information technology auditing. Cengage Learning.
Kim, H.J., Mannino, M. and Neumann, B., 2018. Effect of Software Features on Generalized
Audit Software Use: The Moderating Role of Training and Audit Tasks.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US9103743B2/en
Mahzan, N. and Lymer, A., 2014. Examining the adoption of computer-assisted audit tools and
techniques: Cases of generalized audit software use by internal auditors. Managerial Auditing
Journal, 29(4), pp.327-349. [Online] Available from:
https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/MAJ-05-2013-0877 [Accessed 21 September
2018]
Pedrosa, I. and Costa, C.J., 2014, May. Statutory auditor's profile and computer assisted audit
tools and techniques' acceptance: indicators on firms and peers' influence. In Proceedings of the
International Conference on Information Systems and Design of Communication (pp. 20-26).
ACM. [Online] Available from: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2618172 [Accessed 21
September 2018]
Raiborn, C., Butler, J.B., Martin, K. and Pizzini, M., 2017. The Internal audit function: A
prerequisite for good governance. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 28(2), pp.10-21.
Shamsuddin, A., Logenthiran, A., Rajasharen, L., Dhinesh, A., Maran, L., Ameer, M.F.M.,
Punnir, A. and Muthu, L.M., 2015, April. Factors Influencing Usage Level of Computer Assisted
Audit Techniques (CAATs) by Internal Auditors in Malaysia. In Kuala Lumpur International

19
PROFESSIONAL AUDITING
Business, Economics and Law Conference (Vol. 6, pp. 18-19). [Online] Available from:
http://klibel.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/A13C12_KLIBEL6_Acc_27_63Z5bIT0g7.pdf
[Accessed 21 September 2018]
Sharon, S., 2014. The impact of computer assisted audit techniques on local authorities: A case
study of Bulawayo City Council internal audit section (Doctoral dissertation).
Silverman, D. ed., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage.
Trotman, K.T., Bauer, T.D. and Humphreys, K.A., 2015. Group judgment and decision making
in auditing: Past and future research. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 47, pp.56-72.
Zhang, Y., 2017. Client importance and audit quality, office level evidence from the banking
industry: a pitch. Accounting Research Journal, 30(2), pp.147-152.