Group Assignment
Australia’s “big four” accountancy firms should be put under the spotlight of the banking royal commission, according to a British investigative journalist who has written an exposé on their activities overseas (Cannane, 2018)*.
*https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-25/banking-inquiry-should-investigate-accountancy-firms-brooks-says/9904592
Required:
Specific: Do you agree or disagree with the above? Discuss your reasons for doing so.
General: Discuss the opportunities and challenges for the Australian auditing profession in the 21st century. You also need to address the recent regulatory attempts to improve the audit quality in Australia.
You need to support your discussion with suitable examples and relevant cases – both recent and past.
Important: In developing your viewpoint, you need to examine the issues raised in the following material. These materials are a good starting point. They include:
• Your textbook.
• https://www.ey.com/en_gl/assurance/how-artificial-intelligence-will-transform-the-audit
• Sikka, P., Filling, S.,Liew, P. (2009) “The audit crunch: reforming auditing”, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 24 No.2, pp.135 – 155.
• Sikka, P. (2009). Financial crisis and the silence of the auditors. Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 34(6-7), pp. 868-873.
To appreciate the multiple pressures on accountants and auditors, see: Helliar, C., & Bebbington, K. J. (2004). Taking Ethics to Heart. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
Please note: while the above reference is 15 years old and UK-based, the issues remain relevant in the Australian context.
Please note the following:
• Required format: Essay (Around 2 500 words)
• The assignment is to comply with the University’s General Guide to Writing and Study Skills, General Guide to Referencing, and Assignment Layout and Appearance Guidelines.
• This is a group-assignment. Each group needs to have 2 to 3 members in it. Please organise yourselves into groups.
• Please make sure that names and ID numbers of all group members are stated on the cover sheet of your submission.
As this is a group assignment, each member of your group is awarded the same mark. Working in groups has its pros and cons. I am sure that you will hold constructive group discussions. In case of any disagreements, you will be able to resolve them in a reasonable way. There will be times when you may have to agree to disagree with each other.
Invariably different group members bring different skills to a project; it is up to you to make the best of it. I believe one can learn a lot by discussing the issues with one’s colleagues. If you find your group members are “not pulling their weight” or there are problems with any member’s commitment, then please try to resolve those issues amongst yourselves. Open and honest communication always helps.
If you are unable to resolve these issues, you are most welcome to see me and we will try to sort out the problems together. Do this as soon as possible and certainly before the due date.
For some reason, if you do not wish to work in a group, please let us know. Ab, Please adapt the above to suit your style and your students!
Thanks
Solution
The world has four big accountancy and audit firms namely Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PWC. The four firms have been blamed for accelerating the financial crisis of 2008/9 and have also been responsible for the failure of some top corporations in the world (Sikka, 2009). Audit firm’s main role is to investigate the books of accounts of a corporation to determine if their financial statements give an accurate viewpoint of their financial performance. However, the firms have been facing conflict of interest as in addition to providing auditing services, they also sell consultancy services to the corporations they audit. In the article “Banking royal commission: ‘Big Four ‘accountancy firms heavily conflicted, should be under inquiry spotlight” written by Steve Cannane, the four firms are portrayed to have had catastrophic effect on the worldwide economy. The author noted that due to the conflict of interest facing the big four accountancy firms,…………………………….To access the rest of the solution for $10, please click on the purchase button.
