Ethical Obligations and Decision-Making in Accounting 2nd Edition by Steven Mintz, Roselyn Morris

Exercise 20

Mr. Arty works for Smile Accounting Firm as a senior accountant. Currently, he is doing a review of rental property compliance testing completed by the staff accountants. He is testing rental receipts and expenses of the property owned by the client. Arty realizes that the staff accountants tested only two tenants per property, instead of the three required by the audit program based on materiality considerations. However, to request more information from the client would cause massive delays, and the manager on the engagement is pressing hard for the information before Christmas vacation. Assume that the manager approaches the client, who states that she does not want any additional testing: “I needed the report yesterday.” The manager points out to Arty that no problems were found from the testing of the two properties. Moreover, the firm has never had any accounting issues with respect to the client. Assume that the firm decides that it is not necessary to do the additional testing. What would you do if you were Arty? Consider in your answer the ethics of the situation, your ethical obligations as a CPA, and the reporting obligations of the firm.