Relation with the independent requirements

After the clear analysis of the organization’s performance, it has been observed that a lot of internal control mechanism should be fixed and also auditors must try to find out any type of material misstatement that is present in the financial statements of the company. The company Cocacola Amatil have been observed to provide the shareholders with true and fair financial information. The main reason behind this true information was the audit functioning process that was acquired by the organization. The company has also tried to work under the regulations of Corporations Act 2001, which have helped the auditors a lot in order to verify and research the financial data of the organization.

Relation with the independent requirements

It was observed that the organization was able to work within the guidelines and necessary requirements were also made by the organization which has helped did to rule the market. The accounting standards are properly maintained and executed by the organization which has proved to be profitable for the company.

There was no such independent requirement which was not fulfilled by the organization. This was also clearly depicted in the financial statements of the company that was being analyzed by the auditor. These reports were completely ethical and were based on the Corporations Act 2001 which ensures the truthfulness and fair value of the performance of the company. Any other requirement that was needed to be fulfilled was also being looked after in order to satisfy true and fair means of the financial accounts of the organization.

Non-audit services

It has been observed that the audit company of the organization has helped the organization a lot in suggesting ethical and legal obligations that are required for the non-audit services. The organization has also made an assessment of the Risk Management Committee so that an effective decision-making process can be finalized over the non-audit services that are provided to the organization. The non-audit services that have been provided to the company have been clearly disclosed in the audit report of the organization so that the information can be conveyed to the shareholders about this act. It should also be kept in mind that various standards stated in the Corporations Act 2001 should be used in order to make decisions (Cocacola Amatil, 2017)

Key audit matters

The value of different intangible assets as at 31st December 2017 was $929.3 million. Also, the goodwill amounted to $147.5 million with the trademark value of $13.8 Million and other Assets comprising of $2.5 million which were collectively held in the balance sheet as a total of $1093.1 million. All these assets comprised of more than 18% of the total balance sheet assets (Cocacola Amatil, 2017). It has also been clearly stated in the financial statements that all the impairment charges for intangible assets and other assets should be clearly rectified and noted with the help of cash generating units. Proper estimation and assumption of data should be made in relation to the future cash flows so that the organizational goals can be satisfied.

Non-audit services

Audit process also includes the determination of different cash generating units which are used in the impairment model to finalize the carrying value of the Assets and liabilities. The mathematical accuracy of the cash flow model is also very important as it involves the consistency of relevant data that will be provided to the board and the investors so that proper future forecast and cash flow objectives can be analyzed.

Audit Committee

A proper analysis has been made by the audit committee of the Cocacola Amatin relation to the non-audit services that have been acquired in order to improve their objectivity and integrity. The organization has made data analysis in order to ensure that no harm has been caused to the corporate governance structure of the organization in relation to the implementation of non-audit services (Cocacola Amatil, 2017). It should also be clearly noted by the organization that questioning the integrity of an auditor is not a respectable behaviour.

Audit Opinion

An unqualified opinion was provided by the auditors. The report that was created by the auditors with respect to the financial accounts of Wesfarmers Limited was not at all valid. No information was conveyed by the report because of which the investors were not able to take appropriate decisions. It is the sole duty of an auditor to efficiently analyze each and every financial statement of the organization in relation to the statutory requirements. Hence, it was observed that the auditors were not able to portray the audit reports in a significant manner which has confused the uses of the accounts in making their decisions and evaluating the revenue of the organization (Cocacola Amatil, 2017).

On the bright side, it can be seen that the auditors have tried to present explanations for all the processes that have been undertaken by the organization in relation to the audit matters which will be of great use to the investors and the shareholders in making decisions.

The contrast between the management and the auditor’s responsibilities

The major responsibility of the auditor is to give his opinions on the financial statements of the organization that is generally managed by the finance managers are the top level management. The auditor is given the job of correctly analyzing all the financial statements of the organization so that true and fair data can be provided to the shareholders for estimation of their Investments (Cocacola Amatil, 2017). Any type of corruption present in the data should be detected by the auditor and presented for authenticity in front of the organization so that an ethical and fair data can be provided to the customers and the investors.

Key audit matters

The basic function of the management of an organization in the accounting sector is to organize and implement control functions that may help the business in the process of recording and processing of transactions which will further help them to present accurate financial statements (Gay & Simnet, 2015). A direct control has been provided to the management of the organizations so that realization of assets and liabilities can be conducted in a proper way. The auditor in all these contexts is only provided with the data in order to review them and check for any illegal or unethical measures present in the control mechanisms.

Material subsequent events

It has been clearly disclosed in the financial statement that the recognition of revenue in relation to the sales will be done after making a clear assessment over the risk and rewards of the ownership of goods that have been passed to the customer and the total revenue have been measured on a reliable basis. The total revenue of the organization is derived on the basis of the rebates and the promotional allowances that have been owed by the firm to the customers on the basis of the contract agreement made between them.

The process of recognition and measurement of rebates and promotional allowances is very important for the organization as it helps both the parties to claim their part of the amounts (Cocacola Amatil, 2017). It is very important for the investors to analyze the total revenue of the organization which makes it significant for the audit process to convey the actual amount to the investors (Geoffrey et. al, 2016).

The audit procedures of the organization included appropriateness of the group accounting policies in relation to the revenue recognition of the organization on the basis of rebates and promotional allowances that were provided to them. The firm has also presented a comprehensive income statement which can be used to evaluate and test the group processes for the control of the organization in relation to the relevance of the promotional allowances (Hoffelder, 2012).

Material information reported by the Auditor

The overall analysis has stated that the auditors were not able to represent all the necessary information in their audit report because of which proper disclosure was not made in the financial accounts of the organization. Labelling was not done in a proper manner because of which material influence was seen in the audit report and the financial statements of the organization because of its decision-making process of the users were hampered.

Audit Committee

Still, the auditors have tried to present footnotes which can be used to make a quick review of the information provided in the audit report. The effectiveness of the audit report was not clearly attested. Therefore, it was really hard for the users to depend on the audit report because of the inefficient methods used to prepare the report (Kaplan, 2011).

It is a known fact that no auditor will admit the affair that has been undertaken by him for the review of financial documents.

Hence it has been stated very important for the management of the organization to truthfully construct the financial statements of the organization with respect to the accounting principles. The auditor’s duty is limited tell providing opinions on the financial statements of the organization. It was observed in the Cocacola Amatil that the auditor was not able to conduct the audit process efficiently. This may have also resulted in negligence of any kind of frauds or errors that may have been present in the financial statements of the organization. Therefore, it has been clearly stated that the responsibilities of Management and auditors are completely different in nature.

The financial statements of the company already constitute of many adequately detailed information that will be useful for providing notes to the shareholders. However, there may have been reports which have been kept hidden by the company in order to improvise their reputation in the market (Lapsley, 2012).

The data about the consolidated groups of the company haven’t been highlighted clearly. It is very important for the organization to reveal all information whether it is small or big in nature so that it can be analyzed by the investors before making any kind of decisions. The company has tried to mention many substantial factors which may pose a risk to the corporate governance structure of the organization which may further help the shareholders to make adequate and appropriate investment decisions.

Further, it was also observed that the auditors disclosing inappropriate daughters of the company which may lead to arising an issue in future. This inappropriate data may have affected the minds of investors because of which the organization’s financial support was disturbed. Several changes were seen in the goodwill of the organization because of the disclosure of unwanted information. Hence, it can be stated that the auditor may have used many appropriate data which would have helped to take appropriate decisions by understanding the performance of the company.

Audit Opinion

The efficiency of the information that was disclosed by auditors

The annual report that has been presented by the BHP Billiton cannot state any type of loopholes which are present in the information disclosed by the auditors and whether it was materially correct or not. The information provided in the statement for not transparent because of which they became inefficient. This may have happened because of the fact that the company was only giving its prime attention on selective matters because of which efficiency of the statements was hampered (Livne, 2015).

The major points that are needed to be assessed by the investors in order to evaluate a financial statement were not provided properly because of which proper decision making on the part of users was not possible. The auditor’s attempted to explain and enable the users with the information provided in the financial statements of the organization. It is very essential for an auditor to record each and every asset and liability that have been undertaken by the company, whereas is in BHP Billiton’s case obstacles were found in regard to the information disclosed about the assets of the organization which may have led to the improper decision making of investors.

Hence, it was observed that many search essential information’s did not properly disclose because of which proper decision making on the part of users was not being carried out (Matthew, 2015). This may also lead the users to the part of loss because of which day may face hindrances in future. Therefore, it is the sole duty of the auditor in order to provide the users with the best possible financial data which can be assessed by them in order to make investment decisions that thoroughly analyzed.

Underreporting/missing or information

Many important factors and information are that why needed to be disclosed by the auditor was kept hidden. The absence of this material information has not only questioned the integrity of the organization but also hampered the goodwill because of the mishap in the audit reports. The reputation of the company was questioned after the analysis of missing footnotes in the financial statements of the organization.

The presence of the note and a footnote that is attached to the auditing report was appreciated but the company should just not have missed disclosing the material information in the audit report. It was observed that was farmers Limited have failed to fulfil their duty of providing the users with true and ethical financial data which can be used to carry out the decision making process (Baldwin, 2010). The elaborated disclosures in relation to the financials of the company help the users to make appropriate decisions for investment purposes. Many of the material information factors in relation to risk, corporate governance, sustainability, etc. were mentioned in the audit report of the organization which can be used by the users in order to fulfil their task of decision making.

Conclusion

After the clear analysis of the above-mentioned report, it can be stated that the audit procedure is very important for each and every organization for the purpose of improving the reputation of the organization. In the case of Wesfarmers Limited, the company was conducting a very large business because of which the role of the auditor in the financial management was very immense. After the clear analysis of the report, it can be stated that the audit process was carried out in effectiveness thereby providing the users with appropriate information

Questions

• Has the auditor meet all the compliance requirements?
• How the matter related to material events were observed and addressed?
• How has the management faced the compliance needs?

References

Baldwin, S. (2010) Doing a content audit or inventory. Pearson Press.

Cocacola Amatil. (2017) Coca Cola Amatil 2017 annual report & accounts.

Gay, G. and Simnet, R. (2015)  Auditing and Assurance Services. McGraw Hill

Geoffrey D. B, Joleen K, K. Kelli S. and David A. W. (2016) Attracting Applicants for In-House and Outsourced Internal Audit Positions: Views from External Auditors. Accounting Horizons. 

Kaplan, R.S. (2011) Accounting scholarship that advances professional knowledge and practice. The Accounting Review [online]. 86(2), pp. 367–383.

Lapsley, I. (2012) Commentary: Financial Accountability & Management. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management. [online]. 9(3), pp. 291-292. 

Livne, G. (2015)  Threats to Auditor Independence and Possible Remedies. 

Matthew, S. E. (2015) Does Internal Audit Function Quality Deter Management Misconduct?. The Accounting Review. [online]. 90(2), pp. 495-527.