Hans & Co. LLP is auditing CCC Inc.’s 2018 financial statements. The firm previously audited the company’s 2016 and 2017 financial statements. The 2016 audit resulted in a qualified opinion because the auditors were unable to verify the opening inventory or that year, but the 2017 audit resulted in an unqualified opinion. Julia worked on the previous two audits and is familiar with most of the staff at CCC, including the accounting manager, Marcus. Julia was scheduled to meet with Marcus on Monday morning to meet any new staff and have a tour of the office. The accounting manager was unable to meet with Julia on Monday, and instead sent her the following email:
Julia, I have to take next week off for personal reasons. Therefore, I prepared this email for you. As you are probably aware, CCC Inc. has suffered some loss of sales due to the general economic slowdown experienced by many companies. The office procedures and internal controls are the same as last year. You will have many new staff to meet this year as employee turnover has been high. CCC had to reduce wages for most staff by 20 percent to stay profitable, so several employees complain that they are underpaid, and about 30 percent of the staff actually left for new jobs. As for my own position, accounting manager, my wages were only reduced by 10 percent, because managers are expected to work harder than other staff.
The staff generally do not believe that we work harder, but, for example, the controller has refused to take any vacation for the past year and does not want to take her vacation for the next two years. One of the controller’s many responsibilities is to approve all payments and purchases from CCC’s subsidiary company, CCC-2 Ltd. (As you know from last year’s audit, CCC owns 60 percent of the voting shares of CCC-2 and senior executives of both companies own the remaining shares—40 percent.) Being able to purchase goods and materials from CCC-2 at below-market prices is a second reason that CCC has remained profitable, even in the poor economy, so it’s very helpful that the controller is never away on vacation.
I will be back in the office next week, so we can meet next Monday instead.
Regards, Marcus

REQUIRED
Assess control risk at CCC. Justify your response.
(Extract from AU1 CGA-Canada Examinations developed by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada ©2011 CGA-Canada. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.)