The Oscars snafu described in Auditing in Action 1-3 is not the first time that there has been a major mix-up at an awards ceremony. Denise Garrido was 2013 Miss Universe Canada for only 24 hours. She was dethroned after an independent audit of the judges’ scores discovered a typo in the top five entries. It turned out that Riza Santos was the actual winner and Garrido was the third runner-up. In 2007, a similar situation occurred in the Miss California pageant and, in 2013, an NBC reality show, The Voice, had to toss out votes cast online and by text because of “inconsistencies” observed.

REQUIRED
a. Pageants and awards shows—such as the Oscars, Junos, and Canadian Screen Awards—all use external auditors to enhance their reputation. Explain how an external auditor improves the reputation of pageants and awards shows.
b. When the incorrect result was announced, there was a breakdown in the process. What do you think went wrong with the process? How do you think the 2013 The Voice audit contributed to this breakdown?
c. John Simcoe is the partner in charge of PwC Canada’s practice for technology, information communication, and entertainment and media audit and assurance. John provides assurance services for the Junos, and Canadian Screen Awards and explains that these assurance engagements are much more than “counting ballots.” He states that they are “actually quite complex.” What are some
of the key factors that PwC considers when involved in these types of assurance engagements?
d. The Miss Universe Canada pageant announced that it will be implementing additional safeguards to prevent a similar situation from happening again. Explain what types of assurance and nonassurance services a public accounting firm can offer that would reduce the risk of similar errors occurring in the future.