The following audit procedures are included in the audit program of Holland Equipment, Inc. 

1. Use audit software to examine journal entries in the sales, cash receipts, purchases, cash disbursements, payroll, and general journals for any amounts exceeding $1 million and for any entries with unusual account codings. Review related supporting documentation for reasonableness. 

2. Examine the estimate for the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts recorded in the prior-year audited financial statements. Obtain information about receivable writeoffs recorded during the current fiscal year for receivables included in the prior-year audited financial statements and obtain other information to perform a hindsight evaluation of the reasonableness of the allowance account included in the prior-year audited financial statements. 

3. Continue to observe inventories at Holland’s two main distribution centers, but for this year examine inventories at its two smaller warehouses not examined in prior years. Management does not expect you to examine those additional warehouses. 

4. During the current year, Holland has entered into a joint venture partnership with a company that serves similar customers but makes an entirely different product than Holland. Inquire of management about the business rationale for this transaction. 

5. Review for reasonableness any manual journal entries made by management to adjust the computer-generated accounting records. 

Required:

a. What is the overarching purpose for performing all of these procedures? 

b. How might each audit procedure in 1 through 5 help the auditor identify fraud risk?