9.27 You are an audit senior and your firm audits Miningwell Ltd, a large mining company that operates all over Australia. Consider the following situations that have arisen during the audit.

1. Miningwell owns some highly-specialised mining tools and equipment held at various remote regions across the country. Your firm has engaged an expert to carry out a physical audit check of the equipment and tools at each location, and to perform an independent valuation of each material asset.

2. In reviewing the account receivables of Miningwell, you realise that the majority of Miningwell's customers are in Indonesia and other parts of remote South-East Asia. Because of communication difficulties, direct confirmation of the accounts receivables' balances is unlikely to give satisfactory results.

3. During the audit, you also notice that Miningwell owns the majority of shares in related, unlisted companies in Australia. Required

(a) Identify the key assertion(s) at risk in relation to the balances described in each of these three situations.

(b) Describe the audit procedures you would perform to gather sufficient appropriate audit evidence on each of these assertions.