A LOOK INSIDE A CPA FIRM

INTRODUCTORY CASE

The CPA firm of Abernethy and Chapman is located in the central portion of Virginia. This partnership began operations in 1999 and now employs 145 accountants out of a main office in Richmond and three branches in nearby Virginia cities. The Richmond office has 87 professionals: 10 partners, 14 managers, 21 senior, and 42 staff auditors. Eleven members of this group concentrate in tax services while another seven offer a variety of consulting services to the firm's clients. The others spend a majority of their time performing audits, other assurance services, accounting and bookkeeping services. During busy periods, individuals occasionally have to move from one area of the firm to another. Eighteen additional employees comprise the secretarial and clerical staff of the Richmond office. At present, all of the firm's audit clients are non-public companies. However, the firm is considering adding some clients that are publicly traded companies.

In hiring professionals, the firm considers only college graduates with a major in accounting and requires that each employee sit for the CPA examination within one year of employment. Once employed, all accountants in the firm must complete at least 40 hours per year of continuing education. Promotions within the firm are guided by seniority and technical competence. For example, for a staff auditor to be promoted to senior auditor, he or she must have been with the firm at least two years, must have passed the CPA examination, and must have demonstrated outstanding competence in job performance.

DeAnna Malott, a partner in the Richmond office, monitors the quality control standards and the human resource policies of the firm. One of Ms. Malott's responsibilities is to conduct training seminars for new professionals regarding the policies of the firm. Under these policies, employees must sever all financial ties to audit clients. Another of Ms. Malott's duties is to assign personnel to the various audit engagements of the firm. In making these assignments, she considers the employee's experience with the client's business, as well as his or her technical training. For audit engagements, firm policy requires the assignment of a consulting partner, as well as a partner-in-charge of the engagement. The partner-in-charge of the audit heads the engagement team, while the consulting partner advises and reviews the final work of the team.

The audit engagement team consists of a partner-in-charge, a manager, a senior auditor, and one or more staff auditors. The partner-in-charge of the engagement has the definitive responsibility for decisions made during the audit, even though he or she does not normally carry out the major activities of the audit. The manager, senior auditor, and staff auditors perform the majority of the procedures required by an audit. The assignment of an engagement team, as well as a consulting partner, is to ensure not only that audits are appropriately supervised but also that there is complete objectivity and competence in conducting each audit.

Abernethy and Chapman as a firm, and the Richmond office in particular, has experienced considerable growth over the past five years. The partners believe that a good marketing strategy and a continuing emphasis on high-quality auditing and accounting services have generated the increase in revenues. During the most recent fiscal year, the Richmond office totaled over $7,000,000 in gross revenues while earning nearly $2,000,000 in net income. Profits accruing to individual partners ranged from $150,000 to $400,000. Traditionally, 60% of the firm's income has been derived from audit engagements with tax services providing another 25% of the total. Remaining revenues are generated by assurance services other than audits (e.g., reviews), accounting and bookkeeping services (e.g., compilations), and consulting services. The partners agree that assurance services (including financial statement audits) and consulting services offer the greatest potential for expanding the firm's income and have constantly stressed the growth of these services. Public company auditing is a prospective area for growth, but it brings new risks.

At present, Abernethy and Chapman has a number of large clients in the Richmond area: a small hotel chain, a group of furniture stores, several large car dealerships, and three of the local banks. Recently, the firm decided to seek additional clients. Therefore, within the last 18 months, a series of advertisements has been published in local newspapers as well as in several prominent Virginia periodicals. In addition, a monthly newsletter describing current accounting and taxation changes is distributed to clients and local business leaders. This marketing strategy was created by a Richmond advertising agency and has stressed the theme "We Are Here to Help Your Business." The entire campaign cost the firm approximately $200,000 and has just recently begun to generate additional revenues.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Note to students: Many of the discussion questions and exercises are open-ended, designed to stimulate your ability to analyze auditing problems. Often, as in a real audit, there is no absolutely correct answer. You must evaluate the facts and attempt to arrive at a logical conclusion or a viable course of action. To guide your analysis, you may want to consult a standard auditing textbook, the "Statements on Auditing Standards" issued by the Auditing Standards Board, or any other relevant authoritative pronouncements produced by the AICPA and the PCAOB.

(1) What are the main duties of each of the positions that comprise Abernethy and Chapman's engagement team (i.e., partner, manager, senior auditor, and staff auditor)?

(2) What is the purpose of having both a partner-in-charge and a consulting partner on each audit engagement? Should the partners be rotated periodically? Why or why not?

(3) Can an accounting firm hope to accrue any real benefit from a marketing campaign such as the one carried out by Abernethy and Chapman? Should the management of a company select its auditors based on advertisements alone?

(4) Larger (often national or international) CPA firms have acquired many smaller firms. Why might a large organization consider purchasing an accounting firm such as Abernethy and Chapman? Why might Abernethy and Chapman agree to be acquired? Are such mergers good for the auditing profession, generally speaking?

(5) The case stated that, during busy periods, individuals may move from one area of the firm to another, for example from consulting services to assurance services. Are there any potential problems with these movements within the firm?

EXERCISE

Review the quality control standards of Abernethy and Chapman, and prepare a memo to Ms. Malott addressing the firm's policies. From the information provided, how does the firm appear to meet or not meet each of the quality control standards? If additional information is needed, state what information you would need to have to make the assessment. What recommendations for improvements do you have for the firm? Be sure to consider all of the elements of quality control as required by Standard of Quality Control Standards No. 7, A Firms System of Quality Control, issued by the AICPA. The elements are (1) leadership responsibilities, (2) relevant ethical requirements, (3) acceptance and continuation of clients, (4) human resources, (5) engagement performance, and (6) monitoring.