Brady has been engaged as the auditor of Patriot Company (an

issuer) and is currently planning the year-end physical inventory counts. Patriot is a retailer

that holds significant inventories in its warehouses and stores in six regions across the United

States. Because of timing and logistics, Brady is able to observe the physical inventory at

only one of Patriots warehouses, which accounts for 20 percent of Patriots inventories.

In Bradys professional judgment, the fact that inventories held at only one warehouse

can be observed does not provide sufficient evidence with respect to Patriots inventory

balances at the date of the financial statements. Although physical inventory counts could

be delayed at the remaining warehouses for Brady to observe the counts, the flow of goods

in and out of the warehouses would result in a discrepancy between the inventory quantities

on hand at year-end and the inventory quantities on hand at the date of the count.

Required:

a. Assume that Brady observes physical inventory at only the one warehouse and does not

perform alternative procedures related to inventories held at the other warehouses. Does

this cause a scope limitation? If so, is this a client-imposed or circumstance-imposed

scope limitation?

b. What type of opinion would Brady likely issue for the situation in part (a)? How would

the wording in the standard report be modified to reflect this opinion?

c. What alternative procedures might be available to Brady with respect to this scope limi-

tation? (Hint: You may wish to refer to Chapter 9 to identify alternative procedures for

inventory.)

d. Assume that Brady performs one or more of the alternative procedures in part (c) and

is able to gather evidence to support the recorded balance in inventory. What type of

opinion would Brady issue on Patriots financial statements (assuming that no other

issues were identified in the audit examination)?