Confirmations are very important in the audit process; however, they are often elective, and auditors sometimes exclude them in their audit planning process.

Your audit client, Apex Corporation, in an effort to keep their audit fee down, has asked you to forgo sending your accounts payable confirmation to its vendors. Explain to executive management of Apex, the rationale for sending out accounts payable confirmations. What, if any, are alternatives to accounts payable confirmations, that yield the same audit results?

Please cite at minimum one work from outside your text to justify your position. Reputable sources such as peer$-$reviewed journal articles are the expectation here not Investopedia or something similar.