Question

When an audit firm was sued for its failure to follow Generally Accepted Auditing Standards which would have uncovered a scheme that mislead the purchaser of Qiyam Sdn Bhd, Siti Khadijah a Forensic Accountant was hired to investigate the allegations and testify before an arbitration panel.

A private Investment Bank made a stock purchase for 100% interest in Qiyam company.The audit firm performed due diligence on Qiyam company and with CPA assurances and a clean audit opinion, the purchase was done.Unfortunately, within just two months of closing the deal, the Investment Bank found out that over one-half the accounts receivable were bogus and uncollectible. This showed that the external auditors failed, to follow their required standard of care, to follow generally accepted auditing standards. The failures rose to the level of gross negligence and caused (causation) losses to the Investment Bank.

Required:

Discuss how Siti Khadijah should investigate the allegations to present before an arbitration panel.