SUBJECT: ADVANCED AUDIT AND ASSURANCE

CASE STUDY

M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY is in the centre of a city that is popular with tourists. About 65% of its income comes from admission fees and annual memberships, and about 30% of its income comes from sponsorship of special exhibitions by companies. Most of the remaining income comes from a small cafe and gift shop in the art gallery and museum.

Admission fees come from sales of tickets to daily visitors and from annual membership subscriptions from Friends of M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY who are entitled to free entry

to the art gallery and museum at any time. Day tickets can be purchased by credit card in advance, by a telephone hotline or at M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERYs website on the Internet. Alternatively, day tickets can be bought with cash or credit card at the door on the day of the visit. Reduced prices are available for children, students and individuals aged over 65, and there are also special reduced-price family tickets for two adults and two children.

Sponsorship arrangements are agreed up to 18 months in advance. Some corporate sponsors, particularly transport companies (bus companies and railway companies) sell advertising to M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY. The management of M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY have identified the following applicable risks that need careful attention. They believe that these risks should be managed actively.

1. There is a failure to attract more visitors because of the poor condition of many of the paintings in the art gallery and of the items in the museum. Paintings must be restored regularly because their condition deteriorates. M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY has just one specialist restorer, who is unable to keep up with the required volume of work. The management of M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY recognise that investment in new items and the restoration of existing items is inadequate, but blame the lack of income for the problem.

2. Some corporate sponsorship agreements may not be invoiced due to poor communication between the sponsors, M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERYs sponsorship managers and the accounts department of M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY.

3. Some sponsorship agreements are not invoiced at their correct amount. This happens often when a sponsor is also a company that provides advertising for M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY. Normal practice is for these sponsors to deduct their advertising charges from the amount they pay to M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY in sponsorship. However, the accounts department in M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY are not given the details of these set-off arrangements.

4. Some of the cash received from day visitors at the door may be stolen (or lost, or used by management for business expenses) and does not reach M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERYs cashier.

5. The on-line booking system for buying tickets in advance on the M.F. HUSSAIN ART GALLERY website is not always available because the website is down.

Required

a) Describe appropriate internal controls to manage each of the applicable risks described above. (8)

b) Explain the financial statement risks that arise from each of these applicable risks