The CPL Audit Committee has a policy of changing audit firms every five years to ensure that they receive fresh approaches from different audit firms. Accordingly, the CPL Board has asked Ginger & Paprika LLP to replace its previous audit firm. CPL is a manufacturer and distributor of wire ropes, industrial cables, and rigging cables and has a reputation for its ability to fill special orders and to ship across Canada from its Thunder Bay facility on time and at competitive prices. They have a reputation among their customers for going the extra mile and have kept a loyal customer base for over a century. Curtis Sanza, a new partner at Ginger & Paprika LLP, a growing CPA firm in northern Ontario, is excited about CPL becoming a potential new client. The previous week he met with the Canadian President of CPL, Jinyi Gu. Curtis Sanza quickly decided that Jinyi Gu was a man of integrity and his frank and open opinions would make it a pleasure to deal with him. He also appeared to have a competent management team in place. Curtis also wanted to make an impression on his new firm by bringing in several new clients in the next year or two, as a good portion of his future compensation will be derived from new business. He is also aware that any negligence on his part during the client acceptance phase would reflect on his professional judgment and open the firm to possible litigation. The senior partner, Walter Peters, has invited Curtis Sanza to join him in his office to discuss CPL. 

Required: 

a) You are Walter Peters, the Senior Partner at Ginger & Paprika LLP. What would be on your “checklist” of client acceptance questions? Prepare an exhaustive inventory of all the questions you would ask Jack before deciding to accept or reject CPL. 

b) The firm recently lost a lawsuit and has parted ways with the partner-in-charge of the aggrieved client. What can Walter Peters do to avoid litigation?