You are an audit manager of Morline & Co, a Public Accounting firm. The audit engagement partner, Joe Tan, has called you into his office to discuss a new audit client. You have been assigned to take charge of the audit for the financial year end, 31 December 2019 of Crown Hotel Group Bhd. (Crown Group) a listed company. The Group operates a chain of luxury hotels across Malaysia. As part of the expansion strategy, Crown Group has recently acquired a new hotel in Melbourne. You are very excited about auditing this luxury group of hotels, and are hoping that you may get to stay in one of the hotels during the audit.

Recently you had a meeting with Joe Tan, Datuk Paul Wong, the managing director of Crown Group, and Lisa Goh, the finance director of Crown Group. From detailed discussions with them, you note the following information:

Background information:

Crown Group owns four hotels in Malaysia namely Dolce, Corus, Korma, Morib, one hotel, Belux in Singapore and a newly acquired hotel in Melbourne namely Aston, which was acquired in September 2019. Each hotel operates through a separate legal entity, and Crown Group owns 100% of each entity. The Group prepares consolidated financial statements on an annual basis. The Head Office is located in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

In 2019, the Crown Group had total revenues of RM 90 million (2018: RM 80 million), and operating profits of RM 8,500,000 (2018: RM 11,000,000).

Lisa Goh explained that all the hotels have been performing well over the last year, with the exception of Hotel Belux. See notes below

Information Technology (IT)

Lisa Goh highlighted that the Crown Group relies heavily on the use of information technology (IT) and noted that approximately 96% of bookings are made online via its website. The Group invested significantly in IT over the last six months, which resulted in an extensive upgrade of its website and the development of a user-friendly app. Datuk Paul Wong said, "We have spent a significant amount of money developing our IT systems and ensuring they are secure, as the rapid increase in cybercrime in Malaysia is frightening." This development cost was capitalised in Financial Year 2019.

Bonus

During the year, a new bonus scheme was introduced for both managers and directors for all the hotel within the group in order to increase revenue. The bonus is directly linked to revenue.

Advance payment

Advance deposits of 50% are collected for those booking for conferences and wedding packages.

Hotel Belux

The hotel Belux is one of the biggest in the Group, and contributes 25% of total revenue is located in Singapore. Although revenue has increased in 2019, profit has fallen significantly due to a number of "special offers" in both accommodation rates and the restaurant. Datuk Paul Wong believes the main causes for this fall are reduced gross margins (due to the successful uptake of the various special offer promotions during the year) and increasing costs (mainly driven by payroll). The number of special offers were approved by management in a bid to counter the tough economic environment within which the hotel operates and thereby increase revenue.

Required:

(i) Identify and explain to the audit partner SEVEN (7) key audit risks in respect of Crown Group. (14 marks)

(ii) Describe the matters Morline & Co should consider in the context of ISA 620 in order to evaluate the adequacy of the expert's work in relation to engaging the services of a property expert to value Land and Buildings. (5 marks)

(iii) Evaluate the ethical issues(s) if any in respect of the Crown Group audit engagement and recommend appropriate safeguard(s). (5 marks)