如何帮助全国考生高效的学习ACCA考试?

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(c) Temporary staff assignments
Lending staff on a temporary basis to an audit client will create the following ethical threats:
Management involvement – Assuming that the manager or senior is seconded to the finance function of the audit client, it
is likely that the individual would be in some way involved in decision making in relation to the accounting systems,
management accounts or financial statements.
Self-review – On returning to the audit firm, a seconded individual could be a member of the audit team for the client to
which they seconded. This would create a self- review threat whereby they would be unlikely to be critical of their own work
performed or decisions made. Even if the individual were not assigned to the client where they performed a temporary
assignment, the audit team assigned may tend to over rely on areas worked on by a colleague during the period of their
temporary assignment.
Familiarity – if the individual is working at the client at any time during the audit, there will be a familiarity threat, whereby
audit team members will be unlikely to sufficiently challenge, and therefore not exercise enough professional scepticism when
dealing with work performed by the seconded individual.
In addition, due to the over-staffing problem of Becker & Co, the seconded individuals may feel that if they were not on the
secondment, they could be made redundant. This may cause them to act in such as way as not to jeopardise the secondment,
even if the action were not in the best interests of the firm.
The threats discussed above are increased where a senior person likely to make significant decisions is involved with the
temporary assignment, as in this case where audit managers or seniors will be the subjects of the proposed secondment.
In practice, assistance can be provided to clients, especially in emergency situations, but only on the understanding that the
firm’s personnel will not be involved with:
– Making management decisions,
– Approving or signing agreements or similar documents, and
– Having the authority to enter into commitments on behalf of the company.
In addition, the individual seconded to a client should not then be involved in any way with the audit of that client when they
return to the audit firm. This may be a difficult area, as presumably the client would prefer to have an individual seconded
to them who has knowledge and experience of their business, i.e. a member of the audit team, and most likely in this scenario
to be the audit manager. If this were the case the manager would then have to be reassigned to a different client, causing
internal problems for the audit firm. This problem is likely to outweigh any benefits, financial or otherwise, to Becker & Co.
If the temporary staff assignment were to a non-finance department of the client then the threats would be reduced.
If Becker & Co decides to go ahead with the secondment programme, the firm must ensure that the staff are suitably
experienced and qualified to carry out the work given to them by the client. There could be a risk to the reputation of Becker
& Co if the seconded staff are not competent or do not perform. as well as expected by the client.
One advantage of a secondment is that the individual concerned can benefit from exposure to a different type of work and
work environment. This will provide some valuable insights into accounting within a business and the individual may bring
some new skills and ideas back into the audit firm.
However, the staff seconded could be offered a permanent position at the client. This would lead to the loss of key members
of staff, and be detrimental for Becker & Co in the long run.
The other benefit for the audit firm is that a programme of secondments will ease the problem of an over-staffed audit
department, and should have cash flow benefits.
Tutorial note: In answering this question it is relevant to briefly mention corporate governance implications i.e. the client may
not be able to accept the services offered by their auditor for ethical, particularly objectivity, reasons.

正确答案：

正确答案：

正确答案：

(iii) Internal audit services
A self-review threat may be created when a firm, or network firm, provides internal audit services to a financial statement
audit client. Internal audit services may comprise:
■ an extension of the firm’s audit service beyond requirements of International Standards on Auditing (ISAs);
■ assistance in the performance of a client’s internal audit activities; or
■ outsourcing of the activities.
The nature of the service must be considered in evaluating any threats to independence. (For this purpose, internal audit
services do not include operational internal audit services unrelated to the internal accounting controls, financial systems
or financial statements.)
Services involving an extension of the procedures required to conduct a financial statement audit in accordance with
ISAs would not be considered to impair independence with respect to the audit client provided that the firm’s or network
firm’s personnel do not act or appear to act in a capacity equivalent to a member of audit client management.

When the firm, or a network firm, provides an audit client with assistance in the performance of internal audit activities
or undertakes the outsourcing, any self-review threat created may be reduced to an acceptable level by a clear separation
of:
■ the management and control of the internal audit by client management;
■ the internal audit activities.
Performing a significant portion of an audit client’s internal audit activities may create a self-review threat. Appropriate
safeguards should include the audit client’s acknowledgement of its responsibilities for establishing, maintaining and
monitoring the system of internal controls.
Other safeguards include:
■ the audit client designating a competent employee, preferably within senior management, to be responsible for
internal audit activities;
■ the audit client, audit committee or supervisory body approving the scope, risk and frequency of internal audit
work;
■ the audit client being responsible for evaluating and determining which recommendations of the firm should be
implemented;
■ the audit client evaluating the adequacy of the internal audit procedures performed and the resultant findings by
obtaining and acting on reports from the firm; and
■ appropriate reporting of findings and recommendations resulting from the internal audit activities to the audit
committee or supervisory body.
Consideration should also be given to whether such non-assurance services should be provided only by personnel not
involved in the financial statement audit engagement and with different reporting lines within the firm.