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1、Chapter 18Audit of the Payroll andPersonnel Cycle Review Questions18-1General ledger accounts that are likely to be affected by the payroll and personnel cycle in most audits include the following:CashDirect laborInventorySalary expenseConstruction in progressmission expenseWages payablePayroll tax
2、expensePayroll taxes withheldAccrued payroll taxes18-2In panies where payroll is a significant portion of inventory, as in manufacturing and construction panies, the improper account classification of payroll can significantly affect asset valuation for accounts such as work in process, finished goo
3、ds, and construction in process. For example, if the salaries of administrative personnel are incorrectly charged to indirect manufacturing overhead, the overhead charged to inventory on the balance sheet can be overstated. Similarly, if the indirect labor cost of individual employees is charged to
4、specific jobs or processes, the valuation of inventory is affected if labor is improperly classified. When some jobs are billed on a cost plus basis, revenue and the valuation of inventory are both affected by improperly classifying labor to jobs.18-3Five tests of controls that can be performed for
5、the payroll and personnel cycle are:1.Examine time card for indication of approval to ensure that payroll payments are properly authorized. The purpose of this test is to determine that recorded payroll payments are for work actually performed by existing employees (occurrence).2.Account for a seque
6、nce of payroll checks to ensure existing payroll payments are recorded. The purpose of this test is to determine that existing payroll transactions are recorded (pleteness).3.Examine time cards to ensure that recorded payroll payments are for work actually performed by existing employees. The purpos
7、e of this test is the same as in item 1 above.4.pare postings to the chart of accounts to ensure that payroll transactions are properly classified. (Classification)5.Observe when recording takes place to ensure that payroll transactions are recorded on a timely basis. (Timing)18-4The percentage of t
8、otal audit time in the cycle devoted to performing tests of controls and substantive tests of transactions is usually far greater in the payroll and personnel cycle than for the sales and collection cycle because there is relatively little independent third party evidence, such as confirmation, to v
9、erify the related payroll accounts. In contrast, the accounts related to the sales and collection cycle can usually be verified for the most part by confirmations from customers. In addition, in the sales and collection cycle, verification of the realizability of receivables and sales cutoff tests a
10、re important and time- consuming tasks.18-5The auditor should be concerned with whether the human resources department is following the proper hiring and termination procedures. An obvious reason for this would be to ensure that there are adequate safeguards against hiring and retaining inpetent and
11、 untrustworthy people. The ramifications of hiring such people can range from simple inefficiency and waste to outright fraud or theft. More importantly, though, it is necessary for the auditor to assure himself or herself that the client is hiring and terminating according to operations standards a
12、nd procedures. It is necessary to see if the internal controls are working as planned before they can be effectively evaluated. To say that the auditor doesnt care who is hired and who is fired is to suggest that he or she doesnt care if the internal controls work according to any standards. Failure
13、 to follow proper termination procedures could lead to fraudulent payments for work not performed.18-6To trace a random sample of prenumbered time cards to the related payroll checks in the payroll register and pare the hours worked to the hours paid is to test if those employees who worked are bein
14、g paid for their time actually worked. Employees are likely to inform management if they are not paid, or underpaid. To trace a random sample of payroll checks from the payroll register and pare the hours worked to the hours paid is to test if the recorded payroll payments are for work actually perf
15、ormed by existing employees. This test, in effect, attempts to discover nonexistent employees or duplicate payments, if there are any. For this reason, the second procedure is typically more important to the audit of payroll.18-7In auditing payroll withholding and payroll tax expense, the emphasis s
16、hould normally be on evaluating the adequacy of the payroll tax return preparation procedures rather than the payroll tax liability, because a major reason for misstatements in the liability account is incorrect preparation of the returns in the past. If the preparation procedures are inadequate, an
17、d the amounts do not appear reasonable, then the auditor should expand his or her work and repute the withholding and expense amounts to determine that the proper amount has been accrued. In addition, the auditor should consider the amount of penalties which may be assessed for inadequate withholdin
18、gs and include these amounts in the accrual if they are significant.18-8Several analytical procedures for the payroll and personnel cycle and misstatements that might be indicated by significant fluctuations are as follows:ANALYTICAL PROCEDUREMISSTATEMENT TYPES1.parison of payroll expense accounts t
19、o amounts in prior years.Cutoff misstatements or improper amounts recorded in a period.2.Direct labor divided by sales pared to industry standards in prior years.Cutoff misstatements or amounts charged to improper payroll accounts. 3.mission expense divided by sales pared to industry standards, prio
20、r years, or sales agreements.Failure to record mission on sales, or recording the improper mission amount.4.Payroll tax expense divided by salaries and wages pared to prior year balances adjusted for changes in the tax rate and not including officers salaries.Failure to record payroll taxes or recor
21、ding of the improper amount.5.parison of accrued payroll and payroll tax accounts to prior years.Failure to record payroll accruals or recording improper amounts at the end of a period.6.The percentage of labor included in work in process and finished goods inventories pared to prior years.Use of im
22、proper labor standards, or classification misstatements. 7.Analysis of direct labor variances.Use of improper labor standards, or classification misstatements.18-9An auditor should perform audit tests primarily designed to uncover fraud in the payroll and personnel cycle when he or she has determine
23、d that internal controls are deficient (or the opportunity exists for management to override the internal controls) or when there are other reasons to suspect fraud. Audit procedures that are primarily for the detection of fraud in the payroll and personnel cycle include:1.Examine cancelled payroll
24、checks for employee name, authorized signature, and proper endorsement (especially for second endorsements) to discover checks going to nonexistent employees. The endorsement should be pared to signatures on W-4 forms.2.Trace selected transactions recorded in the payroll journal or listing to the hu
25、man resources department files to determine whether the employees were actually employed during the period.3.Select several terminated employees from payroll records to determine whether each former employee received his or her termination pay in accordance with pany policy and to determine that the
26、 employees pay was discontinued on the date of termination.18-9(continued)4.Examine the subsequent payroll periods of terminated employees to ascertain that the employees are no longer being paid.5.Request a surprise payroll payoff to observe if any unclaimed checks result, which will necessitate ex
27、tensive investigation.18-10The Payroll Master File is maintained for each employee indicating the gross pay for each payment period, deductions from the gross pay, the net pay, the check number, and the date. The purpose of this record is to provide detailed information for federal and state ine tax
28、 purposes, and to serve as the final record of what each employee was actually paid.The W-2 Form is issued to each employee at the end of each calendar year and indicates his or her gross pay, ine taxes withheld, and FICA withheld for the year. In serving as a summary of the employees earnings recor
29、d, the W-2 form conveniently provides information necessary for the employee to fill out his or her ine tax returns.A Payroll Tax Return is the form required by and submitted to the local, state and federal governments for the payment of withheld taxes and the employers portion of FICA taxes and sta
30、te and federal unemployment pensation taxes.18-11Where the primary objective is to detect fraud, the auditor will examine the following supporting documents and records:1.Cancelled payroll checks for employee name, authorized signature and proper endorsement, watching specifically for unusual or rec
31、urring second endorsements.2.Payroll journal or listing, tracing transactions to the personnel files to determine whether the employees were actually employed during the payroll period.3.Payroll journal or listing and individual payroll records, selecting terminated employees to determine whether ea
32、ch terminated employee received his or her termination pay in accordance with pany policy and whether each employee was paid in the subsequent payroll period.4.Payroll checks, observing each employee as he or she picks up and signs for his or her check.5.Time cards, testing them for reasonableness o
33、r observing whether they are being punched by the proper employees.18-12Types of authorizations in the payroll and personnel cycle are:1.Deduction authorization, without which the wrong amount (or no deduction) may be deducted from the employees paycheck.2.Rate authorizations, without which the empl
34、oyee may be getting paid at the wrong rate.3.Time card authorization, without which the employee may be getting paid for the wrong quantity of hours worked.18-12(continued)4.Payroll check authorization, without which unauthorized funds may be paid out.5.mission rate authorization, without which the
35、salespeople might be improperly pensated for their sales efforts.6.Authorization to hire a new employee, without which nonexistent or unqualified personnel may be added to the payroll.18-13It is mon to verify total officers pensation even when the tests of controls and substantive tests of transacti
36、ons results in payroll are excellent because the salaries and bonuses of officers must be included in the SECs 10-K Report and the federal ine tax return and because management may be in a position to pay themselves more than the authorized amount, since the controls over the officers payroll are ty
37、pically weaker and therefore easier to override than those of the normal payroll.The usual audit procedure used to verify the officers pensation is to obtain the authorized salary of each officer from the minutes of the board of directors and pare it to the related earnings record.18-14An imprest pa
38、yroll account is a separate payroll bank account in which a constant balance, either zero or small, is maintained. When a payroll is paid, the exact amount of the net payroll is transferred by check or electronic funds transfer from the general account to the imprest account. The purpose and advanta
39、ge of an imprest payroll account is that it limits the panys exposure to payroll fraud by limiting the amount that may be misappropriated.18-15Several audit procedures the auditor can use to determine whether recorded payroll transactions are recorded at the proper amounts are:1.Repute hours worked
40、from time cards.2.pare pay rates with union contract, approval by the board of directors, or other source.3.Repute gross pay.4.Check withholdings by reference to tax tables and authorization forms in personnel files.5.Repute net pay.6.pare cancelled check with payroll journal or listing for amount.1
41、8-16Attributes sampling can be used in the payroll and personnel cycle in performing tests of controls and substantive tests of transactions with the following objectives:1.Time card hours agree with payroll putations.2.Overtime hours are approved.3.Foreman approves all time cards.4.Hourly rates agr
42、ee with personnel files and union contracts.18-16(continued)5.Gross pay calculation is verified.6.Exemptions taken agree with W-4.7.Ine tax, other deductions, and net pay calculations are verified.8.Authorizations are available for voluntary withholdings and miscellaneous deductions.9.Paycheck endor
43、sement is same as signature on W-4 form.The frequency of control deviations or monetary errors must be estimated prior to performing the tests. This estimate together with the acceptable risk of assessing control risk too low (ARACR) and the tolerable exception rate will enable the auditor to determ
44、ine the sample size required. Once the tests are performed on the sample, evaluation of the results will indicate whether the exception rate is lower than, equal to, or higher than that anticipated. The auditor must then use this judgment to decide the appropriate action to take. Multiple Choice Que
45、stions From CPA Examinations18-17a.(2)b.(1)c.(3)18-18a.(1)b.(4)c.(4)d.(4) Discussion Questions and Problems18-19TRANSACTION-RELATED AUDIT OBJECTIVETEST OFCONTROLPOTENTIALMISSTATEMENTSUBSTANTIVE AUDIT PROCEDURE1.Recorded payroll transactions are stated at the proper pay rates (accuracy).Examine autho
46、rizations in personnel files.Employees are paid the wrong rate.pare rates in payroll journal or listing to rates in personnel files.2.Recorded payroll transactions exist (occurrence).Examine personnel files for termination notices.Employees are improperly terminated and payment continues.pare termin
47、ation dates from personnel files to date of last paycheck. 18-19 (continued) 3.Hours worked are correctly recorded (accuracy).Examine time cards and observe preparation.Incorrect recording of time.Randomly sample workers and trace to time cards for hours worked.4.Recorded payroll payments are for wo
48、rk actually performed by existing employees (occurrence).Examine time cards for approval.Incorrect times are used in puting employees pay.Analyze payroll records of a sample of employees for reasonableness.TRANSACTION-RELATED AUDIT OBJECTIVETEST OFCONTROLPOTENTIALMISSTATEMENTSUBSTANTIVE AUDIT PROCEDURE5.Recorded payroll transactions are for proper rate and amount (accuracy).Examine payroll journal or listing for in
