Explain the impact of SAS No. 99 on auditors' responsibilities.
Answer:
SAS No. 99, effective December 2002, requires that auditors explicitly consider fraud risks when planning and performing an audit. Auditors must understand types and characteristics of fraud. Audit teams must review clients' financial statements for areas susceptible to fraud and communicate with each other during planning of the audit. Auditors must ask management and audit committee members about any past or current instances of fraud. Since many frauds involve revenue recognition, auditors must exercise special care and testing in examining revenue accounts. Audit procedures and testing must be tailored in response to fraud risk assessment. Auditors must evaluate the risk of management override of controls and any other indications of fraud occurrences. All audit procedures, testing and findings must be documented and communicated to management and the audit committee. Auditors must evaluate and recognize the impact of technology on fraud risks, as well as opportunities technology may provide to design fraud-auditing procedures.