Auditing and Assurance Services in Australia: An Integrated Approach (7th ed.)

Auditing and Assurance Services in Australia: An Integrated Approach (7th ed.) A. Arens, P. Best, G. Shailor, B. Fiedler, R. Elder and M. Beasley Pearson Education Australia China 2007 814 pp. ISBN 13 9 780 7339 8384 9

Review DOI 10.1108/01140580710754674

The events prior to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) and the passage of the Act have had a dramatic impact on the auditing profession. The changes in the profession have posed resultant educational challenges. The post-SOX auditing environment requires students at their entry into the profession to be well equipped in understanding clients' business environment and to possess greater understanding of risk assessments, including business risk and fraud risk. Further, key issues in audit education are now centred on emphasising the critical nature of internal controls and clients' internal control systems. Students are required to be able to link various internal controls to the control objectives and financial statements assertions. There is also a heightened expectation that students have an in-depth understanding of the financial statements assertions which are central to the auditing process. Students are expected to learn about "completing the circle" in combining results of internal control testing with substantive testing. In addition, a digital business environment poses challenges. Students are expected to be able to audit in a digital environment by having thorough understanding of general and application controls in clients' IT systems. In response to corporate failures of recent years, students are expected to have greater understanding of fraud and to have exposure to fraud and forensic accounting topics in their education. The emphasis is placed on students developing professional scepticism while being educated. Finally, many members of auditing profession continue to call for educators to work on improving critical skills and problem solving skills of their students by providing opportunities for students to develop their professional judgement...