Professional Skepticism - Finding Fraud and Error

Overview

Professional Skepticism - Creating a Mindset for Finding Fraud and Error is a critical skill for audit and other attest services. The public places a high value on assurance services provided by an external public accountant, as the CPA’s involvement directly enhances the degree of confidence intended users can place on the financial statements to make economic decisions. A proper mindset, including professional skepticism, is a critical feature of a high-quality audit or other attest service. Professional skepticism is an essential attitude that enhances the ability to identify and respond to conditions that may indicate possible material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Highlights

The major topics covered in this course include:

• The importance of professional skepticism, especially when performing audit or other attest services
• Specific fraud responsibilities in a financial statement audit
• The varying levels of persuasiveness of evidence to support assurance conclusions or opinions

Prerequisites

None

Designed For

Appropriate to use as a part of audit skills training for beginning auditors or as a refresher for experienced professionals on the critical role professional skepticism plays in audit and other assurance services.

Objectives

After attending this presentation, you will be able to...

• Identify traits of a skeptical auditor
• Recall applying professional skepticism on any assurance service
• Recognize fraud, including examples of fraud indicators
• Identify the auditor's responsibility for identifying and responding to fraud in a financial statement audit

Preparation

None