TEST BANK principles of auditing and othechapter 14 accounts payable and other liabilities

Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

Chapter 14 Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

True / False Questions

1. Overstatement of financial results can involve failure to record a transaction.
True False

2. Confirmation of accounts payable is a required generally accepted auditing procedure.
True False

3. The primary objective of the auditors' examination of accounts payable is to determine
whether payments are made on a timely basis.
True False

4. Auditors generally consider the evidence regarding accounts payable in the client's
possession as more reliable than that for accounts receivable.
True False

5. Information regarding the proper cutoff of accounts payable is generally obtained in
conjunction with the audit of inventories.
True False

6. Accounts payable from an officer should be classified separately from other accounts
payable.
True False

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

7. It is more important to maintain effective internal control over accounts payable as it is to
maintain effective internal control over accounts receivable.
True False

8. For effective internal control over accounts payable, the purchasing department should
approve invoices for payment.
True False

9. Accounts payable generally present the auditors with difficult valuation problems.
True False

10. The confirmation of existing accounts payable does not prove the completeness of
recorded accounts payable.
True False

Multiple Choice Questions

11. Assume that the auditors are concerned about disbursement transactions that have been
recorded for improper amounts. Which procedure(s) would possibly identify these
transactions?

A. Option A
B. Option B
C. Option C
D. Option D

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

12. Which of the following best describes a voucher prepared under good internal control?
A. A document prepared by Stores that indicates amount to be purchased.
B. A document prepared by Receiving that indicates the quantity received and approves
payment.
C. A document prepared by Accounts Payable authorizing a cash disbursement.
D. A document received by Purchasing, from a supplier, indicating quantity of goods
purchased and amount due.

13. An auditor wishes to perform tests of controls on a client's cash disbursements relating to
accounts payable. If the control procedures leave no audit trail of documentary evidence, the
auditor most likely will test the procedures by:
A. Confirmation and observation.
B. Observation and inquiry.
C. Analytical procedures and confirmation.
D. Inquiry and analytical procedures.

14. Which of the following tests of controls most likely would help assure an auditor that
goods shipped are properly billed?
A. Scan the sales journal for sequential and unusual entries.
B. Examine shipping documents for matching sales invoices.
C. Compare the accounts receivable ledger to daily sales summaries.
D. Inspect unused sales invoices for consecutive pre-numbering.

15. Which of the following audit procedures is best for identifying unrecorded trade accounts
payable?
A. Reviewing cash disbursements recorded subsequent to the balance sheet date to determine
whether the related payable applies to the prior period.

B. Investigating payables recorded just prior to and just subsequent to the balance sheet date
to determine whether they are supported by receiving reports.
C. Examining unusual relationships between monthly accounts payable balances and recorded
cash payments.
D. Reconciling vendors' statements to the file of receiving reports to identify items received
just prior to the balance sheet date.

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

16. An entity's internal control requires for every check request that there be an approved
voucher, supported by a prenumbered purchase order, and a prenumbered receiving report. To
determine whether checks are being issued for unauthorized expenditures, an auditor most
likely would select for testing from the population of:
A. Purchase orders.
B. Canceled checks.
C. Receiving reports.
D. Approved vouchers.

17. A client recorded a payable for a large purchase twice. Which of the following controls
would be most likely to detect this error in a timely and efficient manner?
A. Footing the purchases journal.
B. Reconciling vendors' monthly statements with subsidiary payable ledger accounts.
C. Tracing totals from the purchases journal to the ledger accounts.
D. Sending written quarterly confirmations to all vendors.

18. When an auditor finds a debit to accounts payable, which of the following accounts is
most likely to be credited?

A. Accounts Receivable.
B. Accrued liabilities.
C. Cash
D. Cost of goods sold.

19. Which of the following is an example of an accrued liability?
A. Accounts payable.
B. Notes payable.
C. Prepaid Insurance.
D. Product warranty liability.

20. A likely analytical procedure to test the accuracy of purchase discounts would be to
compute the ratio of cash discounts earned to
A. Accounts payable.
B. Notes payable.
C. Purchases.
D. Sales discounts.

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

21. Auditors may choose not to confirm accounts payable because:
A. Confirmation obtains evidence identical to that obtained by cutoff tests.
B. Other reliable external evidence to support the balances is likely to be available.
C. A reading of the corporate minutes reveals that confirmation is unnecessary.
D. The balances due will have changed between the year-end and the date of confirmation.

22. The assertion most directly addressed when performing the search for unrecorded

liabilities is:
A. Completeness.
B. Existence.
C. Presentation.
D. Rights.

23. Which of the following manipulations would understate accounts payable on the financial
statements?
A. Overstatement of purchases
B. Closing the cash disbursements journal prior to year-end
C. Leaving the cash receipts journal open after year-end
D. Overstating purchase returns.

24. Which statement is correct with respect to accounts payable confirmations?
A. The negative form is used in most circumstances
B. Accounts with new suppliers are always confirmed
C. They are a required auditing procedure
D. They are more frequently used in situations in which some vendors don't send monthly
statements.

25. The confirmation of accounts payable is most closely associated with:
A. Assertion risk.
B. Detection risk.
C. Inherent risk.
D. Relative risk.

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

26. Which of the following audit procedures is aimed most directly at testing the
completeness assertion for accounts payable:
A. Footing the list of accounts payable.
B. Examining underlying documentation for cash disbursements in the period after year-end.
C. Tracing shipping reports issued on or before year-end to related customer purchase orders
and invoices.
D. Tracing shipping reports after year-end to related customer purchase orders and invoices.

27. Which of the following best describes the auditors' approach to the audit of accrued
liabilities?
A. Test computations.
B. Confirmation.
C. Observation.
D. A low planned assessed level of control risk.

28. Which of the following statements is correct regarding accounts payable and the auditor's
procedures?
A. Because it is generally more difficult to discover a transaction that has not been recorded
than to discover one that has been recorded incorrectly, the audit objective of completeness
drives many of the substantive procedures applied to these balances.
B. A judgment whether an unrecorded payable should be recorded before the financial
statements are prepared depends entirely upon the source of the payable.
C. The confirmation of accounts payable selected from the year-end trial balance of such
accounts is most effective in discovering unrecorded liabilities.
D. Unrecorded payables are often discovered through examining vouchers payable entered
into the voucher register prior to the balance sheet date.

29. Which of the following assertions is of principle concern to the auditors in the
examination of accounts payable?

A. Existence.
B. Completeness.
C. Valuation.
D. Authorization.

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

30. Which of the following best describes the specific accounts payable that are selected for
confirmation?
A. Accounts with large balances.
B. Accounts with zero balances.
C. Accounts with a large amount of activity regardless of their balance.
D. Accounts for which vendor statements are available.

31. Most of the audit work on accounts payable is typically performed:
A. Before the balance sheet date.
B. At the balance sheet date in conjunction with inventory cutoff tests.
C. After the balance sheet date.
D. Simultaneously with the audit of accrued liabilities.

32. When the auditors discover an understatement of liabilities, they would most likely also
expect to find an:
A. Understatement of assets.
B. Understatement of owners' equity.
C. Overstatement of expenses.
D. Understatement of revenues.

33. Which of the following procedures for detecting unrecorded transactions at the client's
December 31 year-end is least likely to result in discovery of an unrecorded year-end account
payable?
A. Examination of invoices received after year-end.
B. Examination of vouchers payable entered in the January voucher register.
C. Examination of January receiving reports prepared for goods shipped FOB destination in
December to the client.
D. Confirmation of year-end accounts payable.

34. For good internal control, a copy of a receiving report should be sent to all of the
following departments except:
A. Accounts payable.
B. Purchasing.
C. Stores.
D. Shipping.

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

35. Auditors should be aware that a voucher system may result in which of the following at
year-end:
A. Understatement of liabilities.
B. Overstatement of assets.
C. Understatement of owners' equity.
D. Overstatement of expenses.

36. Accrued liabilities generally differ from accounts payable in that accrued liabilities:
A. Accumulate over time.

B. Are usually confirmed at year-end.
C. Depend upon the existence of a transaction for original recording of the account.
D. Are never included in cost of goods sold.

37. The form typically used to confirm accounts payable:
A. Does not require a response from the vendor.
B. Confirms the balance recorded by the client at year-end.
C. Requires the vendor to indicate the amount of the payable.
D. Is the same as the form used to confirm accounts receivable.

38. Which of the following is a control procedure that is usually applied to accounts payable?
A. Periodic confirmation of accounts payable.
B. Mailing statements to vendors detailing their account.
C. Periodic aging of accounts payable.
D. Reconciliation of vendor statements with accounts payable.

39. Which of the following is the best control procedure to prevent the payment of an invoice
twice?
A. Review of supporting documentation by the person signing the check.
B. Requiring dual signatures on checks.
C. Use of a check protector.
D. Reconciliation of vendor statements to accounts payable.

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

40. The auditors' search for unrecorded liabilities is completed:
A. During an interim period.

B. At the balance sheet date.
C. Subsequent to the balance sheet date.
D. At any time during the examination.

41. When the auditors select a sample of items from the vouchers payable register for the last
month of the period under audit and trace these items to underlying documents, the auditors
are gathering evidence primarily in support of the assertion that:
A. Recorded obligations were paid.
B. Incurred obligations were recorded in the correct period.
C. Recorded obligations occurred prior to year-end.
D. Cash disbursements were recorded as incurred obligation.

42. Internal control over accounts payable is improved when:
A. Purchase orders show approved prices.
B. Informal bids are obtained.
C. Annual trial balance of accounts payable subsidiary ledgers is required.
D. Payment is made upon approval of the purchasing agent.

43. With properly designed internal control, the same employee should not be permitted to:
A. Sign checks and cancel supporting documents.
B. Receive merchandise and prepare a receiving report.
C. Prepare disbursement vouchers and sign checks.
D. Initiate a request to order merchandise and approve merchandise received.

44. Unrecorded liabilities are most likely to be found during the review of which of the
following documents?
A. Unpaid bills.
B. Shipping records.
C. Bills of lading.
D. Unmatched sales invoices.

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

45. Which of the following procedures is least likely to be completed before the balance sheet
date?
A. Observation of inventory.
B. Review of internal control over cash disbursements.
C. Search for unrecorded liabilities.
D. Confirmation of receivables.

46. Which of the following audit procedures is least likely to detect an unrecorded liability?
A. Analysis and recomputation of interest expense.
B. Analysis and recomputation of depreciation expense.
C. Mailing of a cash confirmation form.
D. Reading of the minutes of meetings of the board of directors.

47. The auditor will most likely perform extensive tests for possible understatement of:
A. Revenues.
B. Assets.
C. Liabilities.
D. Capital.

Essay Questions

48. The auditors may decide to confirm accounts payable on an audit engagement.
a. Describe two reasons why the confirmation of accounts payable is not a generally accepted
auditing procedure.

b. Describe the audit circumstances in which the auditors are likely to decide to confirm
accounts payable.
c. Describe the types of accounts payable the auditors are likely to select for confirmation.

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

49. A major concern of the auditors is obtaining evidence about the completeness of recorded
accounts payable.
a. Describe the reason that the auditors are concerned with the completeness of accounts
payable.
b. Describe three ways in which the auditors establish the completeness of accounts payable.

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

Chapter 14 Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities Answer Key

True / False Questions

1. Overstatement of financial results can involve failure to record a transaction.
TRUE

Difficulty: Medium

2. Confirmation of accounts payable is a required generally accepted auditing procedure.

FALSE

Difficulty: Medium

3. The primary objective of the auditors' examination of accounts payable is to determine
whether payments are made on a timely basis.
FALSE

Difficulty: Easy

4. Auditors generally consider the evidence regarding accounts payable in the client's
possession as more reliable than that for accounts receivable.
TRUE

Difficulty: Medium

5. Information regarding the proper cutoff of accounts payable is generally obtained in
conjunction with the audit of inventories.
TRUE

Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

6. Accounts payable from an officer should be classified separately from other accounts
payable.
TRUE

Difficulty: Easy

7. It is more important to maintain effective internal control over accounts payable as it is to
maintain effective internal control over accounts receivable.
FALSE

Difficulty: Medium

8. For effective internal control over accounts payable, the purchasing department should
approve invoices for payment.
FALSE

Difficulty: Medium

9. Accounts payable generally present the auditors with difficult valuation problems.
FALSE

Difficulty: Easy

10. The confirmation of existing accounts payable does not prove the completeness of
recorded accounts payable.
TRUE

Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

Multiple Choice Questions

11. Assume that the auditors are concerned about disbursement transactions that have been
recorded for improper amounts. Which procedure(s) would possibly identify these
transactions?

A. Option A
B. Option B
C. Option C
D. Option D

Difficulty: Hard

12. Which of the following best describes a voucher prepared under good internal control?
A. A document prepared by Stores that indicates amount to be purchased.
B. A document prepared by Receiving that indicates the quantity received and approves
payment.
C. A document prepared by Accounts Payable authorizing a cash disbursement.
D. A document received by Purchasing, from a supplier, indicating quantity of goods
purchased and amount due.

Difficulty: Medium

13. An auditor wishes to perform tests of controls on a client's cash disbursements relating to
accounts payable. If the control procedures leave no audit trail of documentary evidence, the
auditor most likely will test the procedures by:
A. Confirmation and observation.
B. Observation and inquiry.
C. Analytical procedures and confirmation.
D. Inquiry and analytical procedures.

Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

14. Which of the following tests of controls most likely would help assure an auditor that
goods shipped are properly billed?
A. Scan the sales journal for sequential and unusual entries.
B. Examine shipping documents for matching sales invoices.
C. Compare the accounts receivable ledger to daily sales summaries.
D. Inspect unused sales invoices for consecutive pre-numbering.

Difficulty: Hard

15. Which of the following audit procedures is best for identifying unrecorded trade accounts
payable?
A. Reviewing cash disbursements recorded subsequent to the balance sheet date to determine
whether the related payable applies to the prior period.
B. Investigating payables recorded just prior to and just subsequent to the balance sheet date
to determine whether they are supported by receiving reports.
C. Examining unusual relationships between monthly accounts payable balances and recorded
cash payments.
D. Reconciling vendors' statements to the file of receiving reports to identify items received
just prior to the balance sheet date.

Difficulty: Hard

16. An entity's internal control requires for every check request that there be an approved
voucher, supported by a prenumbered purchase order, and a prenumbered receiving report. To
determine whether checks are being issued for unauthorized expenditures, an auditor most
likely would select for testing from the population of:
A. Purchase orders.
B. Canceled checks.
C. Receiving reports.
D. Approved vouchers.

Difficulty: Hard
Source: AICPA

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

17. A client recorded a payable for a large purchase twice. Which of the following controls
would be most likely to detect this error in a timely and efficient manner?
A. Footing the purchases journal.
B. Reconciling vendors' monthly statements with subsidiary payable ledger accounts.
C. Tracing totals from the purchases journal to the ledger accounts.
D. Sending written quarterly confirmations to all vendors.

Difficulty: Medium
Source: AICPA

18. When an auditor finds a debit to accounts payable, which of the following accounts is
most likely to be credited?
A. Accounts Receivable.

B. Accrued liabilities.
C. Cash
D. Cost of goods sold.

Difficulty: Easy

19. Which of the following is an example of an accrued liability?
A. Accounts payable.
B. Notes payable.
C. Prepaid Insurance.
D. Product warranty liability.

Difficulty: Medium

20. A likely analytical procedure to test the accuracy of purchase discounts would be to
compute the ratio of cash discounts earned to
A. Accounts payable.
B. Notes payable.
C. Purchases.
D. Sales discounts.

Difficulty: Easy

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

21. Auditors may choose not to confirm accounts payable because:
A. Confirmation obtains evidence identical to that obtained by cutoff tests.

B. Other reliable external evidence to support the balances is likely to be available.
C. A reading of the corporate minutes reveals that confirmation is unnecessary.
D. The balances due will have changed between the year-end and the date of confirmation.

Difficulty: Hard

22. The assertion most directly addressed when performing the search for unrecorded
liabilities is:
A. Completeness.
B. Existence.
C. Presentation.
D. Rights.

Difficulty: Medium

23. Which of the following manipulations would understate accounts payable on the financial
statements?
A. Overstatement of purchases
B. Closing the cash disbursements journal prior to year-end
C. Leaving the cash receipts journal open after year-end
D. Overstating purchase returns.

Difficulty: Medium

24. Which statement is correct with respect to accounts payable confirmations?
A. The negative form is used in most circumstances
B. Accounts with new suppliers are always confirmed
C. They are a required auditing procedure
D. They are more frequently used in situations in which some vendors don't send monthly
statements.

Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

25. The confirmation of accounts payable is most closely associated with:
A. Assertion risk.
B. Detection risk.
C. Inherent risk.
D. Relative risk.

Difficulty: Medium

26. Which of the following audit procedures is aimed most directly at testing the
completeness assertion for accounts payable:
A. Footing the list of accounts payable.
B. Examining underlying documentation for cash disbursements in the period after year-end.
C. Tracing shipping reports issued on or before year-end to related customer purchase orders
and invoices.
D. Tracing shipping reports after year-end to related customer purchase orders and invoices.

Difficulty: Hard

27. Which of the following best describes the auditors' approach to the audit of accrued
liabilities?
A. Test computations.
B. Confirmation.

C. Observation.
D. A low planned assessed level of control risk.

Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

28. Which of the following statements is correct regarding accounts payable and the auditor's
procedures?
A. Because it is generally more difficult to discover a transaction that has not been recorded
than to discover one that has been recorded incorrectly, the audit objective of completeness
drives many of the substantive procedures applied to these balances.
B. A judgment whether an unrecorded payable should be recorded before the financial
statements are prepared depends entirely upon the source of the payable.
C. The confirmation of accounts payable selected from the year-end trial balance of such
accounts is most effective in discovering unrecorded liabilities.
D. Unrecorded payables are often discovered through examining vouchers payable entered
into the voucher register prior to the balance sheet date.

Difficulty: Medium

29. Which of the following assertions is of principle concern to the auditors in the
examination of accounts payable?
A. Existence.
B. Completeness.
C. Valuation.
D. Authorization.

Difficulty: Medium

30. Which of the following best describes the specific accounts payable that are selected for
confirmation?
A. Accounts with large balances.
B. Accounts with zero balances.
C. Accounts with a large amount of activity regardless of their balance.
D. Accounts for which vendor statements are available.

Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

31. Most of the audit work on accounts payable is typically performed:
A. Before the balance sheet date.
B. At the balance sheet date in conjunction with inventory cutoff tests.
C. After the balance sheet date.
D. Simultaneously with the audit of accrued liabilities.

Difficulty: Medium

32. When the auditors discover an understatement of liabilities, they would most likely also
expect to find an:
A. Understatement of assets.
B. Understatement of owners' equity.
C. Overstatement of expenses.

D. Understatement of revenues.

Difficulty: Medium

33. Which of the following procedures for detecting unrecorded transactions at the client's
December 31 year-end is least likely to result in discovery of an unrecorded year-end account
payable?
A. Examination of invoices received after year-end.
B. Examination of vouchers payable entered in the January voucher register.
C. Examination of January receiving reports prepared for goods shipped FOB destination in
December to the client.
D. Confirmation of year-end accounts payable.

Difficulty: Hard

34. For good internal control, a copy of a receiving report should be sent to all of the
following departments except:
A. Accounts payable.
B. Purchasing.
C. Stores.
D. Shipping.

Difficulty: Hard

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

35. Auditors should be aware that a voucher system may result in which of the following at

year-end:
A. Understatement of liabilities.
B. Overstatement of assets.
C. Understatement of owners' equity.
D. Overstatement of expenses.

Difficulty: Medium

36. Accrued liabilities generally differ from accounts payable in that accrued liabilities:
A. Accumulate over time.
B. Are usually confirmed at year-end.
C. Depend upon the existence of a transaction for original recording of the account.
D. Are never included in cost of goods sold.

Difficulty: Medium

37. The form typically used to confirm accounts payable:
A. Does not require a response from the vendor.
B. Confirms the balance recorded by the client at year-end.
C. Requires the vendor to indicate the amount of the payable.
D. Is the same as the form used to confirm accounts receivable.

Difficulty: Medium

38. Which of the following is a control procedure that is usually applied to accounts payable?
A. Periodic confirmation of accounts payable.
B. Mailing statements to vendors detailing their account.
C. Periodic aging of accounts payable.
D. Reconciliation of vendor statements with accounts payable.

Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

39. Which of the following is the best control procedure to prevent the payment of an invoice
twice?
A. Review of supporting documentation by the person signing the check.
B. Requiring dual signatures on checks.
C. Use of a check protector.
D. Reconciliation of vendor statements to accounts payable.

Difficulty: Medium

40. The auditors' search for unrecorded liabilities is completed:
A. During an interim period.
B. At the balance sheet date.
C. Subsequent to the balance sheet date.
D. At any time during the examination.

Difficulty: Easy

41. When the auditors select a sample of items from the vouchers payable register for the last
month of the period under audit and trace these items to underlying documents, the auditors
are gathering evidence primarily in support of the assertion that:
A. Recorded obligations were paid.
B. Incurred obligations were recorded in the correct period.
C. Recorded obligations occurred prior to year-end.

D. Cash disbursements were recorded as incurred obligation.

Difficulty: Medium
Source: AICPA

42. Internal control over accounts payable is improved when:
A. Purchase orders show approved prices.
B. Informal bids are obtained.
C. Annual trial balance of accounts payable subsidiary ledgers is required.
D. Payment is made upon approval of the purchasing agent.

Difficulty: Medium
Source: AICPA

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

43. With properly designed internal control, the same employee should not be permitted to:
A. Sign checks and cancel supporting documents.
B. Receive merchandise and prepare a receiving report.
C. Prepare disbursement vouchers and sign checks.
D. Initiate a request to order merchandise and approve merchandise received.

Difficulty: Medium
Source: AICPA

44. Unrecorded liabilities are most likely to be found during the review of which of the
following documents?

A. Unpaid bills.
B. Shipping records.
C. Bills of lading.
D. Unmatched sales invoices.

Difficulty: Easy
Source: AICPA

45. Which of the following procedures is least likely to be completed before the balance sheet
date?
A. Observation of inventory.
B. Review of internal control over cash disbursements.
C. Search for unrecorded liabilities.
D. Confirmation of receivables.

Difficulty: Medium
Source: AICPA

46. Which of the following audit procedures is least likely to detect an unrecorded liability?
A. Analysis and recomputation of interest expense.
B. Analysis and recomputation of depreciation expense.
C. Mailing of a cash confirmation form.
D. Reading of the minutes of meetings of the board of directors.

Difficulty: Medium
Source: AICPA

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

47. The auditor will most likely perform extensive tests for possible understatement of:
A. Revenues.
B. Assets.
C. Liabilities.
D. Capital.

Difficulty: Easy
Source: AICPA

Essay Questions

48. The auditors may decide to confirm accounts payable on an audit engagement.
a. Describe two reasons why the confirmation of accounts payable is not a generally accepted
auditing procedure.
b. Describe the audit circumstances in which the auditors are likely to decide to confirm
accounts payable.
c. Describe the types of accounts payable the auditors are likely to select for confirmation.
a. Confirmation of accounts payable is not a generally accepted auditing procedure because:
1. The auditors' primary objective with respect to accounts payable is establishing
completeness, and confirmation is primarily a test of existence, and
2. There is a large amount of reliable evidence in the client's possession supporting the
amount of accounts payable, such as vendors' statements.
b. The auditors are likely to decide to confirm accounts payable when the extent of the
evidence available in the client's possession is not sufficient.
c. The auditors select accounts that are more likely to be in error, such as accounts with a high
degree of activity. Accounts with zero balances may also be selected.

Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 14 - Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities

49. A major concern of the auditors is obtaining evidence about the completeness of recorded
accounts payable.
a. Describe the reason that the auditors are concerned with the completeness of accounts
payable.
b. Describe three ways in which the auditors establish the completeness of accounts payable.
a. The auditors are concerned about completeness of accounts payable because the company's
financial strength is exaggerated by an understatement of liabilities.
b. Procedures used to establish the completeness of recorded accounts payable include (only
three required):
 Confirmation of accounts payable.
 Reconciliation of liabilities with vendor statements.
 Comparison of cash payments subsequent to the balance sheet date with the accounts
payable trial balance.
 Investigation of unmatched invoices and unbilled receiving reports.
 Investigation of invoices received subsequent to the balance sheet date.

Difficulty: Medium

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