1、18-1Chapter 18Audit of the Payroll andPersonnel Cycle Review Questions18-1 General ledger accounts that are likely to be affected by the payroll and personnel cycle in most audits include the following:Cash Direct laborInventory Salary expenseConstruction in progress Commission expenseWages payable
2、Payroll tax expensePayroll taxes withheldAccrued payroll taxes18-2 In companies where payroll is a significant portion of inventory, as in manufacturing and construction companies, the improper account classification of payroll can significantly affect asset valuation for accounts such as work in pr
3、ocess, finished goods, 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 emplo
4、yees is charged to 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.18-3 Five tests of controls that c
5、an be performed for 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).
6、2. Account for a sequence of payroll checks to ensure existing payroll payments are recorded. The purpose of this test is to determine that existing payroll transactions are recorded (completeness).3. Examine time cards to ensure that recorded payroll payments are for work actually performed by exis
7、ting employees. The purpose of this test is the same as in item 1 above.4. Compare 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.
8、(Timing)18-218-4 The percentage of total 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
9、evidence, such as confirmation, to verify 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
10、receivables and sales cutoff tests are important and time- consuming tasks.18-5 The 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 agai
11、nst hiring and retaining incompetent and 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 termina
12、ting according to operations standards and 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
13、work according to any standards. Failure to follow proper termination procedures could lead to fraudulent payments for work not performed.18-6 To trace a random sample of prenumbered time cards to the related payroll checks in the payroll register and compare the hours worked to the hours paid is to
14、 test if those employees who worked are being 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 compare the hours worked to the hours paid is to test if the recor
15、ded payroll payments are for work actually performed 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.18-7 In auditing payroll wit
16、hholding and payroll tax expense, the emphasis should 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.
17、If the preparation procedures are inadequate, and the amounts do not appear reasonable, then the auditor should expand his or her work and recompute the withholding and expense amounts to determine that the proper amount has been accrued. In addition, the auditor should consider the amount of penalt
18、ies which may be assessed for inadequate withholdings and include these amounts in the accrual if they are significant.18-318-8 Several analytical procedures for the payroll and personnel cycle and misstatements that might be indicated by significant fluctuations are as follows:ANALYTICAL PROCEDURE
19、MISSTATEMENT TYPES1. Comparison of payroll expense accounts to amounts in prior years.Cutoff misstatements or improper amounts recorded in a period.2. Direct labor divided by sales compared to industry standards in prior years.Cutoff misstatements or amounts charged to improper payroll accounts. 3.
20、Commission expense divided by sales compared to industry standards, prior years, or sales agreements.Failure to record commission on sales, or recording the improper commission amount.4. Payroll tax expense divided by salaries and wages compared to prior year balances adjusted for changes in the tax
21、 rate and not including officers salaries.Failure to record payroll taxes or recording of the improper amount.5. Comparison 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 in
22、cluded in work in process and finished goods inventories compared to prior years.Use of improper labor standards, or classification misstatements. 7. Analysis of direct labor variances. Use of improper labor standards, or classification misstatements.18-9 An auditor should perform audit tests primar
23、ily designed to uncover fraud in the payroll and personnel cycle when he or she has determined 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 t
24、he detection of fraud in the payroll and personnel cycle include:1. Examine cancelled payroll checks for employee name, authorized signature, and proper endorsement (especially for second endorsements) to discover checks going to nonexistent employees. The endorsement should be compared to signature
25、s on W-4 forms.2. Trace selected transactions recorded in the payroll journal or listing to the human 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 em
26、ployee received his or her termination pay in accordance with company policy and to determine that the employees pay was discontinued on the date of termination.18-418-9 (continued)4. Examine the subsequent payroll periods of terminated employees to ascertain that the employees are no longer being p
27、aid.5. Request a surprise payroll payoff to observe if any unclaimed checks result, which will necessitate extensive investigation.18-10 The 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 num
28、ber, and the date. The purpose of this record is to provide detailed information for federal and state income tax 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
29、 pay, income taxes withheld, and FICA withheld for the year. In serving as a summary of the employees earnings record, the W-2 form conveniently provides information necessary for the employee to fill out his or her income tax returns.A Payroll Tax Return is the form required by and submitted to the
30、 local, state and federal governments for the payment of withheld taxes and the employers portion of FICA taxes and state and federal unemployment compensation taxes.18-11 Where the primary objective is to detect fraud, the auditor will examine the following supporting documents and records:1. Cance
31、lled payroll checks for employee name, authorized signature and proper endorsement, watching specifically for unusual or recurring second endorsements.2. Payroll journal or listing, tracing transactions to the personnel files to determine whether the employees were actually employed during the payro
32、ll period.3. Payroll journal or listing and individual payroll records, selecting terminated employees to determine whether each terminated employee received his or her termination pay in accordance with company policy and whether each employee was paid in the subsequent payroll period.4. Payroll ch
33、ecks, observing each employee as he or she picks up and signs for his or her check.5. Time cards, testing them for reasonableness or observing whether they are being punched by the proper employees.18-12 Types of authorizations in the payroll and personnel cycle are:1. Deduction authorization, witho
34、ut which the wrong amount (or no deduction) may be deducted from the employees paycheck.2. Rate authorizations, without which the employee 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.18-518-12
35、 (continued)4. Payroll check authorization, without which unauthorized funds may be paid out.5. Commission rate authorization, without which the salespeople might be improperly compensated for their sales efforts.6. Authorization to hire a new employee, without which nonexistent or unqualified perso
36、nnel may be added to the payroll.18-13 It is common to verify total officers compensation even when the tests of controls and substantive tests of transactions results in payroll are excellent because the salaries and bonuses of officers must be included in the SECs 10-K Report and the federal incom
37、e 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 typically weaker and therefore easier to override than those of the normal payroll.The usual audit procedure used to verify the officers compen
38、sation is to obtain the authorized salary of each officer from the minutes of the board of directors and compare it to the related earnings record.18-14 An imprest payroll account is a separate payroll bank account in which a constant balance, either zero or small, is maintained. When a payroll is p
39、aid, 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 advantage of an imprest payroll account is that it limits the companys exposure to payroll fraud by limiting the amount that may be misapprop
40、riated.18-15 Several audit procedures the auditor can use to determine whether recorded payroll transactions are recorded at the proper amounts are:1. Recompute hours worked from time cards.2. Compare pay rates with union contract, approval by the board of directors, or other source.3. Recompute gro
41、ss pay.4. Check withholdings by reference to tax tables and authorization forms in personnel files.5. Recompute net pay.6. Compare cancelled check with payroll journal or listing for amount.18-16 Attributes sampling can be used in the payroll and personnel cycle in performing tests of controls and s
42、ubstantive tests of transactions with the following objectives:1. Time card hours agree with payroll computations.2. Overtime hours are approved.3. Foreman approves all time cards.4. Hourly rates agree with personnel files and union contracts.18-618-16 (continued)5. Gross pay calculation is verified
43、.6. Exemptions taken agree with W-4.7. Income tax, other deductions, and net pay calculations are verified.8. Authorizations are available for voluntary withholdings and miscellaneous deductions.9. Paycheck endorsement is same as signature on W-4 form.The frequency of control deviations or monetary
44、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 determine the sample size required. Once the tests are performed on the sample, evaluation of
45、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 Questions From CPA Examinations18-17 a. (2) b. (1) c. (3)18-18 a. (1) b. (4) c. (4) d. (4)
46、Discussion Questions and Problems18-19TRANSACTION-RELATED AUDIT OBJECTIVETEST OF CONTROLPOTENTIAL MISSTATEMENTSUBSTANTIVE AUDIT PROCEDURE1. Recorded payroll transactions are stated at the proper pay rates (accuracy).Examine authorizations in personnel files.Employees are paid the wrong rate.Compare
47、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.Compare termination dates from personnel files to date of last paycheck. 18-71
48、8-19 (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 work actually performed by existing employees (occurrence).E
49、xamine time cards for approval.Incorrect times are used in computing employees pay.Analyze payroll records of a sample of employees for reasonableness.TRANSACTION-RELATED AUDIT OBJECTIVETEST OF CONTROLPOTENTIAL MISSTATEMENTSUBSTANTIVE AUDIT PROCEDURE5. Recorded payroll transactions are for proper rate and amount (accuracy).Examine payroll journal or listing for indication of internal verification.Employees pay is miscalculated.Recompute employees pay, compare pay rates to personnel files, and hours worked to time cards.6. Time records are properly classified by job (classific
