ABSTRACT
Simply Soups Inc., a producer of organic canned soups, has hired your firm, Putnam and Jacobs LLP, to perform a financial statement audit for the year ended December 31, 2013. Using the PCAOB's proposed standard on confirmations, you are to complete the testing of the cash balance reported by Simply Soups Inc. at year-end. Today, a majority of large banks require auditors to use electronic cash confirmation requests and, as a result, almost all large audit firms use them. When using electronic confirmation requests, audit firms typically rely on a third-party intermediary to provide a secure technological platform to transmit information between the bank and the auditor as well as to validate the authenticity of the respondent. In requiring you to electronically confirm cash balances using a third-party intermediary, this case provides an opportunity to improve your understanding of current audit practice, strengthen your technical knowledge of applicable standards, and develop the professional judgment skills necessary to appropriately evaluate and document the persuasiveness of audit evidence.
