AC205: Audit and Assurance

Module code: AC205

Module provider: Business Informatics, Systems and Accounting; Henley Business School

Credits: 20

Level: Level 2 (Intermediate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Mrs Helen De Felice, email: helen.defelice@henley.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Mr Leon Coopasamy, email: l.coopasamy@henley.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s): In UK this module is closed to accounting and business students only (Open)BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST TAKE AC102 (Compulsory)

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: na

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 28 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module aims to develop students’ understanding of the critical aspects of managing assurance engagements (including audit engagements). This includes:

• Examining current issues facing the audit profession
• Legal frameworks and ethical principles auditors have to be aware of
• The factors to consider when accepting, planning and managing an assurance engagement
• The identification of key assurance risks and procedures
• The conclusion and reporting on assurance engagements

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Understand, evaluate and communicate the regulatory, professional and ethical issues relevant to those accepting and carrying out assurance engagements
2. Understand and explain why assurance firms need to have quality control procedures, what these procedures are and how they operate
3. Understand the role of understanding the entity and how to assess of engagement risk to an assurance engagement, what knowledge is required and how such knowledge should be obtained
4. Understand the sources of audit confidence and be able to determine approach to the assurance engagement
5. Exercise knowledge and judgement to conclude and report on assurance engagements in accordance with the terms of engagement and appropriate auditing standards

Module content

• Responsibilities of those parties involved in, preparation of and assurance over, financial statements
• Professional and ethical issues and their resolution
• Principles and purposes of quality control
• Legal and regulatory requirements and their impact on assurance engagements
• Issues, risks and processes associated with client acceptance
• Engagement planning, including understanding the entity and its environment and reliance on internal controls
• Consideration and assessment of audit risk and materiality
• Approach to responding to audit risks
• Auditing different types of entities
• Audit completion and reporting
• Other assurance engagements

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures will be used to expose students to the main concepts, principles and techniques associated with the discipline. Workshops will focus on practice and discussion of scenarios in the form of exam style questions.

Intensive revision classes in the summer term form an integral and essential part of this module.

Study hours

At least 44 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

For UK Accounting and Business students this module contributes to the Audit and Assurance module of the ACA Professional Stage. In order to apply for the ICAEW credit for prior learning, students must be registered on the BA Accounting and Business Programme and must obtain a minimum mark of 55% in this module.

The examination for this module will take place during a narrowly defined time window and will be held in a dedicated exam venue which may be a short distance away from the campus. There may be specific rules regarding entry to, and conduct in, the exam room. You will be advised of these rules in advance. The examination will be sat using ICAEW software. Marking and moderation will be carried out by the university in line with all other university assessments. Practice versions of the software will be made available in advance of the examination.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Students will share their answers during seminars to receive feedback on answers and be provided model solutions with which to mark their solutions from. In revision phase students will have opportunity to submit at least one question for marking and feedback.

Reassessment

Additional costs