Executing a Top Down Risk Assessment
Concepts for an accounting top down risk assessment can be well defined, but execution of a true top-down risk accounting risk assessment is still a challenge. The requirement of Auditing Standard 5 (AS5) to consider multiple risk factors complicates the process. Organizations will often struggle with the best method to properly evaluate their accounts to determine those which present the potential for a material misstatement.
This course focuses on the methodology steps reviewed in Segment One of developing a top-down risk assessment. We delve further into understanding how to examine entity-level controls and their importance on determining account significance. We review the steps outlined in Segment One and apply those steps towards two separate scenarios. This allows the participant to think through the process and application and to examine how a scoring methodology may be beneficial within their individual process.
Field of Study: Auditing
Lynn Fountain has over 45 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 24 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Ms. Fountain has held two Chief Audit Executive positions for international companies. In 2011, as the Chief Audit Executive for an international construction/ engineering firm, she was involved in the active investigation of a joint venture fraud. The investigation included work with the FBI and ultimately led to indictment of the perpetrators and recovery of $13M. Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own training and consulting business and is a regular trainer for the AICPA. Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations” was published by the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation. -“Leading The Internal Audit Function” and -“Ethics and The Internal Auditor Political Dilemma” were published by Taylor & Francis In addition Ms. Fountain was a contributing author to the certification program exam for the National Association of Accountants. She also has certificate programs on various on-line platforms. Ms. Fountain has performed as an adjunct instructor for the School of Business for Grantham University and developed the first internal audit curriculum for the School of Business at the University of Kansas. Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CGMA, CRMA credentials and CPA certificate (non-active).
