Auditing & Assurance Services 6th Edition by Timothy Louwers

Exercise 73

Confirmation of Trade Accounts Receivable. L. King, CPA, is auditing the financial statements of Cycle Company, a client that has receivables from customers arising from the sale of goods in the normal course of business. King is aware that the confirmation of accounts receivable is a generally accepted auditing procedure.
Required:
a. Under what circumstances could King justify omitting the confirmation of Cycle's accounts receivable?
b. In designing confirmation requests, what factors are likely to affect King's assessment of the reliability of confirmations that King sends?
c. What alternative procedures could King consider performing when replies to positive confirmation requests are not received?