The objective of the auditing course is to help each student obtain the skill, knowledge, and personal characteristics necessary to practice successfully as an auditor. This course is an intensive conceptual and applied introduction to assurance services in society. Topics include assurance services provided by Certified Public Accountants (CPA’s) and non-CPAs. This course is organized around a framework of providing you with a foundation in the requirements for providing high quality assurance. This course emphasizes not only acquiring knowledge, but also skills and attitudes required for success in the accounting profession. Two key attitudes required for this course are: 1) Intellectual curiosity and 2) Taking responsibility for your own learning. You should know the macro-level learning objectives embedded within the course’s three modules:
• Module 1 should help you come to understand that:
(1) Assurance services are judgment-driven services provided by independent professionals that improve the quality of information for decision makers. The demand for and supply of assurance are influenced by cultural, economic (e.g., industry-specific), regulatory, and technological factors.
(2) When information asymmetry, conflicting interests, and profit motives exist, assurance demand endogenously arises. Properties of such demand depends in part on both assurer and assuree characteristics and on properties of alternative mechanisms that could improve information quality.
(3) A key assurance service is attestation, which involves examining and reporting on the veracity of assertions. Organizations make different types of assertions. The extent to which assertee and asserter organizations demand third-party attestation depends, in part, on attributes of assertions. One form of attestation is financial-statement audits.
• Module 2 should help you come to understand a conceptual framework by which assurance professionals can assess, evaluate, and manage assurance-related risks and evidence. Mo