BOOK REVIEW: THE SUCCESSFUL AUDIT

By Felix Pomeranz, CPA,
Business one Irwin, 499 pages

Review by
Alexander A. H. Bohtling, CPA, retired from
Deloitte & Touche

The subtitle of this book--New Ways to Reduce Risk Exposure and Increased Efficiency--outlines its contents, in which the subject and the methodology of a successful audit are covered in considerable depth.

The author points out that the book was written largely due to the much publicized accounting irregularities occurring in recent years and the ways to cope with similar situations in the future.

While the title of this book is The Successful Audit, its contents also provide guidelines for individuals outside of public accounting, such as internal auditors, members of audit committees, chief accounting officers, and others.

The book consists of 15 chapters, grouped into four parts--Setting the Stage, the Advent of Technology, the Updated Model, and the New Audit in Its Environment. In addition, there are four appendices.

The author points out that audit problems are presented both by intentional misrepresentations by management as well as by client errors. Accordingly, the author puts considerable stress into the matter of internal control. To quote the book--"management representation should be verified independently to the extent possible. While this is not a new approach, following it requires much independence on the part of the auditors. Following it presents the auditors with many problems."

The importance of knowing the company's business, its management, and its operations is emphasized.

The book also mentions that too much reliance should not be placed on prior year's workpapers.

Then, the book covers, in considerable detail, the problems presented to the auditors with the advent of new technologies, essentially computerized accounting and operations records.

Chapter nine covers, at some length, the problems of a partly fictional entity.

The author is a lecturer and director of Florida's International University Center for Accounting, Auditing, and Tax Studies. He is a retired partner of Coopers and Lybrand L.L.P., with which he was associated for 27 years.

In your reviewer's opinion, this book provides very useful advice about planning and undertaking a successful audit. *