Audit recruitment 2021 - First interview case study

Candidate material, Trading 101 Ltd

Candidate instructions

Introduction

At PwC our engagement teams need to demonstrate an understanding of their client’s business and ensure
that this is appropriately reflected in the financial statements and other information so as to be transparent
and understandable to all users.

Team members need to be professionally sceptical when reviewing financial statements and the other
information, ensuring that they are linking together the ‘bigger picture’ understanding of the engagement, the
results of audit testing and their evaluation of the financial statements and other information.

To enable us to consider your skills and knowledge in this area, this first round interview includes a case
study. You will be provided with background information and the annual report of a fictional company for you
to read and review before having a discussion at your interview about what errors, unusual trends or
questions you have identified.

Materials

You should have:

● Candidate material 1: Candidate instructions (this document)

● Candidate material 2: Trading 101 Ltd background information
● Candidate material 3: Trading 101 Ltd Annual report for the year ended 30 September
which includes the front-half; draft audit report; primary statements and an extract of
notes to the financial statements of Trading 101 Ltd
● Blank paper
● Pen
Instructions

1. Review the annual report and in doing so:

a. consider any unusual/ unexpected trends/ fluctuations
b. identify errors
c. pre-empt questions the engagement leader would typically ask/raise in order to respond to
them.
2. At your case study interview, you will spend approximately 30 minutes discussing your findings with
your interviewer.
3. As with any team discussion, you will need to be prepared to highlight matters that you have
identified and would need to draw the engagement leader’s attention to and answer questions that
might arise as a result.
4. There is no requirement on format or structure around how you do this.

Notes

● This is only an extract of the annual report, you do not need to comment on omissions.
● Don’t be discouraged about the volume of the information. You will not be expected to pick up every
issue or question that can be identified from the material.
● Despite the fact that this case study is based on a technology client, which you may not have had
experience of, this will not put you at a disadvantage. The aspects that we will be looking at are
basic errors, issues and trends commonly found across all industries.
● Your notes will not form part of the interview assessment and are purely to aid you in the discussion.