Auditing in Specialized industries

This article provides some insight into the matters that need to be considered by
auditors when engaged to provide the external audit service to a client operating in a
specialised industry. In the Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) exam, question
scenarios may be based on audit clients operating in a specialised industry, so
candidates need to be aware of the matters which auditors need to consider, especially
when planning the audit.

What is a specialised industry?

Perhaps it is easiest to start by explaining that a specialised industry is not necessarily

rare or even unusual. Examples of specialised industries include:

 airline
 banking and insurance
 agriculture, and
 oil extraction

What makes these industries specialised is that they are likely either to have specific
financial reporting standards applicable to them, or to have distinct accounting
policies which have been developed to account for specialised transactions and
balances which are based on the normally-applied financial reporting standards. For
instance, IAS® 41, Agriculture is clearly relevant specifically to the agriculture sector
and IFRS®, 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosure will need specific application by
companies operating in the banking sector. Some specialised industries will required
specific application of accounting standards, for example, valuation of extracted oil in
line with IAS 2 Inventories, or the valuation of apple trees (an example of bearer plants)
under IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment.

Audit considerations

Competence

Prior to accepting an audit engagement involving a specialist industry, there are  a

number of relevant auditing standards which the audit firm needs to pay close attention.

 IESBA International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (the Code) requires,

amongst any acceptance of a new client being in line with ethical principles, that the
auditor should have an appropriate understanding of the nature and complexity of the
client’s business, as well as knowledge of relevant industrial regulatory or reporting
 requirements. 1

 ISA 220 (Revised) Quality Management for an Audit of Financial Statements requires
the auditor to assess whether there are sufficient and appropriate resources to perform
the engagement and that there is the ‘appropriate competence and capabilities’. 2

Larger audit firms are likely to meet the competence requirement for almost any type of
industry – they will either already possess necessary skill and competence through
having existing clients in the particular industry, or have the resource available to bring
in experts and/or provide any necessary staff training. Smaller firms may have to
carefully consider their competence to take on an audit client in a specialised industry if
they have not previously worked with an audit client in the same industry. However,
regardless of size, audit firms may choose to specialise themselves in the audit of
clients in a particular market or sector, for example a smaller firm may specialise in the
audit of clients in the farming sector, or in not-for-profit organisations, so it should not be
assumed that just because an audit firm is small, it would not meet the competence
requirement.

The audit firm should also ensure that there is adequate documentation to demonstrate
that competence has been considered, and the steps that have been taken to improve
competence where necessary, for example through appropriate staff training.

Audit planning

Identification of the risk of material misstatement in a specialised industry should be

approached in the same way as in any other audit – by obtaining appropriate
understanding of the business and its environment. Assuming that staff have the
necessary competence, as discussed above, this should not be problematical.

To assist audit team members assigned to a specialised industry client, the audit firm is
likely to have additional resources available. There may be briefing notes or internal
technical guidance on how financial reporting standards should be applied within the
sector. For example, in the audit of banking sector clients, an audit firm may produce
guidance on the specific application of IFRS® Standards relating to the range of
financial instruments typically held by banks. Audit staff can then refer to this guidance
when performing the audit, particularly when identifying risks of material misstatement.

It is also important to remember that while there may be specific risks of material
misstatement relating to the industry-specific balances and transactions, there must
also be appropriate consideration of the “normal” balances and transactions. For
instance, in the audit of a bank, there will be plenty of risks to consider other than those
relating to bank-specific transactions and balances, for example the depreciation of
properties, recognition of provisions and impairment of goodwill would all still be
relevant. These 'normal' types of risk must not be forgotten, just because the client
operates in a specialised industry.

Reliance on experts

Linked to the previous matters, competence, audit planning and the specialised nature
of some transactions and balances, the auditor may plan to use an auditor’s expert to
obtain audit evidence. This is quite likely in a specialised industry as despite being
competent to perform the engagement, the audit firm may not have the necessary
specific expertise in some areas. For instance, in the audit of a bank, specialists may be
brought into value complex financial instruments or actuaries to review a defined benefit
pension scheme.

In this situation, the audit firm must adhere to the requirements and principles of ISA
620, Using the Work of an Auditor’s Expert which deals with matters including the
evaluation of the objectivity, competence and capabilities of the auditor’s expert,
determining and communicating the scope and objectives of their work, and assessing
their findings. It is particularly important that the auditor evaluates the relevance and
adequacy of the expert’s findings or conclusions. There is a danger of over-reliance on
the expert’s work; the fact that the audit is of a specialised nature does not mean that
the auditor can pass all responsibility over to an expert. For instance, the auditor must
consider whether the expert’s findings are consistent with the auditor’s understanding of
the client and with the conclusions of other audit procedures. Any inconsistencies must
be investigated.

Exam technique

Many students find exam questions which feature more ‘unusual’ or specialised
industries with concern. However, the scenario will provide adequate information to be
able to answer the requirements. Consider whether there are any specialised or
unusual rules (such as those stated earlier in this article) which may affect the planning
stage or affect the audit evidence which is provided. For example, agricultural products
or specialised machinery or inventories may require the use of an expert to assess their
value. Reviewing the large assets of a mining company to assess whether they exist or
whether the ships of a maritime business are floating or in dry dock awaiting repair.
Students should apply their basic auditing knowledge to the specific scenario, so even if
you have never audited a chemical company, the same rules regarding the valuation of
inventories will apply. Remember, apply the knowledge to the specific scenario as no
credit is given for listing generic audit processes without reference to the scenario.

Conclusion
The audit of a client in a specialised industry can pose some challenges to the audit
firm. However, with proper consideration of competence, and by providing staff with
additional support and guidance, these audits should not necessarily be more complex
or challenging to plan and perform. Using experts can provide high quality audit
evidence in specialist situations, but the auditor must be careful to fully evaluate the
findings of the auditor’s expert and not to over-rely on their work. For audit staff, working
on this type of engagement can be very rewarding, providing exposure to sometimes
unusual businesses.

Written by a member of the Advanced Audit and Assurance examining team