Audit Research CaseThe purpose of this case is to become more familiar about the context of auditing by making observationsabout the market for audit services among publicly-held U.S. companies....

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Audit Research Case The purpose of this case is to become more familiar about the context of auditing by making observations about the market for audit services among publicly-held U.S. companies. You must complete the requirements listed below and submit this assignment via the Pilot Dropbox by the beginning of class on Tuesday, February 7. The approximate length of your analysis in Part 2 (below) should be approximately 1,000 words. The paper must conform to the formatting and citations guidelines posted on Pilot. Also, the text of your paper should be double-spaced. Failure to follow appropriate formatting will be reflected in your grade for the assignment. Failure to submit the case when specified will result in a substantial point reduction as the penalty for late submission. Also, the research case submitted must be each student’s own work, collaboration among students in completing this case is not permitted. Required: First, find the most recent proxy statements and annual reports of three U.S.-based, publicly-held companies which are in the same industry. Next, your report will consist of the following three parts: 1) For each of the three companies selected, provide the following information (in a table) for the most recent fiscal year-end available (as of now, i.e., January, 2023): a) Name of the company b) Fiscal year-end ¢) Audit fees paid to auditor (do not include fees for “audit related services” in this amount) d) Name of audit firm e) Total assets of the company f) Total current assets of the company 2) Total liabilities of the company h) Total current liabilities of the company i) Total revenues of the company This table should be placed at the beginning of this paper. There should be one column of data for each of the three companies and the rows of the table should be labeled with each of the descriptions (b) through (i) above. 2) Briefly describe the company’s business operations for each of the companies and discuss your observations about the data you collected in #1 above. Next, consider these questions: How do the audit fees for the three companies compare? How are the fees similar or different? Why would you expect the fees to be similar or different? Your consideration of these questions about the audit fees should be the central focus of your paper. You may paraphrase information from your sources (with appropriate citation of your source), but to not include direct quotes of text in this analysis. You must cite your sources for the information contained in this report. Also, show any calculations necessary to support your analysis in a footnote or a table. This section should include a brief introduction and conclusion. 3) Include an appendix (labeled “Appendix A”) which contains the page from the proxy statement which states the audit fee amount for each company. Using a “cut and paste” approach to insert the information into the appendix would be the most efficient way to complete this requirement.