（a) ISA 300 Planning an Audit of Financial Statements provides guidance to auditors. Plann

(a) ISA 300 Planning an Audit of Financial Statements provides guidance to auditors. Planning an audit involves establishing the overall audit strategy for the engagement and developing an audit plan. Adequate planning benefits the audit of financial statements in several ways.

Required:

Explain the importance of audit planning. (5 marks)

(b) You are the audit senior in charge of the audit of Swandive Co (Swandive), and have been informed by your audit manager that during the year a fraud occurred at the client. A payroll clerk set up fictitious employees and the wages were paid into the clerk’s own bank account. This clerk has subsequently left the company, but the audit manager is concerned that additional frauds have taken place in the wages department.

Required:

Describe procedures which should be undertaken during the audit of wages as a result of the manager’s assessment of the increased risk of fraud. (5 marks)