Precision has a standard sales contract, but sales personnel frequently modify the
terms of the contract. Sales personnel frequently grant unauthorized and unrecorded sales
discounts to customers without the knowledge of the accounting department. These
amounts are deducted by customers in paying their invoices and are recorded as outstanding
balances on the Accounts Receivable aging. Although these amounts are individually
insignificant, they are material in the aggregate and have occurred consistently over the
past few years.
In our opinion, because of the effect of the material weakness described above on the
achievement of the objectives of the control criteria, Precision Hardware Inc. has not
maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2005,
based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the
COSO.
The material weakness in the entity-level condition was described as follows:
Precision lacks a formal Board-approved policy that addresses significant business
control and risk management practices. This makes it difficult for management to identify
potential misstatements in various accounts and disclosures on a timely basis. Although
these amounts are individually insignificant, they are material in the aggregate and have
occurred consistently over the past few years.
In the unqualified ICOFR condition (only used in Experiment 2): references to the
material weakness are omitted and the opinion paragraph is replaced by