Answer:
The correct answer is D: Report the act to the client's Board of Directors and report the act to the SEC if the Board of Directors does not report it.
Step-by-step explanation:
For a publicly traded company, if an auditor discovers an illegal act during an audit, the auditor's responsibility is as follows:
1) Report the discovered illegal act to the client's Board of Directors. This is the auditor's initial and primary responsibility.
2) If the Board of Directors does not report the illegal act to the SEC within a reasonable period of time, the auditor then has a responsibility to report the illegal act directly to the SEC.
3) The auditor does not report directly to the PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board), which is the audit industry regulator. The auditor's responsibility is first to the client's Board of Directors, and then to the SEC if needed.
So in summary, the auditor should:
- Report the act to the client's Board of Directors (A)
- Report the act to the SEC if the Board of Directors does not report it (B)
While reporting to the PCAOB (C) is not required in this scenario.
Therefore, the answer is D: A and B only.
The key takeaway is that for publicly traded companies, if an auditor discovers an illegal act, their responsibility is first to the Board of Directors, and then to the SEC if the Board fails to report the illegal act themselves. The auditor does not report directly to the PCAOB in this scenario.
Hope this explanation helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.