The main answer is: The auditor must not recognize any assets or liabilities arising from the transaction in the financial statements of either client. It is required that the transaction should be disclosed in the notes of both clients.The explanation is:According to the given scenario, Mountain Resources is negotiating to sell some of its unproved oil and gas properties to SuperFund, which is a large investment company. SuperFund is an audit client of the New York office, whereas Mountain Resources is an audit client of the Denver office. It is important to know that the auditor's independence is a significant requirement of the audit engagement. Therefore, the auditor's independence must not be affected by having two audit clients negotiating a business transaction.According to GAAS, the main goal of the auditor is to provide reasonable assurance to the financial statements' users' credibility. The auditor must conduct the audit by maintaining independence in all matters of professional judgment. The situation described above indicates a conflict of interest between two audit clients, Mountain Resources and SuperFund. As per GAAS, the auditor should not knowingly audit financial statements where there is a conflict of interest.To ensure the auditor's independence, the following actions should be taken:The auditor must not recognize any assets or liabilities arising from the transaction in the financial statements of either client. It is required that the transaction should be disclosed in the notes of both clients. The auditor should remain independent in professional judgment while preparing the audit report. Therefore, the auditor should inform the engagement team and evaluate the significant impact of the transaction on the financial statements.