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My Special Guest – Author Luis Puncel Gives an Interview About His Book: Knowledge-Based Audit Procedures. A Rerun – Just Cause
By Stacie Clifford Kitts CPA
I want to welcome my friend and fellow CPA Luis Puncel to The Business Perspective. Luis was gracious enough to do this interview about his book Knowledge-Based AuditTM Procedures, published by one of our favorite information sources CCH.
I have to admit, I was really excited about doing this interview. As CPA’s there is so much that we need to do and to know just to be able to tackle our day-to-day job. Therefore, when you meet someone who can do that and write a technical book too, well I have to admit, I’m just a little curious about how that comes together.
So why delay? Let’s jump right in.
1) Luis, can you tell the readers about your book?
Well, the book is CCH’s Knowledge Based-AuditTM Procedures. It provides the most effective approach for practitioners to conduct conservative, high quality audits of nonpublic commercial entities. It is knowledge based because the approach incorporated in the book and the Knowledge Based-AuditTM documents are risk based, fully integrating the risk assessment standards, and emphasize the knowledge gained in performing the risk assessment, to help the auditor design an audit that uses the knowledge gained to design an effective, efficient, and tailored audit approach that focuses on the audit risks.
The book is accompanied by a CD-ROM that contains a complete set of the Knowledge-Based Audit TM (KBA) documents, including audit programs, forms, practice aids, correspondence templates, and report templates designed to help auditors satisfy the highest professional standards. The tools provided on the CD-ROM will take the auditor through an engagement – from the initial evaluation of client acceptance to the issuance of the auditor’s report – and can be customized to suit each practitioner’s needs. The book, which may be used alone, or as a companion to the Knowledge-Based Audit TM documents, is written to provide practical, easy-to-understand and easy-to-implement advice. The book is updated each year to stay current. Right now I am working on the 2010 edition.
2) That’s great that the book also includes the audit programs. For me, including the practical elements such as the practice aids makes the book much more valuable. However, writing this type of book also takes a lot of work, this I know from experience. What inspired you to write it?
What inspired me is my love for my work that I am very technical, and enjoy writing. A good friend, George Georgiades, who authored the book for many years before me, really inspired me. He asked me to take over writing the book when time constraints didn’t allow him to keep doing so. George has taught me a lot about writing a technical book. Also, my firm, Rothstein Kass & Company (a national firm with nine offices, which is the 21st largest accounting firm in the country), in which I am a principal, has been very supportive of my efforts.
3) Wow, you are lucky that Rothstein Kass is so supportive. I can image that writing a book such as this would be almost impossible if your firm wasn’t on board with you. Can you tell the readers what was the most challenging part of writing the book?
The most challenging parts are staying abreast of the ever changing auditing standards and distilling the various standards into a concise and easy to read form.
4) If you are going to go to the trouble of penning a book, especially a technical book, it’s important that interested readers find you. Your book is published by CCH, unarguably one of the world’s leading technical information providers. Can you tell us how you found your publisher?
I am lucky in that respect. This book has been published for years by CCH, and already has a loyal following. In fact, it used to be called Miller Audit Procedures way back in the day.
If I can give some advice to aspiring authors of technical books, make your book different. There are literally hundreds of books on any technical topic. Yours has to be different and have added value, to rise above the pack and attracting a publisher. One way to make it different is to write in plain language and make it easy for readers to find what they are looking for and to implement it.
I started out working on a small project for CCH, doing a technical review of one of CCH’s products. (CCH puts all of its technical books through a rigorous quality control process, including an independent technical review, and a peer review of the whole process.) The relationship with CCH blossomed from there, when George Georgiades asked me to take over authorship of the book.
Thanks Luis! That’s great advice.
Luis is a graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business. He also has 30 years of experience working with some of the world’s largest public accounting firms. He is currently a principal and manager in charge of the Orange County, California practice office of Rothstein Kass & Company. Luis’ book Knowledge Based-AuditTM Procedures is available through CCH, and on Amizon.com.
Rothstein Kass is a national public accounting firm ranked among the top 20 largest accounting firms in the nation. As one of the top 10 firms in California, Rothstein Kass provides a wide range of services including: audit, tax, litigation, forensics and management advisory services to clients in a range of industries. Rothstein Kass has been recognized as one of the top two CPA firms in the hedge fund industry for the last two years in a row and as one of the best companies to work for in NJ, NY, CO, TX & CA. Rothstein Kass has four offices in California (Beverly Hills, Orange County, San Francisco and Walnut Creek) and offices in New Jersey, New York, Texas (Dallas), Colorado (Denver) and the Cayman Islands.
I’m Afraid My Opinion Won’t Be Popular
Monica Lawver over at Confessions of a CPA has a great post; It’s Supposed to be Hard. In her post, she talks about how she defines success and touches on how she is balancing work and home – Monica’s answer “barely.”
Barely is an honest answer, I feel you sister CPA!
Every time someone reaches out with that question, I want to get in her face and say – if you want to have children treat it like a full time DAY job, not the second job that you try and tackle after you get home at night. If you are pulling off children first and then job somewhere down the line, then you have it in the right order.
Boy oh boy do I have a strong opinion about this subject – and probably a more unpopular one. Why? Because I am not going to be one of those people who offer answers about how I did it or how you can too. No Sir.
You want to know why people are always asking the question – how do you balance your work and home life? Because it’s hard. For many people it is impossible. And if you are feeling that things aren’t working out, there’s a whole industry of people who will tell you that following a few rules, taking some advice, and scheduling your life, will result in “work life balance.” They will sell you books, give lectures, and show up on TV talk shows all in the hopes of convincing you that they have the answer.
Oh ya – well, I say – bologna (bull -o-nee).
I have no problem with giving someone asking the honest answer – which is – It’s really really hard and it takes a special person to pull it off, and even then – it is still a crap shoot, so better think twice before you try to combine marriage, motherhood and career.
As a mother of five, combined his and hers, and a former single mother for 10 years, I can attest to the difficulty in balancing work versus motherhood. Motherhood really is a full time job, and let’s face it; few people can successfully pull off two full time jobs. Even a two parent working family requires that the parents have a second job called “raising the children.” And we know that at least one of these parents will usually take up more of the parenting slack.
Do I sound jaded? Well, you should know that I pulled it off – the road was bumpy yes. And my husband and I each had our own “troubled” child. But today the children are fine, graduated from high school, attending college, getting married, living normal lives. And nope, no drug problems or jail time – fingers crossed – so far so good.
But there were also times when I just didn’t think we were going to make it, particularly with the time requirements of being a CPA. I also saw friends and colleagues struggling to meet this contrived definition of career and motherhood. They believed it was achievable. Why wouldn’t’ they? All we ever heard was how other successful career minded women were making it work. Nobody wanted to be the one that admitted – I don’t think this is the way to go.
What do I think?
Well, I would never ever choose to be a single mother. So obviously, I wouldn’t have children when I wasn’t married, and staying married would be a priority. (Not that staying married wasn’t a priority before, but that is another story). And another thing – I think that children deserve to have at least one full time parent. Someone who is there when they need them. I would treat motherhood as my one and only full time job. And if I did want to work while the children were in school, I wouldn’t be a CPA. In fact, my job might consist of stuffing envelopes or answering phones, something I could leave behind at the end of the workday.
I know there are many women out there who believe they can and maybe are successfully balancing work and motherhood, and good for them.
However, no matter how hard you work at it, and I don’t care who you are or what you do, if you have a “career,” there will be times when there will be suffering, by either you, your spouse, your job, or your children. It’s just a matter of waking up in the morning and deciding whom it is that will suffer that day.
Don’t think so? Well I know this, if you are a tax professional working to meet deadlines, I know the exact dates when you will be waking up and deciding who will be the sufferer. Because here is a news flash, a child’s needs never fall neatly in line with the tax calendar. For that matter nobody’s does. And if you think your clients, your employer, or the IRS really care that your child has a cold, well then… whom will you choose to be the sufferer today?
Stacie's Tax Stuff 