You are the manager responsible for the audit of Dylan Co, a listed company, and you are reviewing the working papers of the audit file for the year ended 30 September 2012. The audit senior has left a note for your attention:

‘Dylan Co outsources its entire payroll, invoicing and credit control functions to Hendrix Co. In August 2012, Hendrix Co suffered a computer virus attack on its operating system, resulting in the destruction of its accounting records, including those relating to Dylan Co.

We have therefore been unable to perform the planned audit procedures on payroll, revenue and receivables, all of which are material to the financial statements. Hendrix Co has manually reconstructed the relevant figures as far as possible, and has supplied a written statement to confirm that they are as accurate as possible, given the loss of accounting records.’

Required:

Comment on the actions that should be taken by the auditor, and the implications for the auditor’s report (7 marks)