Evaluation of the assumption of continuity: outline of a new tool

Abstract

The evaluation of going-concern is one of the most visible elements of the auditor’s reports. Usually the auditor is criticized about is incapacity of identified the going-concern red flags. The auditor report doesn’t have always the effects that we expect, but there is evidence of some effects and it is an additional element to be considered in the moment of a decision. For these reasons, some statically models have been developed to help auditors in the evaluation of going-concern.
The Basle model, supported on capital risk based definition, has been used by the financial entities. The reality of industry and financial entities are different but they have commons points that justify the adoption of a similar model.
So, we propose an application of a risk-based capital model for the industrial entities as an objective way to anticipate a going-concern problem and as a way of help the auditor in the evaluation of the going-concern.
To accomplish this objective we identify the most important groups of risk factors associated with the operational, financial and investment activities developed by the industry and also the risks that affect all the activities. We assume that the entities that have the capital related with these risks have less probability of going-concern problems.