Para o auditor independente, uma informação é relevante quando

Após a data de fechamento, mas antes da emissão de seu parecer, o auditor independente constatou que a matriz da empresa que ele audita requereu concordata. Esse fato pode afetar a continuidade operacional de seu cliente que é dependente financeiramente da matriz. A administração da empresa apresentou adequada interpretação nas demonstrações contábeis; diante dessa situação, o auditor deve emitir um parecer

Quando o auditor interno coopera, em tempo integral, com o trabalho do auditor independente, conforme acordo pré-estabelecido com a administração da entidade, a responsabilidade do parecer é

O auditor independente constatou, durante seus trabalhos de campo, que uma contingência ativa, provável e estimada, não constava nos registros contábeis da entidade auditada.

Urban Insurance Issues

Underwriting, the task of deciding what risks to insure, allows insurers to discriminate between good and bad risks. Differences in prices for insurance must reflect expected differences in losses and expenses. When the risk of future losses increases or when rates are inadequate, insurers become more selective about the degree of risk they will assume in an effort to preserve their profit margin. However, redlining, defined as refusal to issue or renew, or cancel an insurance policy based on the geographic location of the structure or individual to be insured, is illegal in every state.

Because losses tend to be higher in urban areas, rates for auto and home insurance are often higher than average in inner cities. This has raised questions about the availability and affordability of insurance in urban communities. Responding to these concerns, the insurance industry is redoubling its efforts to enhance the insurability of inner city properties and to push for changes in auto insurance that would enable drivers to have more coverage options.

Insurance Fraud

Those who commit insurance fraud are not easily identifiable. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) says that insurance cheats range from organized criminals, to unscrupulous doctors, lawyers, vehicle body shop owners, to ordinary people who buy insurance. Although the motivation to commit insurance fraud is always monetary, the amount also varies greatly, from a few extra dollars on an insurance claim, to thousands or more stolen by organized fraud rings.

The Insurance Information Institute estimates that property/casualty insurance fraud cost insurers $24 billion in 1999. According to Conning and Company, fraud cost the entire insurance industry $96.2 billion in 1999.

Fraud rings have followed the path of technology to the Internet in search of fraud opportunities. Along with the ease of electronic filing of medical claims is the greater potential for committing fraud. Conning's 2000 study found that 84 percent of respondents to its fraud survey agree that the use of the Internet will create new classes of insurance fraud.

U.K.'s Cox increases World Trade Center loss estimates

Cox Insurance, a leading Lloyd's underwriter and retail insurer, announced that additional claims from the WTC (World Trade Center) disaster have raised its loss estimates from $96.5 million to between $122.5 million and $180 million.

The announcement highlights the difficulty many insurers are facing in estimating the exact amount of the losses they may eventually pay as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks. More than four months after the devastation occurred, there's still a wide gulf in estimates of what the eventual cost will be. The highest figure is around $70 billion, while lower ones go down to $29 billion.

Urban Insurance Issues

Underwriting, the task of deciding what risks to insure, allows insurers to discriminate between good and bad risks. Differences in prices for insurance must reflect expected differences in losses and expenses. When the risk of future losses increases or when rates are inadequate, insurers become more selective about the degree of risk they will assume in an effort to preserve their profit margin. However, redlining, defined as refusal to issue or renew, or cancel an insurance policy based on the geographic location of the structure or individual to be insured, is illegal in every state.

Because losses tend to be higher in urban areas, rates for auto and home insurance are often higher than average in inner cities. This has raised questions about the availability and affordability of insurance in urban communities. Responding to these concerns, the insurance industry is redoubling its efforts to enhance the insurability of inner city properties and to push for changes in auto insurance that would enable drivers to have more coverage options.