You are an audit manager in Ecco & Co, a firm of Chartered Accountants. At the monthly audit managers' meeting, the following client situation was reviewed and discussed.
Ecco & Co provides audit service to CF Co, a national financial services organisation. Due to a number of errors in the recording of cash deposits from new customers that have been discovered by CF Co's internal audit team, the directors of CF Co have requested that your firm carry out a review of the financial information technology systems.
Jin Sayed, who is one of the juniors on the team auditing CF Co, is also a recent graduate in information technology and accounting. He was left on his own to audit a section of cash at bank when the in-charge senior was away from the client's office for three days on medical leave. On day, at the client's office, he spent three hours advising the client's internal audit team on how to improve the system. As far as you know, this advice has not been used by the internal audit team.
Required:
Explain:
a. The ethical issues raised regarding Jin Sayed offering advice to the internal audit team
b. How they could be avoided (Cite where appropriate, the Code of Ethics and audit standards)