Československá Obchodní Banka, a.s.: Applying Business Risk Audit Techniques in an Emerging Market Economy

Abstract

The case involves Československá Obchodní Banka, a.s. (ČSOB or “the bank”), which was the third largest bank in the Czech Republic in 1997 when the case initially takes place. The case is based on publicly available information relating to ČSOB at a time when the bank was emerging from the state-owned environment of the former Communist country of Czechoslovakia. You will serve in the role of an auditor who is trying understand how to assess the fairness of financial information related to one business process of the entity, based, in part, on the effectiveness of the bank in carrying out its strategy and, in part, on the performance of the business process. This case is designed to provide you with an opportunity to apply important aspects of a business risk audit approach similar to what is utilized to some extent by all major international accounting firms (e.g., Lemon et al. 2000; the Joint Working Group [JWG] Report 2000) in a unique business setting. The requirements of the case also involve assessing the impact on the audit of the bank from privatization by a foreign investor.