ACC 645 is SNHU’s Advanced Auditing course. It centers on advanced auditing and assurance: auditor legal liability, attestation and SOC reports, group audits and other auditors, independence and nonaudit services, employee benefit plan audits, fraud allegations and illegal acts, sustainability assurance, internal auditing and its use by external auditors, modified reports and audit quality. Every module below opens a full sample paper or takes a free request for one; searches like "acc 645 module 3", "ACC645 sample paper" and "ACC 645 milestone example" land on this page.
What ACC 645 is really about
ACC 645 is SNHU's advanced graduate auditing course, and it assumes the audit process is familiar. It asks how standards apply when the engagement is unusual: a report for a service organization's customers, a component audited by another firm, a tip that a sales executive backdated contracts. Strong work identifies which body of standards governs, PCAOB, AICPA or IIA, applies its specific requirements and explains the professional judgment at each step.
The samples on this shelf share one composite client, a Nasdaq-listed company near Pittsburgh that sells cloud payroll and HR software to mid-sized employers, processes payroll for about 9,000 of them, bought a Canadian payroll firm during the year and sponsors a 401(k) plan for its own staff. The company, its auditors and their figures are illustrative.
What ACC 645’s modules ask for
Across ten modules, ACC 645 typically asks for discussions on auditor liability, independence and sustainability assurance, assignments on attestation reports, benefit plan audits and internal audit, three final project milestones on a group audit, a fraud allegation and audit reporting, and a final project evaluating audit quality on the engagement.
Where students lose points in ACC 645
The most common ACC 645 deduction is applying the wrong framework, such as PCAOB standards to a private plan audit or audit standards to an attestation engagement. The second is treating a fraud allegation as a routine audit matter without the legal steps it triggers. Graders also mark down reports that name a modification without stating why. Identifying the engagement type and governing standards in the first paragraph fixes most of these.
The ACC 645 drawers
ACC 645 Module 1 Discussion example
An opening post on auditor liability built around a hypothetical class action against the auditor of a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company after a restatement of capitalized sales commissions: who can sue under common law, why the Securities Act of 1933 is harsher on auditors than the Exchange Act of 1934, what scienter and proportionate liability mean, and whether the threat of lawsuits improves audits, with Palmrose, Lennox and Li and Arens, Elder, Beasley and Hogan. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 645 Module 2 SOC Report Assignment example
A SOC report assignment for a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company that processes payroll for 9,000 employers: why its customers' auditors need a SOC 1 rather than a SOC 2, the Type 2 period and control objectives, the carve-out of its cloud host and tax-table vendor, complementary user entity controls, an access removal exception and whether it changes the opinion, the bridge letter for calendar-year customers and how a user auditor relies on the report, with SSAE 18, PCAOB AS 2601 and Arens, Elder, Beasley and Hogan. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 645 Module 3 Milestone One example
A first final project milestone planning the group audit of a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company after it bought a Toronto payroll firm: whether the Toronto auditor plays a substantial role, the choice to supervise rather than divide responsibility, group materiality of $3.2 million and component materiality of $1.0 million, the component's risks in client trust funds, source deduction remittances and integration, written instructions, the reporting package, review of the other auditor's work and how purchase accounting stays with the group team, with the PCAOB's 2022 other auditor amendments, Downey and Bedard and Arens, Elder, Beasley and Hogan. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 645 Module 4 Discussion example
A discussion post on independence using the fee table of a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company, whose auditor earns $3.4 million for the audit, $900,000 for SOC reports and $1.1 million for tax work: what the SEC rules prohibit, what the audit committee must preapprove, why the SOC work is audit-related and the tax work is permitted, and what research says about whether such fees impair independence in fact or only in appearance, with Frankel, Johnson and Nelson, DeFond, Raghunandan and Subramanyam and Arens, Elder, Beasley and Hogan. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 645 Module 5 Benefit Plan Audit Assignment example
A benefit plan audit assignment for the 401(k) plan of a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company: why ERISA requires an audit for a plan with 2,900 participants, the choice of an ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C) audit with certified investment information, what SAS 136 requires for the certification and the uncertified areas, tests of contributions, eligibility, loans and distributions, deferrals remitted up to 12 business days late after a payroll migration, the supplemental schedule and the form of the report, with SAS 136, the Department of Labor's audit quality study and Arens, Elder, Beasley and Hogan. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 645 Module 6 Milestone Two example
A second final project milestone on the auditor's response to an anonymous tip that a regional sales vice president at a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company backdated 23 customer contracts to September 30: the audit committee's independent investigation, Section 10A and the illegal acts standard, how the auditor evaluates the investigation, e-signature metadata and customer confirmations, the effects on revenue, commissions and a bookings metric, management integrity and whether the control failure is a material weakness, with PCAOB AS 2401 and AS 2405 and Dyck, Morse and Zingales. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 645 Module 7 Discussion example
A discussion post on assurance over greenhouse gas data at a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company, whose largest bank customer now requires suppliers to report Scope 1 and 2 emissions with limited assurance: what limited and reasonable assurance mean under the attestation standards, why the company's real footprint sits in cloud computing it reports as Scope 3, who is qualified to provide the assurance, and what research says about demand for it, with Simnett, Vanstraelen and Chua, Casey and Grenier and SSAE 18. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 645 Module 8 Internal Audit Assignment example
An internal audit assignment building the 2026 risk-based plan for a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company's six-person internal audit team under the IIA's Global Internal Audit Standards: the audit universe, risk scoring by impact and likelihood, allocation of 7,200 hours across client fund custody, tax filing accuracy, data privacy, sales contract integrity after a backdating case, the Canadian integration and SOX testing, independence and reporting lines, and how the external auditor can use the work under AS 2605, with the IIA standards, Prawitt, Smith and Wood and PCAOB AS 2605. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 645 Module 9 Milestone Three example
A third final project milestone deciding the form of the auditor's reports for a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company: an unqualified opinion on the financial statements with two critical audit matters, the valuation of acquired Canadian customer relationships and the amortization period for capitalized commissions, an internal control report with an explanatory paragraph for the excluded acquisition, no reference to the Toronto auditor, and the alternative reports that would have followed an unfinished investigation, a material restatement or substantial doubt, with PCAOB AS 3101 and AS 3105 and Burke, Hoitash, Hoitash and Xiao. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 645 Module 10 Final Project example
A final project review of audit quality on the fiscal 2025 engagement for a composite Pittsburgh-area payroll software company, written as an internal inspection: the audit quality indicators, hours, partner time, specialists and timing, what went well, from the SOC work to the supervision of the Toronto auditor, three findings, that a whistleblower and not the audit found the backdating, that the 401(k) late deposits were caught late and that one CAM leaned on boilerplate, a root cause analysis and remedial actions, with Francis, Knechel and colleagues and DeFond and Zhang. Full sample paper, read it free.
Your classroom shows something else?
Southern New Hampshire University revises courses; module counts and deliverables shift between terms. Send what your classroom shows and the desk matches it exactly.
Using a ACC 645 sample the right way
Read an ACC 645 sample by first finding the line that names the engagement type and the standards that govern it, then checking that every later step follows those standards. When the framework is right, the analysis that follows earns the credit this course gives for judgment. For ACC 645, send the case, the guidelines and the rubric, and the first custom sample comes back free within 24-48h.
ACC 645 questions, answered
How is ACC 645 different from ACC 640?
ACC 640 covers the core financial statement audit; ACC 645 extends to attestation, group and benefit plan audits, fraud allegations, internal auditing, legal liability and modified reports.
Which standards does ACC 645 use?
PCAOB standards for public company audits, AICPA auditing and attestation standards for private entities and SOC reports, ERISA rules for benefit plans and IIA standards for internal auditing.
Does ACC 645 include a final project?
Most sections build a final project through milestones on a group audit, a fraud allegation and audit reporting, ending with an evaluation of the engagement.