This case is designed to give students an immediate, hands-on experience with what auditors actually do, before they learn audit vocabulary. Students work from documents that feel real world, using common sense and professional skepticism to decide whether the financial information is fairly stated. The case deliberately uses the language of a friend asking for a favor so that day-one audit students can focus on reasoning and evidence, and then name the audit concepts during debrief. 

 Students assume the role of someone who has an accounting background and helps a college roommate evaluate whether to invest $250,000 in a small business. The students use the documents to triangulate materials across multiple documents — financial statements, subledgers, and other operational support — to form a clear yes or no conclusion about reliability. The deliverable is intentionally simple to push students to make a judgment-backed conclusion rather than just list observations.

Suitable courses: Introduction to auditing; audit (external or internal); principles (with instructor support); and forensic accounting

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