Sunrise Pharma Ltd. has incurred significant expenditure during the financial year 2024-25 on developing a new drug formula and also on purchasing…

CA Intermediate · Auditing and Ethics · MTP · January 2026
Sunrise Pharma Ltd. has incurred significant expenditure during the financial year 2024-25 on developing a new drug formula and also on purchasing certain software licences. The management has capitalised all such costs under intangible assets. During the audit, the auditor notices that the company has also written off one software package purchased two years ago, stating that it is no longer in use. On further review, the auditor observes that no documentation has been provided to distinguish between research and development costs, and the company has capitalised certain items that may relate to the research phase. For the new software purchased, the auditor is not provided with any evidence of competitive quotations or approval from authorised personnel. For the discarded software, the entity has not shared any disposal note, approval for deletion, or calculation of gain/loss on disposal. Describe the audit procedures the auditor should perform for additions and deletions of intangible assets during the period under audit.

Suggested Answer and Working Notes:

For additions during the period under audit, obtain a listing of all additions from the management and undertake the following procedures: (i) For all material additions, verify whether such expenditure meets the criterion for recognition of an intangible asset as per AS 26. (ii) Ensure that no intangible asset arising from research (or from the research phase of an internal project) should be recognised. Expenditure on research (or on the research phase of an internal project) should be recognised as an expense when it is incurred. Check the certificate or report or other similar documentation maintained by the entity to verify the date of use of the intangible which could be linked to date of commencement of commercial production/ economic use to the entity, for all additions to intangible assets during the period under audit. (iii) Verify whether the additions (acquisitions) have been approved by appropriate entity’s personnel. (iv) Verify whether proper internal processes and procedures like inviting competitive quotations/ proper tenders etc. were followed prior to finalizing the vendor for procuring item of intangible assets by testing those documents on a sample basis. In relation to deletions of intangible assets, understand from the management the reason and rationale for deletion and the manner of disposal. Obtain the management approval and disposal note authoring disposal of the asset from its active use. Verify the process followed for sale of discarded asset, example inviting competitive quotes, tenders and the basis of calculation of sales proceeds. Verify that the management has accurately recorded the deletion of intangible asset (original cost and accumulated amortization up to the date of disposal) and the resultant gain/ loss on disposal in the entity’s books of account.

Topics: Audit of Items of Financial Statements

Open in Interactive Practice Hub · Full Practice Hub · Chapter Weightage · More in this subject

Related Questions in this Topic