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Solutions manual
to accompany
Auditing: a practical
approach
3rd
edition
by
Moroney, Campbell and Hamilton
Prepared by
Jane Hamilton
© John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2017
Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.2
Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client's system
of internal controls
Review questions
6.11 What is internal control? Why is an auditor interested in a client’s
internal control?
Internal control is defined as:
The process designed, implemented and maintained by those charged with
governance, management, and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance about
the achievement of the entity’s objectives with regard to reliability of financial
reporting, effectiveness and efficiency of operations, and compliance with applicable
laws and regulations. (AUASB Glossary).
Internal control is therefore the way that any entity organises itself to achieve its
objectives. It is how managers run the organisation and control the employees so that
they work towards achieving the organisation’s objectives and operate legally.
Auditors are interested in internal control because it is the system that managers use to
make sure transactions are recorded correctly and the accounting system is able to
produce financial reports that are reliable. The auditor has to provide an opinion on
the financial reports, so the auditor has to understand how well the internal control of
an organisation works to produce reliable financial records.
6.12 Explain each of the seven generally accepted objectives of internal control
activities.
Internal controls are designed and implemented to ensure that transactions are real,
recorded, correctly valued, classified, summarised and posted on a timely basis.
• Real – only genuine transactions are recorded.
• Recorded – all genuine transactions are recorded (none are omitted).
• Correctly valued – all transactions are at the correct amount.
• Classified – all transactions are allocated to the correct account.
• Summarised – all transactions are correctly totalled.
• Posted – all transactions, or transaction totals, are posted to the correct ledger
account.
• Timely – all transactions are recorded in the correct accounting period.
Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.3
6.13 If an auditor does not intend to rely on internal controls in the audit, does
the auditor need to obtain an understanding of the client’s internal
control? Explain.
ASA 315 requires the auditor to obtain an understanding of internal control on all
audit engagements. Therefore, even if the auditor intends to take an entirely
substantive approach to the audit and not rely on internal controls, the auditor must
obtain an understanding of internal control. This is because without gaining this
understanding, the auditor will not fully understand the risks of material misstatement
of the financial report. ASA 315 states that gaining an understanding of the entity and
its environment, including its internal control, establishes a frame of reference within
which the auditor plans the audit and exercises professional judgement throughout the
audit.
The standard allows the auditor to use professional judgement to determine the extent
of the understanding of internal controls required in each case.
6.14 Explain the difference between entity-level controls and transaction-level
controls. Is an auditor interested in both?
Entity-level controls are:
1. the control environment
2. the entity’s risk assessment process
3. the information system, including the related business processes, relevant to
financial reporting, and communication
4. control activities
5. monitoring of controls.
Each of these controls relates to the whole organisation.
Transaction-level controls are controls that impact a particular transaction or group of
transactions.
Therefore, the difference is that entity-level controls have the potential to impact all of
the processes in the organisation, including those that have a direct impact on the
financial report and others, while transaction-level controls impact only a specific
group of transactions. Transactions make up the financial report that the auditor is
auditing, and can be impacted by both entity-level and transaction-level controls. This
is why an auditor would be interested in both types of controls.
Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.4
6.15 Discuss the contention that the control environment is the most important
part of a system of internal controls because it provides the foundation for
the entire system.
The control environment sets the tone of the entity and influences the control
consciousness of its people. People, through their actions, determine the effectiveness
of internal controls. If the control environment does not encourage ethical behaviour
and high quality work, the people within an organisation could fail to implement
controls or override them when performing their duties. Even the best control system
is not 100% effective, and all systems are less effective if the people working with
them do not support the systems.
However, all components of an internal control system are important. Having a strong
control environment will not be sufficient by itself to ensure that an organisation is
able to achieve its objectives.
6.16 Why would an auditor be interested in a client’s control monitoring
processes?
A client should have processes for monitoring the effectiveness of its internal controls
because circumstances and conditions change over time and controls need to adjust
accordingly. An out-of-date control system may not be able to alert management to
new risks, or control new types of transactions. The monitoring process allows the
client to assess the need for changes to internal controls. As such, the auditor will be
interested in the effectiveness of the monitoring system and whether the client’s
management are able to be sure that internal controls remain current and valid. The
auditor will also be able to assess the client’s management attitude to internal control
systems through evaluation of the monitoring processes within the client.
6.17 What sort of risks would an entity’s risk assessment process consider?
Give some examples for a retailer. Which of these risks would be relevant
to financial reporting? Explain.
An entity’s risk assessment process would consider risks to its achievement of its
objectives at all levels. These would include: risks to revenue through product
competition, to attracting and retaining staff, exchange rate risks, transport
interruption risks (both freight and passenger transport delays affecting staff and
customers), climate change risk, financing risk (obtaining and servicing loans), supply
risks, and risks relating to protection of assets from theft and fraud etc.
A retailer would have a particular focus on the risk of not being able to buy the
appropriate products from reputable suppliers, product quality risks which would lead
to sales returns and/or warranty claims, exposure to exchange rate risks if suppliers
are located in other countries, transport risk affecting imports, competitive risks from
other retailers in the same location or servicing the same type of customer, staff risks
relating to attracting and retaining the right type of staff for all shifts, physical risks
including power interruption, shopping centre building issues, financing risks relating
to funding product purchases and paying expenses prior to receipt of cash from
customers, and protection of assets and the integrity of sales and other transactions in
Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.5
the accounts. The retailer would be interested in identifying and controlling risks to its
ability to operate and achieve its objectives.
All uncontrolled risks for the entity could affect the ability of the entity to survive (i.e.
be a going concern). Therefore, all risks are of interest to the auditor. However, the
auditor is most directly concerned with risks relating to protection of assets and the
integrity of transactions in the accounts. The auditor must consider the risk to the
accounts so that the audit can be planned with appropriate consideration of the risk of
material misstatement
6.18 Explain the importance of segregation of incompatible duties. What sort
of duties would be segregated within the sales process? Why?
Segregation of incompatible duties is a part of the control activities of an organisation.
Control activities are policies and procedures that help make sure management’s
directives are carried out. The concept of segregation of incompatible duties is that no
one employee or group of employees should be in a position both to perpetrate and
hide errors or fraud in the normal course of their duties. If these duties are not
segregated, an employee could steal assets (such as cash or stock) and adjust the
records to conceal the theft. If the duties are segregated, the employee stealing the
assets would have to get the cooperation of another employee to adjust the records to
hide the theft.
Therefore, it is very important for the effective operation of a control system that
incompatible duties are split between different employees.
Within the sales process, the person making the sale is not responsible for recording
the sale, and should not be able to process a sales return or other adjustment to a
debtors account balance. If these duties were not segregated, the sales employee could
record a sale to a fictitious customer and take the goods for themselves. To conceal
the theft, the employee would later process a sales return or adjustment to eliminate
the balance in the fictitious debtor’s account.
6.19 In the sales transaction process, a key control affecting the accuracy
assertion for sales is ‘Credit committee review and approve all
applications for credit over $1000’. Explain the impact of this control on
the valuation assertion for sales receivable (debtors).
A control such as ‘Credit committee review and approve all applications for credit
over $1000’ will require applications for credit over the specified amount being
separately authorised. This control is related to the accuracy assertion for sales
because it prevents sales transactions being recorded that are incorrectly processed.
For example, if a data entry error is made so that a sale for $500 is incorrectly entered
as $5,000, the transaction would not be accepted until it had been authorised. Because
there is a data entry error, the person responsible for authorising the transaction
should notice that it is not for $5,000, but should be entered as $500. The control also
impacts on the valuation assertion for sales receivable because it would prevent the
incorrect sale being entered to the debtors account, and thus prevent it from being
overstated. In addition, if sales are genuinely being made for amounts over $1,000, the
Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.6
authorising person has a chance to consider if the debtor has capacity to pay large
amounts. Procedures to check the credit-worthiness of debtors is likely to improve the
chances of the amounts being paid by the debtors (because only debtors that can and
will pay their debts are allowed to buy on credit), increasing the likelihood that
debtors are valued correctly.
6.20 Discuss the role of internal audit in an entity’s system of internal controls.
Is internal audit an essential element of a control system? Explain.
Internal audit is a part of an entity with responsibility for assessing the performance of
the entity’s control systems and making evaluations of client’s activities. Internal
auditors provide information about the functioning of the entity’s internal control
system, its strengths and weakness, and make recommendations’ for improvements, to
the entity’s management. Although internal audit departments are usually separate to
other functions within the client, they are not independent of the client.
Not all organisations have an internal audit department. Smaller organisations usually
do not have an internal audit function and many larger organisations outsource the
internal audit function to a third party. However, as organisations become larger, the
level of importance placed by an entity on its internal audit function can be a guide to
its overall commitment to internal control.
6.21 Several approaches to internal control documentation are discussed in the
chapter. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of each. How would
documentation assist the auditor to identify strengths and weaknesses of
an entity’s system of internal controls?
The four approaches to internal control documentation are:
1. Narratives; the advantage is that the process can be described in full; the
disadvantage is that it can take many words to describe a process in full.
2. Flowcharts or logic diagrams; the advantage is that the standardised graphics
allow a large amount of information to be presented on a single page to
represent complex flows of transactions and the key controls. If there is
common understanding of the symbols, it is easier to review and understand.
The disadvantage is that the reader may not understand the symbols or require
additional clarification.
3. Combinations of narratives and flow charts or logic diagrams; the advantage is
that complex systems can be described using standardised symbols, with
additional narrative to explain steps that are hard to chart. The disadvantage is
that both the diagram and narrative have to be prepared and checked for
consistency.
4. Checklists and preformatted questionnaires; the advantage is that it is helpful
to inexperienced auditors because the checklist guides the process and assists
Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.7
in identifying critical controls. The disadvantage is that it can inhibit an
experienced auditor and slow down the process.
The documentation assists the auditor because the process of preparing the
documentation prompts the auditor to ask detailed questions in order to gain a full
understanding. An experienced auditor would be able to identify departures from the
systems used at similar organisations and the graphical forms of documentation reveal
quickly the destination of all copies of documents.
6.22 Why do auditors prepare management letters?
ASA 260 requires the auditor to communicate matters from the audit with those
charged with governance, and ASA 265 governs communicating deficiencies in
internal control to those charged with governance and management. To satisfy the
requirements in these standards, the auditor will prepare a management letter to those
charged with governance. The auditor will also communicate on a timely basis with
management of the entity, where appropriate, the deficiencies in internal control
revealed during the audit that are either being communicated to those in governance
or are not.
The auditor uses their professional expertise to inform management about deficiencies
in the internal control system which could affect the integrity of the financial report
either in the current financial period or in the future. The feedback is provided in
written form so that there is no confusion about the fact of the report or the
observations and recommendations being made. The management of the entity is able
to use the written report as a basis for a response. Sometimes, management is able to
use a letter written at an interim stage of the audit as a basis for a response before the
end of the audit.
Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.8
Professional application questions
6.23 Understanding client controls
Abbott & Partners audit firm has audited Pretty Valley Shire council for
two years, performing both a statutory audit of the financial reports and
a compliance audit for the government department in charge of local
councils’ landfill waste disposal sites. In all previous control testing, no
exceptions were detected. The junior auditor on the engagement has
suggested that no work on internal controls is required because last year’s
evidence will be sufficient.
Required
Explain why the junior auditor’s suggestion is not appropriate.
The junior auditor’s suggestion is not appropriate because the auditor needs to have
sufficient appropriate evidence about the effectiveness of controls in the current year.
Any change in either the controls or the conditions would make last year’s evidence
not applicable to the current period. At a minimum, the auditor would need evidence
that the conditions remained the same and that the controls had not altered. The
auditor should also consider whether the controls are able to provide sufficient control
in the current circumstances. Even if there had been no changes since last period, the
auditor should evaluate the effectiveness of the controls and draw a conclusion on the
degree to which they can be relied upon.
In this particular case, the controls were assessed with respect to their ability to ensure
compliance with the regulations. It is likely that additional work is required for the
controls to be assessed for their effectiveness at preventing or detecting material
misstatements at the assertion level because this is a different objective.
Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.9
6.24 Importance of internal control
Elecnet is an electricity distribution company based in a large capital city.
Its business is to manage the electricity assets, including poles, wires and
other equipment, that are used to deliver electricity to more than 500 000
retail and business customers in the city. Pole, wire and substation
maintenance and improvements are a large part of the company’s
operations and teams of highly trained technicians are used for both
planned work and emergency response activities. Emergency response is
required when storms or fires bring down power lines, the power must be
turned off at the direction of police, or the electricity supply fails for any
reason.
Each team comprises several vehicles (vans and trucks) and uses
additional heavy equipment, such as cherry pickers, cranes and diggers,
as required. Each vehicle carries a core set of specialised parts and tools
and additional items are obtained as required from the stores, located in a
large warehouse in the northern suburbs. The warehouse is staffed on a
24-hour basis to assist night maintenance (designed to minimise
disruption to business customers) and emergency response.
Required
(a) Make a list of the potential problems that could occur in Elecnet’s
maintenance and improvements program.
(b) Suggest ways that good internal control over parts, equipment and
labour could help Elecnet avoid these problems.
(a) Potential problems include:
• Problems with communication systems stop emergency reports reaching the
response teams in a timely manner.
• Police or other emergency services are unable to contact Elecnet during an
emergency because they do not have the required contact information or staff
at Elecnet are not rostered on to respond to emergencies.
• Trained staff are not available to respond to emergencies through
mismanagement of leave or failure to recruit and train staff.
• Storms, fires or other emergencies are more extensive than anticipated and not
enough staff and equipment are available to respond.
• Equipment, such as vehicles, diggers and cherry pickers, are not operational
due to lack of suitable maintenance.
• Not sufficient supplies of specialised tools and parts are held in stores.
• The large warehouse is not accessible in an emergency because the key holder
is away sick or on leave.
• Too many staff are rostered onto normal maintenance and not enough
available for emergency response in a particular geographic location.
• Changes are made to the electricity distribution system so that different parts
are required for maintenance and these new parts are not ordered in time.
Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.10
(b) Suggested internal controls include:
• responsibility for maintaining communication systems with emergency
services assigned to a senior staff member at Elecnet who also has information
about staff rosters.
• HR department is made aware of staffing requirements for emergency.
response and reports to senior management on achievement of staff targets
• HR department oversees policies and procedures for staff training to ensure
that sufficient staff within the organisation have the required skills and
qualifications.
• Scientific modelling of emergency situations, taking into account population
growth and climatic conditions.
• Schedule of maintenance for equipment coordinated with senior staff
responsible for emergency response.
• Stores report on holdings of various parts, with integration with new
equipment purchases.
• Stores maintain security systems and assign responsibility for staff member to
coordinate with emergency response teams.
• Staff schedules and rosters approved by senior management with consideration
of balance between maintenance and emergency response.
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Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.11
6.25 Control environment
Cheetah Airways became a client of an audit firm for the first time this
year. Soon after taking the engagement in September last year, Cheetah
Airways was under investigation by the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission (ACCC) for allegedly fixing prices on some routes
in collusion with another airline. The two airlines made an illegal
arrangement to not compete with each other so that they both benefited
by sharing the business and maintaining prices that would allow them to
make profits. After the ACCC investigation became public, several of
Cheetah Airways’ key corporate customers decided that they did not wish
to associate themselves with the airline and severed their exclusive travel
dealings with Cheetah Airways.
Required
How does the above information affect your understanding of the control
system at Cheetah Airways?
The information available to the auditor raises questions over the tone at the top of
Cheetah Airways because it is alleged to have engaged in activities to rig the market
by agreeing with a competitor not to undercut each other. Specifically, is there a
commitment to integrity and ethical values in the organisation? What is
management’s philosophy and operating style? Is there a win at all costs attitude and
lack of respect for laws that affect the business?
At the time of the audit there is an investigation by the ACCC, but no prosecution
against the client. However, several customers of the audit client have taken their
business elsewhere. This fact also raises questions for the auditor because it suggests
that the client’s revenue has been adversely affected, and could be more adversely
affected if other customers also take this action. In the extreme case, there could be
questions about the audit client’s ability to continue as a going concern (although this
would require many more customers to also leave), and could impact on the auditor’s
opinion.
If there is a poor ethics/tone at the top, or evidence of fraudulent or illegal activities,
the auditor should consider whether the client is one that they wish to continue to
audit. The auditor should reconsider the information it gathered at the time of taking
over the client – what did the prior auditor disclose, what did the auditor’s
investigations disclose etc. Ultimately, the auditor will have to document the action
taken to investigate the matter and consider the integrity of the client, and any impact
on the auditor’s ability to perform the audit. For example, has the auditor had any
difficulties in getting access to records and personnel it requires in order to do the
audit? Has the client been able to offer the auditor any assurances about their
integrity? The auditor may conclude that the bad publicity is unwarranted and the
departure of several customers is more related to activities by the client’s competitors.
Alternatively, the auditor may decide to resign from the audit engagement if the client
is unable to provide the assurances required.
Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.12
6.26 Expense transaction risk
Bear Transport’s accounting policy for maintenance on its fleet of cargo
planes is to capitalise the cost of major airframe and engine maintenance
checks and depreciate over the shorter of the scheduled usage period to
the next major inspection or the remaining life of the aircraft. The latest
data shows the aircraft and engines at cost (including major maintenance
costs) to be at a similar level as last year while depreciation costs have
decreased by 5 per cent.
Required
Discuss the risk of misstatement for depreciation costs. What could go
wrong?
The main risk for depreciation costs is that they are understated. ‘What could go
wrong’ is that it will overstate profits and overstate the written down value for assets.
Capitalising expenditure on maintenance that should be a cost of the period by
designating it as improvements would understate expenses. Depreciation expense
could also be understated if the rate is reduced or new additions to assets are not
depreciated.
Auditors should determine if the accounting policy to capitalise maintenance and
amortisation over the maintenance period is reasonable under the accounting
standards.
Depreciation costs have decreased even though the cost of ships and engines has not
changed. This suggests that the scheduled period for maintenance is greater (a longer
period before the next major maintenance is scheduled). This would be justified if the
ships are traveling fewer kilometres each year (e.g. as a result of economic downturn
and reduced international trade) Auditors should investigate the schedules for ships to
determine if the distances travelled are lower.
Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.13
6.27 Segregation of duties in small business
North State Computers has premises in the main street of a large regional
city. The business is owned by Bob and Mary Winters, who purchased it
three years ago. Mary has an extensive background in IT and has a talent
for diagnosing and solving problems with computers that are brought in
for repair. Bob also has an IT background and oversees the sales and
administration staff. There are three staff in the business: a computer
technician who assists Mary, a part-timer who helps with sales and a
junior trainee, Cara, who does other tasks such as banking. Cara is also
responsible for issuing invoices and statements to clients who have a
service contract with the business. These clients are generally other
businesses that ask Mary to visit their premises for routine and
emergency repairs and that purchase software and hardware from the
business.
Bob and Mary have worked very hard over the last three years but they
have cash-flow problems. Their bank manager has requested a meeting to
discuss the business’s growing overdraft. The bank manager asks Bob
and Mary to prepare for the meeting by analysing their accounts
receivable and customer receipts. Bob and Mary review the accounts
receivable ledger and find that it is not up to date. They also discover that
client statements have not been issued for four months. They are also
unable to identify from the cash receipts journal which clients have paid
their accounts.
Required
(a) Discuss the attitude and control consciousness of North State
Computers’ management.
(b) Which duties should be segregated in this business? Recommend an
appropriate allocation of duties for the staff at north State Computers.
(a) The accounts show that the controls over sales, debtors and cash receipts are not
good. The accounts are not up to date and client statements have not been issued for
four months. These tasks were apparently the responsibility of the junior trainee,
Sally, under the supervision of Bob. Bob appears to have been unaware of the
problems, suggesting that he is not monitoring the processes very closely. Overall,
this means that the management’s attitudes towards internal controls in general, and
the accounts in particular, are not good. The fact that the bank has asked them to meet
to discuss their worsening cash position also suggests that they are not managing their
cash flow adequately.
Although Mary is responsible for technical issues, such as repairing computers, rather
than the administration side of the business, she is also an owner of the business and
as such should be involved in setting the tone of the organisation. Bob and Mary
appear to have failed to establish good internal controls and to communicate and
enforce the importance of the systems to their staff. There is no evidence of any
unethical behaviour by the staff, but they do not appear to have been adequately
trained and/or appropriately selected for the positions they hold.
Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.14
In a small business, such as this, management involvement is a substitute for a large
system of formal controls. This means that Bob and Mary must be personally
involved in authorising and supervising transactions to a greater extent than if there
were more staff.
(b) Segregation of duties should follow the broad principle that the following duties
are segregated:
• Authorisation or approval of transactions affecting assets
• Custody of assets
• Recording or reporting of transactions
• Control over processing of a transaction should be separated from recording or
reporting a transaction
Cara is employed to help with administration. The other staff is a computer technician
and a sales part-timer. This means that Cara and Bob are the only two staff currently
with administrative responsibilities. It will be difficult to adequately segregate duties
with only two staff in the area. Therefore, Bob and Mary must perform additional
review tasks, such as separately reviewing all transactions over a certain limit,
monthly reports of debtor’s balances and transactions, bank reconciliations etc.
In addition, if Cara retains the task of banking, she should not be involved in
recording transactions, particularly cash receipts. An alternative would be for Bob to
do the banking and leave Cara responsible for transaction processing. Mary could take
responsibility for stock control, so that the sales staff are not involved in maintaining
stock records as well as having access to the stock for making sales.
Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls
© John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.15
6.28 Control environment
Red Minerals is being audited by your firm for the first time in 2015. In
2010, Red Minerals invested in a mining joint venture in Bangaloo, a
country which recently experienced significant currency devaluation. In
December 2013, there was a large chemical spill in the area surrounding
the main centre of Red Minerals’ operations in Bangaloo, and the
government is seeking compensation and asking for restoration work to
be done. The story has been covered in the Australian press. In a review
of documents you discover that in 2014, there was a raid on the homes of
several Red Minerals’ employees, following a tip-off to police. The tip-off
alleged that over several years, four members of Red Minerals mechanical
staff had been stealing small tools from Red Minerals and re-selling them.
To date, four members of Red Minerals’ staff have been charged with
fraud and theft. You are aware that the Chief Operations Officer (COO)
of Red Minerals resigned at the start of 2015 and a suitable replacement
has not yet been found.
Required
Discuss the impact of the background material for Red Minerals on your
likely assessment of entity-wide controls at Red Minerals.
The information suggests that there are problems with the client’s control
environment surrounding the chemical spill incident. What are the circumstances of
the spill? Was there evidence of suitable precautions being taken or was management
treating the potential problem lightly because the country is poor (currency
devaluation issues suggest economic problems in Bangaloo)? Was there evidence of
appropriate consideration of the risks of a chemical spill and the impact of the cost of
clean-up on the company? What action has management taken to repair the damage?
Is the company’s failure to repair the damage evidence of financial problems at the
client?
The petty theft could be simply a problem isolated to several dishonest employees, or
could be further evidence of poor control procedures at the client. Is the resignation of
the COO related to either the chemical spill or the theft? Does it signify that there are
further problems at the client which the client has not provided information about to
the auditor? What procedures have been adopted to find a replacement?
The auditor should consider whether those charged with governance (board of
directors) are aware of the problems and taking action. Has the board established
suitable policies for dealing with the risk of operating in Bangaloo?
What evidence can the auditor gather about Red Minerals’ management’ philosophy
and operating style? What approach has management taken to establishing procedures
to implement policies around the risk of chemical spills and control over company
assets? How have the policies and procedures, as well as the ethical values of the
organization, been communicated from the board to management and more widely in
the organization?
Other documents randomly have
different content
VI
Now and then a section of the golfing community has the
appearance of fretting for a new government of the game. The
freedom that it has always enjoyed, and in which it is superior to any
other game that has a right to be compared to it for quality, interest,
and popularity, has become irksome. It is felt that there can be
disadvantages in too much freedom, and so these people sigh to be
placed under a yoke—a yoke of their own choosing, but none the
less stern and powerful and, above all, active. These agitations, if
they are to be dignified with such a name, commonly begin in the
dullest days of winter, when both links and livers are abnormally
heavy, and they flicker out again in the spring. Usually the
establishment of a new county golfing union is the signal for the
commencement of the argument in favour of the deposition of
St. Andrews and the establishment of a new parliament of golf. By
this time county unions are no novelty. The Yorkshire and the
Nottinghamshire Unions—and particularly the former—are now old-
established and flourishing institutions; but latterly this movement
towards unions has much increased, and Warwickshire,
Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and others have joined in it and
settled their constitutions. Then there are in existence the Welsh
Union, the Sussex Union, and various others of smaller activity. The
formation of these unions has been in itself a proceeding of some
significance; but the establishment of the new Midland Association is
greater, for here you have three or four unions making common
cause for the furtherance of their own ideas and projects, and
becoming a compact, circumscribed, and very nearly autonomous
community, taking a considerable piece of the golfing map to
themselves, and embracing no small or unimportant section of the
golfing population. First you had the county unions; now the
grouping of these unions into associations. Obviously, the next and
easy step will be a combination of associations. Yorkshire and Wales
might come to an understanding with the Midlands, and before one
could shout “Fore!” there might be the whole country under the
guidance, not to say domination, of a union of associations.
Members of clubs would per se be affiliated to it, and would give
tacit allegiance to it. That is simply a possibility of evolution.
So far the programmes of the unions and associations are simple
and unpretentious. They will start country competitions, inter-county
tournaments, standardise handicaps, regulate local rules, and so
forth. Unpretentious in a sense these matters are; but yet they will
make for much in the whole sum of golf procedure. Then there are
no authoritative rules for bogey play which many people want; the
associations may make them for themselves, and make them binding
upon their members, and give rulings upon points of dispute or
difficulty that may arise in regard to them, since St. Andrews will
have nothing to do with bogey. They will do all the many things that
St. Andrews is too indifferent to do.
There you have it! How about the coming of the day when, old-
established, firm, and powerful, the combined associations find that
they are doing nearly everything, and that St. Andrews is doing
almost nothing? Will it not be an easy thing, and one which will
suggest itself, to cut the knot that ties them to the old and respected
guardian of our golf, and to go forth with a new and revolutionary
programme of government, which shall include even the very
championships and the rules themselves? This is not a fanciful
speculation; it is logical and—as some who have brought themselves
to the serious study of the future would say—almost inevitable. It
would be according to the natural processes of history.
Let them disclaim as they please, be as loyal to the existing order
of things as possible, it is still the fact that these unions and
associations are a menace to St. Andrews. By evolution from them
rather than by direct establishment is a British Golfing Union likely to
come about, if one ever does. This is essentially a democratic
movement. With the vast influx of new players the feeling in golf is
infinitely more democratic than it was five years ago, and the people
are now chafing at the indifference of St. Andrews and the
championship group of clubs, and are calling for a ruling body that
will give them new and simpler laws, that will regulate the
championships better, and hold them on a greater variety of courses,
organise inter-county competitions, and so on. St. Andrews—by
which is meant the Royal and Ancient Club—is the old and self-
established, almost hereditary House of Lords that dozes and does
not mind, with no second chamber between it and the people. The
people say they want a representative and active House of
Commons. This allegory works out perfectly to the point that Ireland
is fuming and fretting at the neglect with which she is treated.
Shall the golfers’ House of Lords be mended or ended? There are
three parties in the great state of golf—the old Tories, who want
things to remain as they are, and who regard the St. Andrews House
of Lords as the finest form of government imaginable, chiefly
because it does not govern; the reformers, who want St. Andrews to
become more active and to seek the co-operation of some of the
leading clubs in the country; and the democratic revolutionaries,
who want a new governing body elected by the people and the
clubs. The first party is in a hopeless minority, and will always
remain so. The present state of affairs may go on for some time yet;
but the golf world is too big and important, and the questions
pressing upon it are too weighty, for it to be regarded as permanent.
The Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews is a most worthy,
distinguished, and conscientious institution, full of all the most blue-
blooded traditions. One may disagree with the idea that the Club
entertains of the duty and responsibility towards the great world of
golf which time and circumstances have cast upon it; but no golfer
of understanding would speak disrespectfully of this Club, which in
many respects is the finest institution of its kind in existence, and is
entitled to the very utmost veneration. Chiefly by its efforts there
has been given a dignity to the game of golf which has had much to
do with its established greatness. Every golfer everywhere owes a
debt to the Royal and Ancient Club.
Yet as an authority nobody ever sanctioned it; like Topsy, it
simply grew. Of course, it was wanted; somebody had to make laws.
It is almost equally certain that the club never aspired to an active
command over such an extensive golf world as there is at present,
and that its present disposition is that it “cannot be bothered,” that
the British golfers must take it as they find it, or—do as they please.
To some extent allied with St. Andrews in the government of the
game are the clubs who regulate the championship. To some minds
the Royal and Ancient and these other clubs that rule the
championships, have sometimes seemed to be in league with each
other against the new spirit and new tendencies in golf, and it is not
surprising that the worm is turning. The “common people” of the
golfing world say that they have had enough of this sort of thing,
and all these airs and graces, that they are in the majority—which is
perfectly true—and that they will act.
Now what shall be done? Shall the golfers’ House of Lords be
mended or ended? In course of time some change is inevitable,
democracy will have its way, and all those who have the interests of
the game most at heart must, on reflection, come to the conclusion
that for the time being, at any rate, it will be for good if the House
of Lords is reconstituted on slightly more popular lines. Therefore it
would seem to be desirable that the Royal and Ancient and its
associates, the golfing House of Lords, should recognise the feeling
that is undoubtedly abroad in the country, and should take the
initiative now, when it would lose nothing in dignity and gain
everything in influence, in establishing the government of golf on a
firmer and more satisfactory basis than that on which it at present
exists. The rules need remodelling, the system of the championships
needs rearranging, the question of county tournaments,
standardisation of handicaps, and so forth, call for some
consideration, and the interference of the commercial side of the
game needs to be looked into. St. Andrews alone and without a
mandate has neither the will nor the power to grapple with all these
difficulties. On the other hand, a democratically elected governing
body would almost certainly be given far too much to something in
the nature of vandalism, and for a certainty golf under its authority
would lose much of the dignity that is at present one of its very
greatest charms. What one has seen of the ways of even some big
provincial clubs, such as might have loud voices in a new democratic
government, and the tone that animates their game, gives one no
confidence that they would preserve its best traditions intact. There
would be a tendency towards unnecessary innovations and
vulgarism. Nobody who has any adequate knowledge of the manner
and system of golf as practised by the good old-fashioned clubs
would care to risk placing the future of the game entirely in the
hands of the revolutionaries.
The world of golf is not ready for a great revolution. The fact is
that we want as little legislation as possible, but what there is should
be good and adequate, and the tendencies and needs of the times
should be systematically considered. The best solution to the
difficulty, perhaps, would be for St. Andrews to relax a little from its
aloofness, recognise that circumstances impose a moral duty upon
it, and seek the assistance of a few of the chief clubs, seaside and
inland, throughout the country, who among them would form a kind
of joint board to which all other clubs would declare their allegiance.
We should expect to find such inland clubs in the south as
Sunningdale, Woking, Mid-Surrey, and Walton Heath represented on
this board, and it would approach all the questions of the time in a
progressive spirit and do its best to remove existing grievances. If
the Royal and Ancient took the initiative in this matter, it would gain
in dignity and respect, and would have the knowledge that it had
done its duty. If no such step is taken, if matters are allowed to drift
on as at present, then a revolution of some kind is likely. A point too
frequently overlooked in these discussions is, that the Royal and
Ancient club is in its membership and constitution very fairly
representative of golf throughout the country, as is no other club.
The rights of its position at the head of the game are, of course,
indisputable.
W
WINTER
I
HEN the winds blow and the rains pour down, we discover the
true worth of the golfer. The game has no season; it allows no
right of control to any weather. It is for all places and for all times,
and in the law of the links it is clearly set down that he who is
playing by strokes for a prize shall on no account whatsoever delay
in the course of his round, nor take any shelter, though Pluvius
should pour out upon him from the heavens their entire holding of
the most drenching rain. If, in defiance of the stern law of
St. Andrews, he does so take shelter, though it be but for a minute
under the scanty protection of leafless boughs, he is to be visited
with the extreme penalty. Whatever his score, whatever the
perfection of his golf, he shall take no prize, his card must be tossed
aside as worthless, and he is branded among his fellows as he who
was afraid, and as more fitted to putt on the hearthrug by the
fireside at home in rivalry with his baby boy or girl, than to take part
in this now fierce game of men. What is the law for medal
competitions is, in scarcely less measure, the custom and tradition in
matches. Once he has begun, the golfer with the great heart must
finish his game, and generally he does so. Scotland sometimes turns
up its nose at the English golf of the towns; but round about
London, among all its “effete civilisation,” there is seen in golf, as in
perhaps no other game, that some fine British sporting hearts beat
beneath starched linen and silken waistcoats; and it is a thing to
think about, that the city man who on ’Change at eleven o’clock in
the morning was arrayed most spotlessly and was dealing in his
thousands, at three o’clock was driving his little golf ball through
wind and blinding rain, drenched to the skin, cold, miserable,
despondent with his 8’s and 9’s, but still doing his duty as a golfer to
his game.
So the authorities of St. Andrews will in no case countenance the
mere fairweather golfer. He must “face the music.” But they do say—
they said it when appealed to on one occasion—that the brave
player is, after all, entitled to have a hole to putt at, and if the green
is under water it is better that there should be no competition. It
was the club of St. Duthus that made the appeal, and the
experiences of the members of that club on the day concerned were
varied and curious. One golfer played his ball on to a “floating
green,” and after vainly trying to dodge the sphere along the waters
into the neighbourhood of the place where the hole was, he picked it
out and claimed the right to play again some other day. But when
that same day was far spent and the flood had to some extent
subsided, another player came along with his card to that green,
and, having worked his ball to within three feet of the place where
the hole was, he deftly pitched it up into the air with his mashie and
down it came on the water immediately covering the hole, sank for a
moment, and came up again floating. Had he holed out?
St. Andrews declined to say. They took shelter from this trying
problem by observing that that green should not have been played
on.
In very similar circumstances a player coaxed his ball to the place
where the hole was, and then debated within himself as to how he
should hole out. No club that he had would sink the ball, but the law
does not prescribe that golf must be played with standard clubs.
This resourceful fellow, after due consideration, took his bag from
his caddie, held it for a moment above the ball, and then dumped it,
end on, down on the floating sphere, sinking it for a second. But was
not that a push? And, again, when another man had played on to a
floating green he discovered that the wind made a current, and that
it—O generous current!—was slowly taking his ball towards the hole.
So he waited until it should do so, but it was a slow process, and
somebody protested. He claimed that his last stroke was still in
progress all the time, and that neither he nor anyone else had any
more right to interfere with it than with a ball in flight. However, he
was utterly cried down, and his point was not settled.
Thus some curious shots have been played on water; and, have a
mind, some great ones too. One of the most classic shots of golf,
perhaps the most classic of them all, was that which Fred Tait played
in the championship from the water-logged bunker on the far side of
the Alps, guarding the seventeenth green at Prestwick. At a moment
of crisis he waded in with a forlorn hope, and with a shot that will
still be spoken of in a hundred years he saved a point that had
seemed gone for ever.
The brave golfer is placed in a difficult position, when his partner
is smitten with craven fears of pneumonia and inflammation of the
lungs supervening on the soaking that he is getting on the links.
What is he to do if in medal competition this fearing one says that
he will go no farther, but will hasten back to the clubhouse, with its
drying-room and its fire and warm refreshment? The law says that
no man shall delay in his round; but how shall the card be marked if
the marker goes off for his dry clothes and hot drinks? Ever
generous to the brave, St. Andrews has said that he whose heart is
thus willing shall not be disqualified, but shall be permitted to scour
the links and the clubhouse in search of a new marker, and if haply
in the meantime the storm shall have ceased, good luck to him, and
may his be the winning card.
But no false excuses. Did you hear of the historic case of the
Bury golfers who appealed to St. Andrews for a ruling after one
fateful medal day on their rain-swept course? The storm raged, the
winds blew, and the rain drove through the players’ garments to the
most vulnerable parts of their body. And then one man lost his ball.
The other espied a friendly hut and sought shelter there until his
unhappy friend should find that which was lost. When it was
discovered its owner likewise went to the hut and stayed there for a
little while. Why did that golfer seek that hut so? He told
St. Andrews that he went there because he had dirtied his face, and
his partner had a cloth wherewith it might be wiped! They pleaded
for qualification in their competition. “Out upon you for golfers!” said
St. Andrews angrily, and so it was decreed.
II
On a frosty day one is apt to damage clubs. The clubmaker does
not mind his patrons playing on steely courses. The chances are that
one man in a few will need something doing to his shafts or his
wooden heads as the result of a day’s play. The list of casualties at
sunset is considerable, and somewhat reminds one of the early days
when a golf club was a much less lasting thing than it is at present.
Old golfers are agreed that the breakage of a club by any kind of
player is a thing of infinitely rare happening in comparison with what
it used to be only a very few years ago. How is this? It cannot be
that beginners are any better or more careful than they used to be,
and one is very doubtful as to whether the clubs are made any
better (although, perhaps, a trifle more elegant), or are endowed
with any more strength than they were in the olden days when there
were fewer of them to be made, and when so much time was spent
upon their individual perfection. Some people think that the socketed
shafts that have become firmly established are less reliable than
others, and are more likely to give way under severe strain from
misuse, and yet how seldom do we really see a wooden club give
way at the socket? On the whole there can be no doubt that our
modern clubs are thoroughly well made, but that the real cause why
we so seldom see breakages is the lighter work that the clubs have
to do with the rubber ball than they were set to in the old days of
the gutta. In those old days the jar of impact was harder, severer,
harsher, and it sent a shiver through the wrapping of the club that,
often repeated, made for an eventual snap. Certainly the decrease in
the breakages seems to date exactly from the beginning of the use
of the rubber ball.
I have just said that it cannot be that beginners are any better or
more careful than they used to be, but this is a statement that needs
a trifle of qualification. Your modern beginner has heard from many
and diverse authorities of the enormous difficulty of this game, and
of the necessity of treating it from the outset with the utmost
possible respect; but the neophyte of the olden days was often more
of a slapdash, full-blooded fellow, who needed to have two or three
strenuous rounds before the spirit in him was fairly broken and he
became amenable to the reason of the links. A wonderful story of a
wild opening to a golfing career is that of Lord Stormont, when he
was initiated at Blackheath some fifty years ago. His lordship had
taken too much weight to himself, and Sir William Ferguson, his
doctor, being consulted, suggested that he ought to have more
exercise, and thought that this might best be administered in the
form of golf. Sir William played golf himself, and, like all good
doctors, he recommended the game to lazy pale-faced people
whenever he thought the occasion opportune. He said to Lord
Stormont, “Go down to Blackheath and put yourself in Willie Dunn’s
hands,” Dunn then being professional at this historic course.
Lord Stormont had never seen a golf ball driven in his life, but he
took kindly to the idea and repaired to Blackheath. Unfortunately he
went there for the first time on a club day, and on this day it was
impossible for Dunn to give him his services. But he did as well as he
could in the circumstances, and selected his very best caddie, one
Weever, quite a capable teacher, and intrusted him with the onerous
duty of teaching the game of golf to Lord Stormont. Dunn sold his
lordship a full set of good clubs by way of outfit, and away the two
went. When the first round had been played, the round at
Blackheath then, as now, consisting of only seven holes, Weever
returned alone to the professional’s shop, with his pockets full of
heads and his arms full of broken shafts. My Lord Stormont had
broken every one of his clubs, and had sent his mentor back for a
new complete set.
In the second round nearly all of these were broken also; and
when, after so many trials and tribulations, Dunn espied the noble
beginner returning from the seventh green, he was in some anxious
doubt as to how he should best make reference to the events of the
day. It was at least encouraging that Lord Stormont was smiling, and
so Dunn ventured to observe, “I am very sorry, my lord, that such
disasters have befallen you to-day in breaking so many clubs.” For
answer the new golfer tapped Dunn on the shoulder, and said, “My
dear fellow, don’t mention it. I feel this game has done me already a
great deal of good, and it is going to do me still more. Have another
set of clubs ready for me by Thursday. I shall be down then.” How
many sets of clubs went to the making of the game of Lord
Stormont no man knows.
III
Sometimes, in the long and dark evenings, golfers like to play
their games in thought by the fireside, and one may suggest to them
a new kind of reflection and study which may prove at the same
time interesting and not without educational profit, particularly if
such reflections are uttered in company and comparisons of views
are made. A golfer has no sooner come by some sort of a working
knowledge of the different strokes of the game than he longs for
adventures on strange courses, to play at holes that are new and
strange to him, and—if it must be—to niblick his way out of bunkers
that are more fearful than anything he ever encountered on his
mother links. This spirit is in every way commendable, and the
experience that results from it is one of the best means of gaining
skill and steadiness at the game. Thus it happens that every player
of two or three years’ practice is acquainted more or less with
several different courses in various parts of the country, and it will
generally happen that he has the kindest memories of certain holes
on each, and that, in fact, there are some of these holes which are
his special favourites for their particular length and character. Now if
by some impossible grant of nature it were to be ordained that a
special course should be made up, consisting of eighteen of his
favourite holes, due regard being paid to the proper requirements of
a golf course as to variety of length, which eighteen would he select
for the purpose, and why? Thoughts on these lines will help him
towards an understanding of the points of a good course; for the
average player, while he knows a good course when he sees it—or
thinks he does—rarely troubles to dissect his general appreciation.
Even those players whose game has been almost restricted to play
on a few courses in the London or some other district, may entertain
themselves by piecing up a new and better course than any they
know from the materials with which they are supplied in all the holes
they have ever played over.
With the idea thus presented, you may go on to making your
own ideal course, and that some basis of necessary requirements
may be afforded, it may be added that in the opinion of Mr. Harold
Hilton such a course should include three short holes, eleven holes
requiring two shots to reach the green under ordinary conditions,
and four holes which require three shots to reach the green.
Mr. Hilton adds that the short holes ought not to be more than
200 yards long, and that in the case of the four very extended holes
the minimum of length should be 470 yards. The other holes he
thinks should vary from 380 yards to 430 yards. In this connection it
is noteworthy that Mr. Hilton’s selections are the Redan at North
Berwick and the Himalayas at Prestwick for short holes; the Alps and
the eighth at Prestwick, the sixth at Hoylake, the second at
St. Anne’s, and the sixth at Sunningdale for two-shot holes; and the
fourteenth at Sandwich, the seventeenth at St. Andrews, and the
Cardinal at Prestwick for long holes.
In another part of the world there is something now happening
that gives a special point to these fancies. It is nothing less than the
attempt, backed up by enormous energy and practically unlimited
capital, to make “an ideal course,” combining all the best features of
the particular holes that it is resolved to copy. A club called the
National Golf Club, including among its members many of the best
players and many of the richest men in the United States, has been
established, and they have taken a big piece of territory on Long
Island for the prosecution of their most ambitious scheme. One of
the moving spirits, Mr. Charles B. Macdonald, well known to
St. Andrews golfers, and the first American amateur champion,
spent a long time in this country about a year or two back, making a
most exhaustive study of the best holes on our best courses, and he
went home to America with large parcels of most minute plans and
photographs. The land chosen on Long Island is a fine piece of
country for golf, and this is going to be—is being—so pulled about,
built up, and given the general appearance of having been acted
upon by several earthquakes, to the end that the best possible
copies of these holes shall be made. Although anything in the nature
of an exact copy is manifestly impossible in a large proportion of
cases, despite all the powers of money and energy, it is declared
that at least the underlying principles which account for the
superlative excellence of the holes chosen as models shall be
faithfully and accurately represented. It is prophesied that on these
two hundred acres of land which have been bought at Peconic Bay,
there will be combined in one eighteen-hole round the best features
of the most celebrated courses in the world; in other words, “a
course that shall be the best in the world.” This is a vast ambition,
and one which only Americans would find it easy to entertain.
Let me mention what conditions Mr. Macdonald made for the
selection of these eighteen holes. He decreed that there should be
two short holes for iron shots, between 130 and 160 yards in length;
two 500-yard holes; two of the “drive and pitch” order, 300 to
320 yards; eight good two-shot holes, 350 to 470 yards; and four
long one-shot holes varying from 190 to 250 yards, according to the
contour of the ground, the longer holes having the fair green falling
towards the putting green. These together would make up a course
of about 6000 yards in length.
IV
Once a year there is a great foursome played between a Colonel
and a Parson on the one side and an Author and an M.P. on the
other, and they always look forward to it with great keenness. It is a
compact among them that the match shall be played every year that
all four are alive and within the United Kingdom. This is one of the
most delightful kinds of matches, and no pleasure of reminiscence is
so rich as that of golfers such as these in looking back over ten or
twenty years of matches and comparing their recollections of them.
All earnest golfers should have some arrangement of the kind with
their best friends.
It happened the other morning when this match was to be
played, that a great disappointment was in store for the little party,
as they took train from Charing Cross bound for that fine inland
course some twenty miles away to which they were all most
devoted. Heavy clouds of ominous complexion were above at nine
o’clock, and there was a suspicious look and feel about the
atmosphere; but, like all good golfers, these men were optimists all,
and would not mention to one another the fear that was in their
hearts.
“I daresay we shall have a very nice day after all,” murmured the
Parson, and the Colonel stated that he was nearly certain that the
glass was rising when he last looked at it. A fine fellow is your
golfing optimist. But when London had been left some ten miles
behind, the hideous truth was exposed beyond any denial. It was
snowing, and the chill of it went to the hearts of the golfers.
“Oh, this won’t be much,” said the M.P., “and it is certain to melt
quickly, anyhow; see how watery are the flakes.”
But when they arrived at the course it was snowing more than
ever, and big dry flakes were whirling in eddies all about, while the
course already lay an inch beneath a white covering. It was a bad
case. Unless there was a great change in an hour or so there could
be no golf that day, and indeed the idea of it was already almost
given up. The four sat in the smoke-room looking exceeding glum.
Attempts to make congenial conversation failed. The Parson felt that
it was incumbent on him to cheer up his friends, and after other kind
efforts he bethought himself of what he considered to be an
excellent story.
“Upon my word, you fellows,” he said, “I nearly forgot to tell you
of the most extraordinary occurrence that I have ever heard of, and
one in which a strange point of golfing law is involved. The case
must be sent to St. Andrews.”
Everybody was alert at this announcement. It is an excellent
thing to know that a poser of sorts is going to be put to that
autocratic assembly in Fifeshire.
“Splendid!” ejaculated the Colonel, “we must hear this story of
yours, Septimus; but I hope you are not going to pitch us that yarn
you once told me about your wife’s brother having once played a low
push shot across a river, and a salmon leaping at the ball as it
skimmed across and being carried with it on to the bank! We have
heard that, you know.”
“As I told you at the time,” responded the Parson, “I only
repeated what my wife’s brother told me, and I certainly did not say
that I had seen the fish dragged on to the bank in that manner. But
this story was told me by my son Richard, when he was down from
Oxford last time, and he declares the incident happened on the
course at Radley. One of the men was engaged in a match, and
going to the tenth he played a beautiful run up from forty yards off
the putting green, that actually made the ball hit the pin and then it
rolled into the hole; but it had no sooner got into the hole than out it
flew again, and after it came a large frog! It was clear that the ball
had rolled on the back of the frog in the hole, and that this frog,
startled, no doubt, jumped up and out of the hole, ejecting the ball
at the same time. The ball came to rest on the green, and my son’s
friend thereupon claimed that he had holed out.”
For a few seconds there was a stony silence, and then the
Colonel burst out with a loud guffaw.
“My dear old boy,” he exclaimed, “I am sure that you will find
that story, or one very like it, in the Old Testament somewhere if you
look sufficiently. It is as old as the hills! You really should not tell us
these things. You know what the American did when he was told
that story? He put a recommendation in the suggestion book that
the club should urge upon the St. Andrews authorities that they
should make an addition to the rules to something like this effect:
“‘If any frog, toad, snake, or other reptile, or a mouse, rat,
weasel, mole, gopher, or other vermin (or in the case of casual
water, a pike, pickerel, perch, pompano, or other fish) be in or near
the hole, its presence being established to the satisfaction of two
independent witnesses, such reptile, vermin, or fish must be
removed before the next stroke is played, under penalty of the loss
of the hole. Should a player unwittingly play at the hole when such
reptile, vermin, or fish is in it, its presence being subsequently
attested by the aforesaid independent witnesses, and such reptile,
vermin, or fish either hinder the ball from entering the hole or eject
it therefrom, the ball shall nevertheless be considered to have been
duly holed, and no penalty shall be incurred.’
“Still,” went on the Colonel, after this little pleasantry, “you have
given us a most excellent idea, Septimus. Now let each one of us
think awhile, and let us see who can present to our little company
the stiffest poser in golf law. Each of us, I suggest, shall be allowed
to look at the rules for the space of ten minutes, no more and no
less, and shall then have ten more minutes for consideration of his
problem. What do you say, boys?”
All agreed that the idea was a most excellent one for the purpose
of killing time and gathering knowledge about the rules. It was
decided that the company should vote, if necessary, on the answers,
and that while the Parson should be at liberty to choose his own
position in the recital in virtue of what he had done already, the
others should draw lots. The reverend gentleman decided that he
would go last, and, on lots being drawn, the Colonel was settled to
present the first problem, the Author the second, and the M.P. the
third. When the twenty minutes had expired the four assembled at
the table, and the Colonel was called upon to present his queer
case. It was suggested to him that he should make it look as real as
possible.
He submitted it as follows:
“Here is a nice point, which I think an Imperial Conference might
be called upon to determine. General Botha, let us say, has a little
dog, which takes some intelligent interest in the game of golf, as do
many other dogs. He goes out to play a match with Dr. Jameson,
and despite all rule and custom, ‘Bobs,’ as the little dog is called, is
permitted to accompany them. When approaching the fourth hole
the Doctor plays a lovely wrist shot with his iron which sends the ball
on to the green, trickling close up to the pin. In one of his frisky
moments that wretched dog scampers after it, picks it up in his
mouth before it (the ball) had stopped running, and then begins
playing about with it. The dog drops the ball on to the green two or
three times, paws at it and plays with it, and then, seemingly struck
by an inspiration, rolls it into the hole. ‘By Jove! That’s my hole,
then, Botha!’ exclaims the Doctor, although the General has laid his
ball dead with his mashie with the like. ‘How do you make that out?
Let us be fair, now that we are such good friends,’ says Botha. ‘Most
certainly,’ replies the Doctor, ‘but you must see that as the ball went
into the hole from that last shot of mine I holed from that shot. Of
course it was a pity that your dog got up to his tricks, but he is an
outside agency, and I don’t see that it makes any difference to the
result.’ Botha thinks awhile. Then he asks, ‘Did you watch “Bobs”
closely while he had the ball?’ Dr. Jameson assented. ‘Then,’ Botha
says, ‘there may be one circumstance in which you do not win that
hole, my friend, and when we go to England we will discuss it with
the authorities.’ Now what was passing through Botha’s mind, and is
his point a good one anyway?”
“Excellent for you, Colonel,” said the M.P. after a moment’s
pause. “Now, gentlemen, what must we do with Botha, for it is clear
that we are the authority to whom he refers. But then we have a
right to know what it was that Botha had in his mind at the finish of
his little argument with Dr. Jim. You will tell us that, Colonel?”
“Botha urges that he saw ‘Bobs’ let the ball come to rest when
pawing it about.”
“And what does Jameson say to that?” inquired the Author.
“Oh, Jameson does not deny it. He says that he did not see it,
but he thinks it very probable, and he will certainly yield that point if
it is material, as he desires that the case should be settled strictly on
its merits, neither side taking any unfair advantage of the other.”
“It is a pity that they could not settle it on terms of equity,” said
the Parson.
“I don’t agree that equity has anything to do with the case,”
observed the Colonel at length. “It seems to me that Botha’s point
settles it, and that the ball must be played from the place where the
dog allowed it to come to rest. I don’t think Dr. Jim wins the hole at
all. Rule 22 governs the case partly but not entirely. By the way,
Septimus, when we turn up rules to settle these cases, I think you
should only look at those affecting the one in hand, and not at other
rules which have a bearing on the case you are to present. You have
had your ten minutes’ study, you know. Now it is clear that the ball
was in motion when the dog seized it, and if the dog then took it
direct to the hole it all counted in the stroke. This case does not
come within the clause about the ball lodging in anything moving,
because the dog was not moving when it seized the ball. Once the
dog let the ball stop on the green the stroke was ended. Therefore it
is evidently a question as to whether it allowed it to come to rest or
not, and Botha’s evidence settles the matter. What do you say,
William?”
“I entirely agree,” responded the M.P.
“And you, Jim?”
“I agree,” said the Author.
“I trust we can count on your support, Septimus?” said the
Colonel, looking across towards the Parson.
“Oh, certainly,” he replied.
“Gentlemen,” said the Colonel in his most official manner, “it is
determined that Dr. Jameson did not hole out with that stroke. I am
informed that they putted out afterwards, each in one more, and
therefore the hole was halved. Now, my literary friend, will you
kindly present your case?”
The Author thereupon advanced his queer case as follows:
“A very awkward point has arisen in the course of play on the
links at Valhalla. Shakespeare and Bacon, who are staying there at
the present time, got up very early one morning, when the other
golfers were asleep, and went out for a match, without caddies.
Going to the seventh hole, which is both a short one and a blind one
—a thoroughly bad hole—the players were not aware that the
greenkeeper was on the putting-green cutting a new hole. They
played their tee shots and then went forward to the green, when
they were surprised to find that the ball of each lay dead to a
different hole. The greenkeeper had taken the flag and the metal
lining out of the old hole, and had cut the slab of turf out of the new
one, but had not at that time placed the metal cup or the flag into
the new one, nor put the turf into the old one to fill it up. Bacon’s
ball lay dead to the new hole, and Shakespeare’s to the old one.
Each insisted on holing out at the hole to which his ball lay dead
(the holes were many yards apart), and then the dispute began,
each claiming the hole. Shakespeare said that as the new hole was
not finished the old one was still in commission. ‘No,’ said Bacon,
‘not satisfied with cheating me out of my plays, you now try to take
my holes. We have evidently been playing at new holes all the way
out so far, and we must continue to do so. It is the new holes that
count.’ ‘But,’ expostulated Shakespeare, ‘there are more old holes on
the course at the present time than new ones. And this wretched
greenkeeper will take two hours to finish his job. Must we dawdle
behind him the whole way round? Let us ask the greenkeeper which
hole was most like a hole at the time the balls came on to the
green.’ The greenkeeper, however, was very ill-tempered, having
been nearly hit by one of the balls, and he declined to answer the
question. He said that people had no business to be playing on the
course while holes were being cut, no matter who they were.
Eventually the parties gave up their match and went back to the
clubhouse, when they agreed to submit the point to some carefully
constituted authority that would do its best to settle this most
unfortunate and undignified quarrel between two eminently
respectable persons of considerable standing.”
The Author looked about him after this deliverance.
“H’m!” muttered the Colonel, “not bad for you, Jim.”
“It seems to me,” said the Reverend Septimus, “that Bacon
certainly won if the new hole was full size, despite its not having had
the tin put into it.”
“Oh yes, it was full size,” interposed the Author.
“The old hole,” pursued the Parson, “was ground under repair,
but if the new hole was not full size Shakespeare won.”
“Of course,” remarked the Author, “the tin is only mentioned to
indicate the state of transition.”
“I don’t agree with Septimus,” said the M.P. “The rules do not
provide for this contingency, and it must be settled under the equity
clause of Rule 36. Regarding it in this way, it seems exactly six of
one and half a dozen of the other, and the best—indeed, the only
thing—to do is to regard the green as under repair, and the hole as
temporarily closed. Shakespeare and Bacon should therefore call it a
half and pass on. If they had seen the flag before playing their tee
shots it might have made a difference.”
“I am in entire accord with you, William,” the Colonel declared.
“Ditto,” said the Author. “That was the ruling I had in my mind.”
“I think we ought to have another opinion,” persisted the Parson,
“but for the present I desire to go with the majority.”
“Now let us hear the character of the problem that our friend the
hon. member for North-East Fife has to present to this tribunal,” said
the Colonel, with an expectant look to the quarter indicated.
“My case is a somewhat singular one, gentlemen,” the M.P.
responded. “It is this:
“A public road leading to the clubhouse crosses the line to the
second hole, and when John Smith and Isaac Rosenstein were
playing this hole it happened that Isaac’s bad slice landed his ball
under the back seat of a motor-car standing still in the road, said
car, curiously enough, being the new one which Rosenstein himself
has bought this season, and which, it is suggested, he likes to ‘show
off’ with. Seeing where the ball had gone to, and having the price of
ten balls on the match, a thought passed through his mind. Hailing
the chauffeur in the car, he exclaimed, ‘You mitherable vellow! Did I
not tell you to geep that car in the garage at the back of the
clubhouse, where it vould not be damaged. Be off vith you this very
instant, or I vill sack you! Quick!’ And before John Smith could speak
the chauffeur was doing his forty miles an hour back to the
clubhouse—with the ball still in the car. Smith and Rosenstein then
wrangled for hours, the latter being greatly astonished because his
opponent objected to his dropping a ball, and that without penalty,
at the spot where he played his last stroke. The points presented for
argument are these: (1) Shall Rosenstein drop without losing a
stroke? (2) Shall he drop and lose stroke and distance? (3) Shall he
not drop at all, but lose the hole? (4) Shall he play the ball from
where it lies under the seat of the motor-car in the club garage, as,
if he loses on the first two counts, he wants to do? (5) What ought
to have been done?”
“I trust that your friend Rosenstein will not offer himself as a
candidate for membership of this club,” observed the Colonel with a
smile, “because you might tell him if he thinks of doing so that I
have heard of this incident, and I happen to be on the committee.”
“He is no friend of mine,” said the M.P.
“Well then, gentlemen,” the man of arms demanded, “what is
your pleasure that we should do in the affaire Rosenstein?”
“I don’t think there is very much doubt about that,” observed the
Parson, “We must be unanimous in this matter. I think we may safely
leave it to you, Colonel, to make the award.”
The M.P. and the Author assented, but it was understood that the
former should have the privilege of sending the case back for re-trial
if he disagreed.
“Then, gentlemen,” said the Colonel, “I give judgment as follows:
“Rosenstein loses the hole. It was his duty to have played the
ball from the place where it lodged in the car, and there is a strong
suspicion that he knew it! He is not entitled to regard the car as an
agency outside the match, since he controlled the car and ordered it
away. By his own act he made it impossible for him to obey the
rules. He loses under Rule 7, and it may be mentioned that the Rules
of Golf Committee has already decided that a ball played into a
motor-car must be played out of it, or the hole given up. Clearly the
ball lying in the car in the club garage does not lie where it did
before.”
“I quite agree,” said the M.P.
“But should not something be done with Rosenstein?” the Parson
asked.
“That is for his own committee to determine,” the Colonel replied.
“We have no jurisdiction. And now, Septimus, I am sure that the tit-
bit of this sitting of the court will be submitted by you. We are
anticipating that. I beg to move that if your case is not so pointed
and interesting as those already presented, you shall be condemned
to give such an order to the steward as will do something to stifle
our disappointment, and take the chill from our blood on this
wretched day. What do you think, my colleagues?”
“It is an excellent and a most proper idea,” the Author said, and
the M.P. concurred.
“As you will,” the clergyman assented. “Now the little problem
that has arisen in my mind runs this way:—
“Dives said to Lazarus, ‘These are days of charity, my poor friend,
but the cases must be deserving. The par of this course is 74. If you
can get round in 68 I will give you one twentieth of what I have got.’
Lazarus wept tears of gratitude, and forthwith began to take lessons
and to practise exceedingly, three rounds a day, for his handicap was
24. And years passed by and he did not go round even in par; but
one day, having great luck, a sensation was caused about the links,
and the word was passed about that old Lazarus had got a 4 at the
last hole to do 68. And he had. But he took 3 to get on the green,
and then had a 10-yard putt for the 4 and 68, which was not an
easy matter, particularly as the putt was downhill and there was a
big slope from the left as well. Dives was watching and he smiled,
but Lazarus was in sore trouble. Then he bethought himself of an
idea, and he placed a ball to the left of his own and he tried to putt
it to a point exactly a foot to the left of the hole. First he found that
he borrowed too much, and then too little, and next that he was too
strong, but eventually he got it right exactly, and his ball just got to
a foot to the left of the hole. ‘Now, I know,’ he said, and then he
putted his proper ball, and with great confidence, and it went into
the hole! Whereupon Dives was much wroth, and said, ‘Surely I will
not give you a twentieth of what I have got, for you have offended
against the law and the spirit of the game, and you did not go round
in 68, but are disqualified.’ Lazarus said, ‘Master, I have not offended
against the law of the game, and as for the spirit thereof I care not,
for having gained the twentieth of what you have got I shall never
play it more.’ And when they heard what Lazarus said they were
amazed, and they said they must have some proper judgment upon
it. Does Lazarus come into his fortune after finding the line and
strength of his putt in that fashion?”
The Parson seemed pleased with himself when he had finished
his statement.
“I believe the beggar’s got off—Septimus, I mean!” the M.P.
ejaculated.
“I am sure he has,” agreed the Colonel.
“Now, you see,” put in the Author, “the wretched Lazarus did not
tamper with the line of the putt. He practised along what was to all
intents and purposes that line; but it was not the line, or else he
might have been caught. He placed no mark and drew no line.”
“That is so,” muttered the Colonel thoughtfully.
“He clearly offended against the spirit of the game,” the M.P.
observed. “You or I would not have done such a thing in any
circumstances, eh, Colonel?”
“Of course not,” the Colonel replied, “but it has to be
remembered that this was really almost a matter of life and death to
the old man, and in such a case he was perhaps not to be blamed
for sticking to the strict letter of the law. From our point of view the
spirit is above the law; but when it comes to a case of this kind, with
goodness knows how many thousands at stake, a merciless fellow
on the other side who is himself inclined to stick to the law exactly,
and when Lazarus, as he says, intends to have done with the game,
why I am not sure that from his point of view—his, mind you—he is
to be condemned for throwing the spirit overboard. His opponent
would do so—in fact, to all intents and purposes he does. This has
become a strictly business transaction. The question is, did he break
the law?”
“You remember the Rules Committee’s decision in the famous
Selkirk case in 1906?” the M.P. asked. “It showed the Committee’s
very proper anxiety to preserve the true spirit even to the extent of
straining the interpretation of the rule about touching the line of the
putt. I believe some of them privately admitted that they were
conscious of straining it; but they were doing so in a very good
cause, and to my mind they were to be applauded rather than
blamed. In this case a foursome was being played, and while one
man was preparing to putt, his partner stood two yards beyond the
hole on the other side, and from there pointed out the line of the
putt, incidentally letting his putter rest on the turf to do so—two
yards beyond the hole. The opponents claimed the hole on the
ground that the line of the putt had been touched, meaning that the
line from the ball to the hole, continued beyond the hole, was still
the line of the putt. The case was sent to St. Andrews, and the Rules
Committee upheld the claim and gave the hole to the opponents—a
remarkable decision!”
“H’m!” the Colonel grunted. “Of course, give some golfers an inch
and they will take a yard; and supposing the putter had been laid on
that line only two inches beyond the hole, the green had been very
keen, and had sloped down to the hole from the back side. If the
ball had got to the point where the putter had rested it might
conceivably have rolled back into the hole. There would be splendid
justification for the Rules Committee in a case of that kind, and it
would prove the wisdom of the Selkirk decision. Of course every day
of our lives we see golfers, when studying their putts from the back
side of the hole, allowing their putters to rest on the green in the
continuation of the line. However, Lazarus seems to have been quite
clear of any decision of this kind. By no stretch of imagination can
you call a line which is a foot to one side of the real line, although
parallel to it, ‘the line of the putt.’”
“The Americans have been tinkering with a proposed new set of
rules,” the Author said, “and one of their suggested rules prohibits a
practice swing anywhere except on the tee. That would govern this
case.”
“Ah yes, but what about our own code?” the Colonel said.
“The practice stroke is not forbidden,” the M.P. observed after
careful reference to the rules, “but I remember that on one occasion
a very similar point was submitted to the Rules Committee, and they
said that such a thing was so obviously contrary to the spirit of the
game that they had not thought it necessary to legislate upon the
point. And they have not done so, and”—
“That is so, and they were quite right,” the Colonel interrupted
hurriedly, “because this is golf, and we cannot have rules in our code
to say that men must not cheat, and the penalties for doing so. It
would be too much of a reflection on us as gentlemen and golfers.
But here is a most exceptional case, where advantage is taken of the
omission, and Lazarus appeals to the law and the law only. He will
stand by the law—the strict letter of it.”
“I believe he must have his money,” the Author said.
“It is the law,” said the M.P.
“I think so,” put in the Parson.
“Then, Septimus,” the Colonel concluded, “will you kindly tell
your friend Lazarus that he may send a chartered accountant round
to Dives’ headquarters to examine his financial position, with a view
to a proper apportionment of his estate on the basis of nineteen
parts to Dives and one part to Lazarus? And you had better tell the
new record-holder at the same time that we don’t like this sort of
thing, and we expect him to keep to his statement that he will not
play the game again. He will have the fever on him after that 68,
and with a few thousands a year at his disposal he will be after
getting into all the clubs. I know these renunciations of golf. I have
renounced myself—hundreds of times!”
At this moment the door opened and the steward entered to say
that luncheon was ready. “Splendid!” exclaimed the Colonel.
“Gentlemen, the court is closed!”
V
Golf remained impossible in the afternoon, and the M.P. filled up
his time by working out some golf statistics with a view to indicating
to the ignorant public what was comprised in a year of golf.
“You see,” he said, “sooner or later some of the very high
authorities will find it to be necessary to take very serious notice of
this game, of the number of people whose time it claims, of the land
it engages, of the capital sunk in it, and of the enormous current
expenditure upon it. Golf has really become a considerable factor in
the social scheme of this country, and this must be recognised by
legislators. I see that the Union authorities at Wirral have been
giving some attention to the matter, with the result that they have
jumped on the Royal Liverpool Club with an enormously increased
assessment. The process of milking the golfer will begin soon.”
“Well,” said the Colonel indulgently, “if our little game is to
become a matter of national importance, you will be having
questions asked about it in the House before long; eh, William?”
“It is odd that you should make that suggestion,” the
Parliamentarian responded, as he began to rummage in the inside
pocket of his coat, “because I have a rather curious document here
which amplifies it somewhat. Let me see—I am sure I had it in my
letter-case—well, well!—Ah yes, here it is! I was going to say that
one of the keenest golf youngsters we have got in this Parliament is
young Norris, whose constant object in life seems to be to pair off
with one of the Opposition down to Sunningdale. I believe he would
rather win the Parliamentary Handicap next year than get a small
Government job. Well, in the House he is always filling up his spare
time with the development of some golfing idea or other. The other
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  • 5. Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3rd edition by Moroney, Campbell and Hamilton Prepared by Jane Hamilton © John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2017
  • 6. Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.2 Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client's system of internal controls Review questions 6.11 What is internal control? Why is an auditor interested in a client’s internal control? Internal control is defined as: The process designed, implemented and maintained by those charged with governance, management, and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance about the achievement of the entity’s objectives with regard to reliability of financial reporting, effectiveness and efficiency of operations, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. (AUASB Glossary). Internal control is therefore the way that any entity organises itself to achieve its objectives. It is how managers run the organisation and control the employees so that they work towards achieving the organisation’s objectives and operate legally. Auditors are interested in internal control because it is the system that managers use to make sure transactions are recorded correctly and the accounting system is able to produce financial reports that are reliable. The auditor has to provide an opinion on the financial reports, so the auditor has to understand how well the internal control of an organisation works to produce reliable financial records. 6.12 Explain each of the seven generally accepted objectives of internal control activities. Internal controls are designed and implemented to ensure that transactions are real, recorded, correctly valued, classified, summarised and posted on a timely basis. • Real – only genuine transactions are recorded. • Recorded – all genuine transactions are recorded (none are omitted). • Correctly valued – all transactions are at the correct amount. • Classified – all transactions are allocated to the correct account. • Summarised – all transactions are correctly totalled. • Posted – all transactions, or transaction totals, are posted to the correct ledger account. • Timely – all transactions are recorded in the correct accounting period.
  • 7. Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.3 6.13 If an auditor does not intend to rely on internal controls in the audit, does the auditor need to obtain an understanding of the client’s internal control? Explain. ASA 315 requires the auditor to obtain an understanding of internal control on all audit engagements. Therefore, even if the auditor intends to take an entirely substantive approach to the audit and not rely on internal controls, the auditor must obtain an understanding of internal control. This is because without gaining this understanding, the auditor will not fully understand the risks of material misstatement of the financial report. ASA 315 states that gaining an understanding of the entity and its environment, including its internal control, establishes a frame of reference within which the auditor plans the audit and exercises professional judgement throughout the audit. The standard allows the auditor to use professional judgement to determine the extent of the understanding of internal controls required in each case. 6.14 Explain the difference between entity-level controls and transaction-level controls. Is an auditor interested in both? Entity-level controls are: 1. the control environment 2. the entity’s risk assessment process 3. the information system, including the related business processes, relevant to financial reporting, and communication 4. control activities 5. monitoring of controls. Each of these controls relates to the whole organisation. Transaction-level controls are controls that impact a particular transaction or group of transactions. Therefore, the difference is that entity-level controls have the potential to impact all of the processes in the organisation, including those that have a direct impact on the financial report and others, while transaction-level controls impact only a specific group of transactions. Transactions make up the financial report that the auditor is auditing, and can be impacted by both entity-level and transaction-level controls. This is why an auditor would be interested in both types of controls.
  • 8. Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.4 6.15 Discuss the contention that the control environment is the most important part of a system of internal controls because it provides the foundation for the entire system. The control environment sets the tone of the entity and influences the control consciousness of its people. People, through their actions, determine the effectiveness of internal controls. If the control environment does not encourage ethical behaviour and high quality work, the people within an organisation could fail to implement controls or override them when performing their duties. Even the best control system is not 100% effective, and all systems are less effective if the people working with them do not support the systems. However, all components of an internal control system are important. Having a strong control environment will not be sufficient by itself to ensure that an organisation is able to achieve its objectives. 6.16 Why would an auditor be interested in a client’s control monitoring processes? A client should have processes for monitoring the effectiveness of its internal controls because circumstances and conditions change over time and controls need to adjust accordingly. An out-of-date control system may not be able to alert management to new risks, or control new types of transactions. The monitoring process allows the client to assess the need for changes to internal controls. As such, the auditor will be interested in the effectiveness of the monitoring system and whether the client’s management are able to be sure that internal controls remain current and valid. The auditor will also be able to assess the client’s management attitude to internal control systems through evaluation of the monitoring processes within the client. 6.17 What sort of risks would an entity’s risk assessment process consider? Give some examples for a retailer. Which of these risks would be relevant to financial reporting? Explain. An entity’s risk assessment process would consider risks to its achievement of its objectives at all levels. These would include: risks to revenue through product competition, to attracting and retaining staff, exchange rate risks, transport interruption risks (both freight and passenger transport delays affecting staff and customers), climate change risk, financing risk (obtaining and servicing loans), supply risks, and risks relating to protection of assets from theft and fraud etc. A retailer would have a particular focus on the risk of not being able to buy the appropriate products from reputable suppliers, product quality risks which would lead to sales returns and/or warranty claims, exposure to exchange rate risks if suppliers are located in other countries, transport risk affecting imports, competitive risks from other retailers in the same location or servicing the same type of customer, staff risks relating to attracting and retaining the right type of staff for all shifts, physical risks including power interruption, shopping centre building issues, financing risks relating to funding product purchases and paying expenses prior to receipt of cash from customers, and protection of assets and the integrity of sales and other transactions in
  • 9. Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.5 the accounts. The retailer would be interested in identifying and controlling risks to its ability to operate and achieve its objectives. All uncontrolled risks for the entity could affect the ability of the entity to survive (i.e. be a going concern). Therefore, all risks are of interest to the auditor. However, the auditor is most directly concerned with risks relating to protection of assets and the integrity of transactions in the accounts. The auditor must consider the risk to the accounts so that the audit can be planned with appropriate consideration of the risk of material misstatement 6.18 Explain the importance of segregation of incompatible duties. What sort of duties would be segregated within the sales process? Why? Segregation of incompatible duties is a part of the control activities of an organisation. Control activities are policies and procedures that help make sure management’s directives are carried out. The concept of segregation of incompatible duties is that no one employee or group of employees should be in a position both to perpetrate and hide errors or fraud in the normal course of their duties. If these duties are not segregated, an employee could steal assets (such as cash or stock) and adjust the records to conceal the theft. If the duties are segregated, the employee stealing the assets would have to get the cooperation of another employee to adjust the records to hide the theft. Therefore, it is very important for the effective operation of a control system that incompatible duties are split between different employees. Within the sales process, the person making the sale is not responsible for recording the sale, and should not be able to process a sales return or other adjustment to a debtors account balance. If these duties were not segregated, the sales employee could record a sale to a fictitious customer and take the goods for themselves. To conceal the theft, the employee would later process a sales return or adjustment to eliminate the balance in the fictitious debtor’s account. 6.19 In the sales transaction process, a key control affecting the accuracy assertion for sales is ‘Credit committee review and approve all applications for credit over $1000’. Explain the impact of this control on the valuation assertion for sales receivable (debtors). A control such as ‘Credit committee review and approve all applications for credit over $1000’ will require applications for credit over the specified amount being separately authorised. This control is related to the accuracy assertion for sales because it prevents sales transactions being recorded that are incorrectly processed. For example, if a data entry error is made so that a sale for $500 is incorrectly entered as $5,000, the transaction would not be accepted until it had been authorised. Because there is a data entry error, the person responsible for authorising the transaction should notice that it is not for $5,000, but should be entered as $500. The control also impacts on the valuation assertion for sales receivable because it would prevent the incorrect sale being entered to the debtors account, and thus prevent it from being overstated. In addition, if sales are genuinely being made for amounts over $1,000, the
  • 10. Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.6 authorising person has a chance to consider if the debtor has capacity to pay large amounts. Procedures to check the credit-worthiness of debtors is likely to improve the chances of the amounts being paid by the debtors (because only debtors that can and will pay their debts are allowed to buy on credit), increasing the likelihood that debtors are valued correctly. 6.20 Discuss the role of internal audit in an entity’s system of internal controls. Is internal audit an essential element of a control system? Explain. Internal audit is a part of an entity with responsibility for assessing the performance of the entity’s control systems and making evaluations of client’s activities. Internal auditors provide information about the functioning of the entity’s internal control system, its strengths and weakness, and make recommendations’ for improvements, to the entity’s management. Although internal audit departments are usually separate to other functions within the client, they are not independent of the client. Not all organisations have an internal audit department. Smaller organisations usually do not have an internal audit function and many larger organisations outsource the internal audit function to a third party. However, as organisations become larger, the level of importance placed by an entity on its internal audit function can be a guide to its overall commitment to internal control. 6.21 Several approaches to internal control documentation are discussed in the chapter. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of each. How would documentation assist the auditor to identify strengths and weaknesses of an entity’s system of internal controls? The four approaches to internal control documentation are: 1. Narratives; the advantage is that the process can be described in full; the disadvantage is that it can take many words to describe a process in full. 2. Flowcharts or logic diagrams; the advantage is that the standardised graphics allow a large amount of information to be presented on a single page to represent complex flows of transactions and the key controls. If there is common understanding of the symbols, it is easier to review and understand. The disadvantage is that the reader may not understand the symbols or require additional clarification. 3. Combinations of narratives and flow charts or logic diagrams; the advantage is that complex systems can be described using standardised symbols, with additional narrative to explain steps that are hard to chart. The disadvantage is that both the diagram and narrative have to be prepared and checked for consistency. 4. Checklists and preformatted questionnaires; the advantage is that it is helpful to inexperienced auditors because the checklist guides the process and assists
  • 11. Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.7 in identifying critical controls. The disadvantage is that it can inhibit an experienced auditor and slow down the process. The documentation assists the auditor because the process of preparing the documentation prompts the auditor to ask detailed questions in order to gain a full understanding. An experienced auditor would be able to identify departures from the systems used at similar organisations and the graphical forms of documentation reveal quickly the destination of all copies of documents. 6.22 Why do auditors prepare management letters? ASA 260 requires the auditor to communicate matters from the audit with those charged with governance, and ASA 265 governs communicating deficiencies in internal control to those charged with governance and management. To satisfy the requirements in these standards, the auditor will prepare a management letter to those charged with governance. The auditor will also communicate on a timely basis with management of the entity, where appropriate, the deficiencies in internal control revealed during the audit that are either being communicated to those in governance or are not. The auditor uses their professional expertise to inform management about deficiencies in the internal control system which could affect the integrity of the financial report either in the current financial period or in the future. The feedback is provided in written form so that there is no confusion about the fact of the report or the observations and recommendations being made. The management of the entity is able to use the written report as a basis for a response. Sometimes, management is able to use a letter written at an interim stage of the audit as a basis for a response before the end of the audit.
  • 12. Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.8 Professional application questions 6.23 Understanding client controls Abbott & Partners audit firm has audited Pretty Valley Shire council for two years, performing both a statutory audit of the financial reports and a compliance audit for the government department in charge of local councils’ landfill waste disposal sites. In all previous control testing, no exceptions were detected. The junior auditor on the engagement has suggested that no work on internal controls is required because last year’s evidence will be sufficient. Required Explain why the junior auditor’s suggestion is not appropriate. The junior auditor’s suggestion is not appropriate because the auditor needs to have sufficient appropriate evidence about the effectiveness of controls in the current year. Any change in either the controls or the conditions would make last year’s evidence not applicable to the current period. At a minimum, the auditor would need evidence that the conditions remained the same and that the controls had not altered. The auditor should also consider whether the controls are able to provide sufficient control in the current circumstances. Even if there had been no changes since last period, the auditor should evaluate the effectiveness of the controls and draw a conclusion on the degree to which they can be relied upon. In this particular case, the controls were assessed with respect to their ability to ensure compliance with the regulations. It is likely that additional work is required for the controls to be assessed for their effectiveness at preventing or detecting material misstatements at the assertion level because this is a different objective.
  • 13. Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.9 6.24 Importance of internal control Elecnet is an electricity distribution company based in a large capital city. Its business is to manage the electricity assets, including poles, wires and other equipment, that are used to deliver electricity to more than 500 000 retail and business customers in the city. Pole, wire and substation maintenance and improvements are a large part of the company’s operations and teams of highly trained technicians are used for both planned work and emergency response activities. Emergency response is required when storms or fires bring down power lines, the power must be turned off at the direction of police, or the electricity supply fails for any reason. Each team comprises several vehicles (vans and trucks) and uses additional heavy equipment, such as cherry pickers, cranes and diggers, as required. Each vehicle carries a core set of specialised parts and tools and additional items are obtained as required from the stores, located in a large warehouse in the northern suburbs. The warehouse is staffed on a 24-hour basis to assist night maintenance (designed to minimise disruption to business customers) and emergency response. Required (a) Make a list of the potential problems that could occur in Elecnet’s maintenance and improvements program. (b) Suggest ways that good internal control over parts, equipment and labour could help Elecnet avoid these problems. (a) Potential problems include: • Problems with communication systems stop emergency reports reaching the response teams in a timely manner. • Police or other emergency services are unable to contact Elecnet during an emergency because they do not have the required contact information or staff at Elecnet are not rostered on to respond to emergencies. • Trained staff are not available to respond to emergencies through mismanagement of leave or failure to recruit and train staff. • Storms, fires or other emergencies are more extensive than anticipated and not enough staff and equipment are available to respond. • Equipment, such as vehicles, diggers and cherry pickers, are not operational due to lack of suitable maintenance. • Not sufficient supplies of specialised tools and parts are held in stores. • The large warehouse is not accessible in an emergency because the key holder is away sick or on leave. • Too many staff are rostered onto normal maintenance and not enough available for emergency response in a particular geographic location. • Changes are made to the electricity distribution system so that different parts are required for maintenance and these new parts are not ordered in time.
  • 14. Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.10 (b) Suggested internal controls include: • responsibility for maintaining communication systems with emergency services assigned to a senior staff member at Elecnet who also has information about staff rosters. • HR department is made aware of staffing requirements for emergency. response and reports to senior management on achievement of staff targets • HR department oversees policies and procedures for staff training to ensure that sufficient staff within the organisation have the required skills and qualifications. • Scientific modelling of emergency situations, taking into account population growth and climatic conditions. • Schedule of maintenance for equipment coordinated with senior staff responsible for emergency response. • Stores report on holdings of various parts, with integration with new equipment purchases. • Stores maintain security systems and assign responsibility for staff member to coordinate with emergency response teams. • Staff schedules and rosters approved by senior management with consideration of balance between maintenance and emergency response.
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  • 16. Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.11 6.25 Control environment Cheetah Airways became a client of an audit firm for the first time this year. Soon after taking the engagement in September last year, Cheetah Airways was under investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for allegedly fixing prices on some routes in collusion with another airline. The two airlines made an illegal arrangement to not compete with each other so that they both benefited by sharing the business and maintaining prices that would allow them to make profits. After the ACCC investigation became public, several of Cheetah Airways’ key corporate customers decided that they did not wish to associate themselves with the airline and severed their exclusive travel dealings with Cheetah Airways. Required How does the above information affect your understanding of the control system at Cheetah Airways? The information available to the auditor raises questions over the tone at the top of Cheetah Airways because it is alleged to have engaged in activities to rig the market by agreeing with a competitor not to undercut each other. Specifically, is there a commitment to integrity and ethical values in the organisation? What is management’s philosophy and operating style? Is there a win at all costs attitude and lack of respect for laws that affect the business? At the time of the audit there is an investigation by the ACCC, but no prosecution against the client. However, several customers of the audit client have taken their business elsewhere. This fact also raises questions for the auditor because it suggests that the client’s revenue has been adversely affected, and could be more adversely affected if other customers also take this action. In the extreme case, there could be questions about the audit client’s ability to continue as a going concern (although this would require many more customers to also leave), and could impact on the auditor’s opinion. If there is a poor ethics/tone at the top, or evidence of fraudulent or illegal activities, the auditor should consider whether the client is one that they wish to continue to audit. The auditor should reconsider the information it gathered at the time of taking over the client – what did the prior auditor disclose, what did the auditor’s investigations disclose etc. Ultimately, the auditor will have to document the action taken to investigate the matter and consider the integrity of the client, and any impact on the auditor’s ability to perform the audit. For example, has the auditor had any difficulties in getting access to records and personnel it requires in order to do the audit? Has the client been able to offer the auditor any assurances about their integrity? The auditor may conclude that the bad publicity is unwarranted and the departure of several customers is more related to activities by the client’s competitors. Alternatively, the auditor may decide to resign from the audit engagement if the client is unable to provide the assurances required.
  • 17. Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.12 6.26 Expense transaction risk Bear Transport’s accounting policy for maintenance on its fleet of cargo planes is to capitalise the cost of major airframe and engine maintenance checks and depreciate over the shorter of the scheduled usage period to the next major inspection or the remaining life of the aircraft. The latest data shows the aircraft and engines at cost (including major maintenance costs) to be at a similar level as last year while depreciation costs have decreased by 5 per cent. Required Discuss the risk of misstatement for depreciation costs. What could go wrong? The main risk for depreciation costs is that they are understated. ‘What could go wrong’ is that it will overstate profits and overstate the written down value for assets. Capitalising expenditure on maintenance that should be a cost of the period by designating it as improvements would understate expenses. Depreciation expense could also be understated if the rate is reduced or new additions to assets are not depreciated. Auditors should determine if the accounting policy to capitalise maintenance and amortisation over the maintenance period is reasonable under the accounting standards. Depreciation costs have decreased even though the cost of ships and engines has not changed. This suggests that the scheduled period for maintenance is greater (a longer period before the next major maintenance is scheduled). This would be justified if the ships are traveling fewer kilometres each year (e.g. as a result of economic downturn and reduced international trade) Auditors should investigate the schedules for ships to determine if the distances travelled are lower.
  • 18. Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.13 6.27 Segregation of duties in small business North State Computers has premises in the main street of a large regional city. The business is owned by Bob and Mary Winters, who purchased it three years ago. Mary has an extensive background in IT and has a talent for diagnosing and solving problems with computers that are brought in for repair. Bob also has an IT background and oversees the sales and administration staff. There are three staff in the business: a computer technician who assists Mary, a part-timer who helps with sales and a junior trainee, Cara, who does other tasks such as banking. Cara is also responsible for issuing invoices and statements to clients who have a service contract with the business. These clients are generally other businesses that ask Mary to visit their premises for routine and emergency repairs and that purchase software and hardware from the business. Bob and Mary have worked very hard over the last three years but they have cash-flow problems. Their bank manager has requested a meeting to discuss the business’s growing overdraft. The bank manager asks Bob and Mary to prepare for the meeting by analysing their accounts receivable and customer receipts. Bob and Mary review the accounts receivable ledger and find that it is not up to date. They also discover that client statements have not been issued for four months. They are also unable to identify from the cash receipts journal which clients have paid their accounts. Required (a) Discuss the attitude and control consciousness of North State Computers’ management. (b) Which duties should be segregated in this business? Recommend an appropriate allocation of duties for the staff at north State Computers. (a) The accounts show that the controls over sales, debtors and cash receipts are not good. The accounts are not up to date and client statements have not been issued for four months. These tasks were apparently the responsibility of the junior trainee, Sally, under the supervision of Bob. Bob appears to have been unaware of the problems, suggesting that he is not monitoring the processes very closely. Overall, this means that the management’s attitudes towards internal controls in general, and the accounts in particular, are not good. The fact that the bank has asked them to meet to discuss their worsening cash position also suggests that they are not managing their cash flow adequately. Although Mary is responsible for technical issues, such as repairing computers, rather than the administration side of the business, she is also an owner of the business and as such should be involved in setting the tone of the organisation. Bob and Mary appear to have failed to establish good internal controls and to communicate and enforce the importance of the systems to their staff. There is no evidence of any unethical behaviour by the staff, but they do not appear to have been adequately trained and/or appropriately selected for the positions they hold.
  • 19. Solutions manual to accompany Auditing: a practical approach 3e © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.14 In a small business, such as this, management involvement is a substitute for a large system of formal controls. This means that Bob and Mary must be personally involved in authorising and supervising transactions to a greater extent than if there were more staff. (b) Segregation of duties should follow the broad principle that the following duties are segregated: • Authorisation or approval of transactions affecting assets • Custody of assets • Recording or reporting of transactions • Control over processing of a transaction should be separated from recording or reporting a transaction Cara is employed to help with administration. The other staff is a computer technician and a sales part-timer. This means that Cara and Bob are the only two staff currently with administrative responsibilities. It will be difficult to adequately segregate duties with only two staff in the area. Therefore, Bob and Mary must perform additional review tasks, such as separately reviewing all transactions over a certain limit, monthly reports of debtor’s balances and transactions, bank reconciliations etc. In addition, if Cara retains the task of banking, she should not be involved in recording transactions, particularly cash receipts. An alternative would be for Bob to do the banking and leave Cara responsible for transaction processing. Mary could take responsibility for stock control, so that the sales staff are not involved in maintaining stock records as well as having access to the stock for making sales.
  • 20. Chapter 6: Gaining an understanding of the client’s system of internal controls © John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd 2017 6.15 6.28 Control environment Red Minerals is being audited by your firm for the first time in 2015. In 2010, Red Minerals invested in a mining joint venture in Bangaloo, a country which recently experienced significant currency devaluation. In December 2013, there was a large chemical spill in the area surrounding the main centre of Red Minerals’ operations in Bangaloo, and the government is seeking compensation and asking for restoration work to be done. The story has been covered in the Australian press. In a review of documents you discover that in 2014, there was a raid on the homes of several Red Minerals’ employees, following a tip-off to police. The tip-off alleged that over several years, four members of Red Minerals mechanical staff had been stealing small tools from Red Minerals and re-selling them. To date, four members of Red Minerals’ staff have been charged with fraud and theft. You are aware that the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Red Minerals resigned at the start of 2015 and a suitable replacement has not yet been found. Required Discuss the impact of the background material for Red Minerals on your likely assessment of entity-wide controls at Red Minerals. The information suggests that there are problems with the client’s control environment surrounding the chemical spill incident. What are the circumstances of the spill? Was there evidence of suitable precautions being taken or was management treating the potential problem lightly because the country is poor (currency devaluation issues suggest economic problems in Bangaloo)? Was there evidence of appropriate consideration of the risks of a chemical spill and the impact of the cost of clean-up on the company? What action has management taken to repair the damage? Is the company’s failure to repair the damage evidence of financial problems at the client? The petty theft could be simply a problem isolated to several dishonest employees, or could be further evidence of poor control procedures at the client. Is the resignation of the COO related to either the chemical spill or the theft? Does it signify that there are further problems at the client which the client has not provided information about to the auditor? What procedures have been adopted to find a replacement? The auditor should consider whether those charged with governance (board of directors) are aware of the problems and taking action. Has the board established suitable policies for dealing with the risk of operating in Bangaloo? What evidence can the auditor gather about Red Minerals’ management’ philosophy and operating style? What approach has management taken to establishing procedures to implement policies around the risk of chemical spills and control over company assets? How have the policies and procedures, as well as the ethical values of the organization, been communicated from the board to management and more widely in the organization?
  • 21. Other documents randomly have different content
  • 22. VI Now and then a section of the golfing community has the appearance of fretting for a new government of the game. The freedom that it has always enjoyed, and in which it is superior to any other game that has a right to be compared to it for quality, interest, and popularity, has become irksome. It is felt that there can be disadvantages in too much freedom, and so these people sigh to be placed under a yoke—a yoke of their own choosing, but none the less stern and powerful and, above all, active. These agitations, if they are to be dignified with such a name, commonly begin in the dullest days of winter, when both links and livers are abnormally heavy, and they flicker out again in the spring. Usually the establishment of a new county golfing union is the signal for the commencement of the argument in favour of the deposition of St. Andrews and the establishment of a new parliament of golf. By this time county unions are no novelty. The Yorkshire and the Nottinghamshire Unions—and particularly the former—are now old- established and flourishing institutions; but latterly this movement towards unions has much increased, and Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and others have joined in it and settled their constitutions. Then there are in existence the Welsh Union, the Sussex Union, and various others of smaller activity. The formation of these unions has been in itself a proceeding of some significance; but the establishment of the new Midland Association is greater, for here you have three or four unions making common cause for the furtherance of their own ideas and projects, and becoming a compact, circumscribed, and very nearly autonomous community, taking a considerable piece of the golfing map to themselves, and embracing no small or unimportant section of the
  • 23. golfing population. First you had the county unions; now the grouping of these unions into associations. Obviously, the next and easy step will be a combination of associations. Yorkshire and Wales might come to an understanding with the Midlands, and before one could shout “Fore!” there might be the whole country under the guidance, not to say domination, of a union of associations. Members of clubs would per se be affiliated to it, and would give tacit allegiance to it. That is simply a possibility of evolution. So far the programmes of the unions and associations are simple and unpretentious. They will start country competitions, inter-county tournaments, standardise handicaps, regulate local rules, and so forth. Unpretentious in a sense these matters are; but yet they will make for much in the whole sum of golf procedure. Then there are no authoritative rules for bogey play which many people want; the associations may make them for themselves, and make them binding upon their members, and give rulings upon points of dispute or difficulty that may arise in regard to them, since St. Andrews will have nothing to do with bogey. They will do all the many things that St. Andrews is too indifferent to do. There you have it! How about the coming of the day when, old- established, firm, and powerful, the combined associations find that they are doing nearly everything, and that St. Andrews is doing almost nothing? Will it not be an easy thing, and one which will suggest itself, to cut the knot that ties them to the old and respected guardian of our golf, and to go forth with a new and revolutionary programme of government, which shall include even the very championships and the rules themselves? This is not a fanciful speculation; it is logical and—as some who have brought themselves to the serious study of the future would say—almost inevitable. It would be according to the natural processes of history.
  • 24. Let them disclaim as they please, be as loyal to the existing order of things as possible, it is still the fact that these unions and associations are a menace to St. Andrews. By evolution from them rather than by direct establishment is a British Golfing Union likely to come about, if one ever does. This is essentially a democratic movement. With the vast influx of new players the feeling in golf is infinitely more democratic than it was five years ago, and the people are now chafing at the indifference of St. Andrews and the championship group of clubs, and are calling for a ruling body that will give them new and simpler laws, that will regulate the championships better, and hold them on a greater variety of courses, organise inter-county competitions, and so on. St. Andrews—by which is meant the Royal and Ancient Club—is the old and self- established, almost hereditary House of Lords that dozes and does not mind, with no second chamber between it and the people. The people say they want a representative and active House of Commons. This allegory works out perfectly to the point that Ireland is fuming and fretting at the neglect with which she is treated. Shall the golfers’ House of Lords be mended or ended? There are three parties in the great state of golf—the old Tories, who want things to remain as they are, and who regard the St. Andrews House of Lords as the finest form of government imaginable, chiefly because it does not govern; the reformers, who want St. Andrews to become more active and to seek the co-operation of some of the leading clubs in the country; and the democratic revolutionaries, who want a new governing body elected by the people and the clubs. The first party is in a hopeless minority, and will always remain so. The present state of affairs may go on for some time yet; but the golf world is too big and important, and the questions pressing upon it are too weighty, for it to be regarded as permanent.
  • 25. The Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews is a most worthy, distinguished, and conscientious institution, full of all the most blue- blooded traditions. One may disagree with the idea that the Club entertains of the duty and responsibility towards the great world of golf which time and circumstances have cast upon it; but no golfer of understanding would speak disrespectfully of this Club, which in many respects is the finest institution of its kind in existence, and is entitled to the very utmost veneration. Chiefly by its efforts there has been given a dignity to the game of golf which has had much to do with its established greatness. Every golfer everywhere owes a debt to the Royal and Ancient Club. Yet as an authority nobody ever sanctioned it; like Topsy, it simply grew. Of course, it was wanted; somebody had to make laws. It is almost equally certain that the club never aspired to an active command over such an extensive golf world as there is at present, and that its present disposition is that it “cannot be bothered,” that the British golfers must take it as they find it, or—do as they please. To some extent allied with St. Andrews in the government of the game are the clubs who regulate the championship. To some minds the Royal and Ancient and these other clubs that rule the championships, have sometimes seemed to be in league with each other against the new spirit and new tendencies in golf, and it is not surprising that the worm is turning. The “common people” of the golfing world say that they have had enough of this sort of thing, and all these airs and graces, that they are in the majority—which is perfectly true—and that they will act. Now what shall be done? Shall the golfers’ House of Lords be mended or ended? In course of time some change is inevitable, democracy will have its way, and all those who have the interests of the game most at heart must, on reflection, come to the conclusion
  • 26. that for the time being, at any rate, it will be for good if the House of Lords is reconstituted on slightly more popular lines. Therefore it would seem to be desirable that the Royal and Ancient and its associates, the golfing House of Lords, should recognise the feeling that is undoubtedly abroad in the country, and should take the initiative now, when it would lose nothing in dignity and gain everything in influence, in establishing the government of golf on a firmer and more satisfactory basis than that on which it at present exists. The rules need remodelling, the system of the championships needs rearranging, the question of county tournaments, standardisation of handicaps, and so forth, call for some consideration, and the interference of the commercial side of the game needs to be looked into. St. Andrews alone and without a mandate has neither the will nor the power to grapple with all these difficulties. On the other hand, a democratically elected governing body would almost certainly be given far too much to something in the nature of vandalism, and for a certainty golf under its authority would lose much of the dignity that is at present one of its very greatest charms. What one has seen of the ways of even some big provincial clubs, such as might have loud voices in a new democratic government, and the tone that animates their game, gives one no confidence that they would preserve its best traditions intact. There would be a tendency towards unnecessary innovations and vulgarism. Nobody who has any adequate knowledge of the manner and system of golf as practised by the good old-fashioned clubs would care to risk placing the future of the game entirely in the hands of the revolutionaries. The world of golf is not ready for a great revolution. The fact is that we want as little legislation as possible, but what there is should be good and adequate, and the tendencies and needs of the times
  • 27. should be systematically considered. The best solution to the difficulty, perhaps, would be for St. Andrews to relax a little from its aloofness, recognise that circumstances impose a moral duty upon it, and seek the assistance of a few of the chief clubs, seaside and inland, throughout the country, who among them would form a kind of joint board to which all other clubs would declare their allegiance. We should expect to find such inland clubs in the south as Sunningdale, Woking, Mid-Surrey, and Walton Heath represented on this board, and it would approach all the questions of the time in a progressive spirit and do its best to remove existing grievances. If the Royal and Ancient took the initiative in this matter, it would gain in dignity and respect, and would have the knowledge that it had done its duty. If no such step is taken, if matters are allowed to drift on as at present, then a revolution of some kind is likely. A point too frequently overlooked in these discussions is, that the Royal and Ancient club is in its membership and constitution very fairly representative of golf throughout the country, as is no other club. The rights of its position at the head of the game are, of course, indisputable.
  • 28. W WINTER I HEN the winds blow and the rains pour down, we discover the true worth of the golfer. The game has no season; it allows no right of control to any weather. It is for all places and for all times, and in the law of the links it is clearly set down that he who is playing by strokes for a prize shall on no account whatsoever delay in the course of his round, nor take any shelter, though Pluvius should pour out upon him from the heavens their entire holding of the most drenching rain. If, in defiance of the stern law of St. Andrews, he does so take shelter, though it be but for a minute under the scanty protection of leafless boughs, he is to be visited with the extreme penalty. Whatever his score, whatever the perfection of his golf, he shall take no prize, his card must be tossed aside as worthless, and he is branded among his fellows as he who was afraid, and as more fitted to putt on the hearthrug by the fireside at home in rivalry with his baby boy or girl, than to take part in this now fierce game of men. What is the law for medal competitions is, in scarcely less measure, the custom and tradition in matches. Once he has begun, the golfer with the great heart must finish his game, and generally he does so. Scotland sometimes turns up its nose at the English golf of the towns; but round about London, among all its “effete civilisation,” there is seen in golf, as in
  • 29. perhaps no other game, that some fine British sporting hearts beat beneath starched linen and silken waistcoats; and it is a thing to think about, that the city man who on ’Change at eleven o’clock in the morning was arrayed most spotlessly and was dealing in his thousands, at three o’clock was driving his little golf ball through wind and blinding rain, drenched to the skin, cold, miserable, despondent with his 8’s and 9’s, but still doing his duty as a golfer to his game. So the authorities of St. Andrews will in no case countenance the mere fairweather golfer. He must “face the music.” But they do say— they said it when appealed to on one occasion—that the brave player is, after all, entitled to have a hole to putt at, and if the green is under water it is better that there should be no competition. It was the club of St. Duthus that made the appeal, and the experiences of the members of that club on the day concerned were varied and curious. One golfer played his ball on to a “floating green,” and after vainly trying to dodge the sphere along the waters into the neighbourhood of the place where the hole was, he picked it out and claimed the right to play again some other day. But when that same day was far spent and the flood had to some extent subsided, another player came along with his card to that green, and, having worked his ball to within three feet of the place where the hole was, he deftly pitched it up into the air with his mashie and down it came on the water immediately covering the hole, sank for a moment, and came up again floating. Had he holed out? St. Andrews declined to say. They took shelter from this trying problem by observing that that green should not have been played on. In very similar circumstances a player coaxed his ball to the place where the hole was, and then debated within himself as to how he
  • 30. should hole out. No club that he had would sink the ball, but the law does not prescribe that golf must be played with standard clubs. This resourceful fellow, after due consideration, took his bag from his caddie, held it for a moment above the ball, and then dumped it, end on, down on the floating sphere, sinking it for a second. But was not that a push? And, again, when another man had played on to a floating green he discovered that the wind made a current, and that it—O generous current!—was slowly taking his ball towards the hole. So he waited until it should do so, but it was a slow process, and somebody protested. He claimed that his last stroke was still in progress all the time, and that neither he nor anyone else had any more right to interfere with it than with a ball in flight. However, he was utterly cried down, and his point was not settled. Thus some curious shots have been played on water; and, have a mind, some great ones too. One of the most classic shots of golf, perhaps the most classic of them all, was that which Fred Tait played in the championship from the water-logged bunker on the far side of the Alps, guarding the seventeenth green at Prestwick. At a moment of crisis he waded in with a forlorn hope, and with a shot that will still be spoken of in a hundred years he saved a point that had seemed gone for ever. The brave golfer is placed in a difficult position, when his partner is smitten with craven fears of pneumonia and inflammation of the lungs supervening on the soaking that he is getting on the links. What is he to do if in medal competition this fearing one says that he will go no farther, but will hasten back to the clubhouse, with its drying-room and its fire and warm refreshment? The law says that no man shall delay in his round; but how shall the card be marked if the marker goes off for his dry clothes and hot drinks? Ever generous to the brave, St. Andrews has said that he whose heart is
  • 31. thus willing shall not be disqualified, but shall be permitted to scour the links and the clubhouse in search of a new marker, and if haply in the meantime the storm shall have ceased, good luck to him, and may his be the winning card. But no false excuses. Did you hear of the historic case of the Bury golfers who appealed to St. Andrews for a ruling after one fateful medal day on their rain-swept course? The storm raged, the winds blew, and the rain drove through the players’ garments to the most vulnerable parts of their body. And then one man lost his ball. The other espied a friendly hut and sought shelter there until his unhappy friend should find that which was lost. When it was discovered its owner likewise went to the hut and stayed there for a little while. Why did that golfer seek that hut so? He told St. Andrews that he went there because he had dirtied his face, and his partner had a cloth wherewith it might be wiped! They pleaded for qualification in their competition. “Out upon you for golfers!” said St. Andrews angrily, and so it was decreed. II On a frosty day one is apt to damage clubs. The clubmaker does not mind his patrons playing on steely courses. The chances are that one man in a few will need something doing to his shafts or his wooden heads as the result of a day’s play. The list of casualties at sunset is considerable, and somewhat reminds one of the early days when a golf club was a much less lasting thing than it is at present. Old golfers are agreed that the breakage of a club by any kind of player is a thing of infinitely rare happening in comparison with what
  • 32. it used to be only a very few years ago. How is this? It cannot be that beginners are any better or more careful than they used to be, and one is very doubtful as to whether the clubs are made any better (although, perhaps, a trifle more elegant), or are endowed with any more strength than they were in the olden days when there were fewer of them to be made, and when so much time was spent upon their individual perfection. Some people think that the socketed shafts that have become firmly established are less reliable than others, and are more likely to give way under severe strain from misuse, and yet how seldom do we really see a wooden club give way at the socket? On the whole there can be no doubt that our modern clubs are thoroughly well made, but that the real cause why we so seldom see breakages is the lighter work that the clubs have to do with the rubber ball than they were set to in the old days of the gutta. In those old days the jar of impact was harder, severer, harsher, and it sent a shiver through the wrapping of the club that, often repeated, made for an eventual snap. Certainly the decrease in the breakages seems to date exactly from the beginning of the use of the rubber ball. I have just said that it cannot be that beginners are any better or more careful than they used to be, but this is a statement that needs a trifle of qualification. Your modern beginner has heard from many and diverse authorities of the enormous difficulty of this game, and of the necessity of treating it from the outset with the utmost possible respect; but the neophyte of the olden days was often more of a slapdash, full-blooded fellow, who needed to have two or three strenuous rounds before the spirit in him was fairly broken and he became amenable to the reason of the links. A wonderful story of a wild opening to a golfing career is that of Lord Stormont, when he was initiated at Blackheath some fifty years ago. His lordship had
  • 33. taken too much weight to himself, and Sir William Ferguson, his doctor, being consulted, suggested that he ought to have more exercise, and thought that this might best be administered in the form of golf. Sir William played golf himself, and, like all good doctors, he recommended the game to lazy pale-faced people whenever he thought the occasion opportune. He said to Lord Stormont, “Go down to Blackheath and put yourself in Willie Dunn’s hands,” Dunn then being professional at this historic course. Lord Stormont had never seen a golf ball driven in his life, but he took kindly to the idea and repaired to Blackheath. Unfortunately he went there for the first time on a club day, and on this day it was impossible for Dunn to give him his services. But he did as well as he could in the circumstances, and selected his very best caddie, one Weever, quite a capable teacher, and intrusted him with the onerous duty of teaching the game of golf to Lord Stormont. Dunn sold his lordship a full set of good clubs by way of outfit, and away the two went. When the first round had been played, the round at Blackheath then, as now, consisting of only seven holes, Weever returned alone to the professional’s shop, with his pockets full of heads and his arms full of broken shafts. My Lord Stormont had broken every one of his clubs, and had sent his mentor back for a new complete set. In the second round nearly all of these were broken also; and when, after so many trials and tribulations, Dunn espied the noble beginner returning from the seventh green, he was in some anxious doubt as to how he should best make reference to the events of the day. It was at least encouraging that Lord Stormont was smiling, and so Dunn ventured to observe, “I am very sorry, my lord, that such disasters have befallen you to-day in breaking so many clubs.” For answer the new golfer tapped Dunn on the shoulder, and said, “My
  • 34. dear fellow, don’t mention it. I feel this game has done me already a great deal of good, and it is going to do me still more. Have another set of clubs ready for me by Thursday. I shall be down then.” How many sets of clubs went to the making of the game of Lord Stormont no man knows. III Sometimes, in the long and dark evenings, golfers like to play their games in thought by the fireside, and one may suggest to them a new kind of reflection and study which may prove at the same time interesting and not without educational profit, particularly if such reflections are uttered in company and comparisons of views are made. A golfer has no sooner come by some sort of a working knowledge of the different strokes of the game than he longs for adventures on strange courses, to play at holes that are new and strange to him, and—if it must be—to niblick his way out of bunkers that are more fearful than anything he ever encountered on his mother links. This spirit is in every way commendable, and the experience that results from it is one of the best means of gaining skill and steadiness at the game. Thus it happens that every player of two or three years’ practice is acquainted more or less with several different courses in various parts of the country, and it will generally happen that he has the kindest memories of certain holes on each, and that, in fact, there are some of these holes which are his special favourites for their particular length and character. Now if by some impossible grant of nature it were to be ordained that a special course should be made up, consisting of eighteen of his
  • 35. favourite holes, due regard being paid to the proper requirements of a golf course as to variety of length, which eighteen would he select for the purpose, and why? Thoughts on these lines will help him towards an understanding of the points of a good course; for the average player, while he knows a good course when he sees it—or thinks he does—rarely troubles to dissect his general appreciation. Even those players whose game has been almost restricted to play on a few courses in the London or some other district, may entertain themselves by piecing up a new and better course than any they know from the materials with which they are supplied in all the holes they have ever played over. With the idea thus presented, you may go on to making your own ideal course, and that some basis of necessary requirements may be afforded, it may be added that in the opinion of Mr. Harold Hilton such a course should include three short holes, eleven holes requiring two shots to reach the green under ordinary conditions, and four holes which require three shots to reach the green. Mr. Hilton adds that the short holes ought not to be more than 200 yards long, and that in the case of the four very extended holes the minimum of length should be 470 yards. The other holes he thinks should vary from 380 yards to 430 yards. In this connection it is noteworthy that Mr. Hilton’s selections are the Redan at North Berwick and the Himalayas at Prestwick for short holes; the Alps and the eighth at Prestwick, the sixth at Hoylake, the second at St. Anne’s, and the sixth at Sunningdale for two-shot holes; and the fourteenth at Sandwich, the seventeenth at St. Andrews, and the Cardinal at Prestwick for long holes. In another part of the world there is something now happening that gives a special point to these fancies. It is nothing less than the attempt, backed up by enormous energy and practically unlimited
  • 36. capital, to make “an ideal course,” combining all the best features of the particular holes that it is resolved to copy. A club called the National Golf Club, including among its members many of the best players and many of the richest men in the United States, has been established, and they have taken a big piece of territory on Long Island for the prosecution of their most ambitious scheme. One of the moving spirits, Mr. Charles B. Macdonald, well known to St. Andrews golfers, and the first American amateur champion, spent a long time in this country about a year or two back, making a most exhaustive study of the best holes on our best courses, and he went home to America with large parcels of most minute plans and photographs. The land chosen on Long Island is a fine piece of country for golf, and this is going to be—is being—so pulled about, built up, and given the general appearance of having been acted upon by several earthquakes, to the end that the best possible copies of these holes shall be made. Although anything in the nature of an exact copy is manifestly impossible in a large proportion of cases, despite all the powers of money and energy, it is declared that at least the underlying principles which account for the superlative excellence of the holes chosen as models shall be faithfully and accurately represented. It is prophesied that on these two hundred acres of land which have been bought at Peconic Bay, there will be combined in one eighteen-hole round the best features of the most celebrated courses in the world; in other words, “a course that shall be the best in the world.” This is a vast ambition, and one which only Americans would find it easy to entertain. Let me mention what conditions Mr. Macdonald made for the selection of these eighteen holes. He decreed that there should be two short holes for iron shots, between 130 and 160 yards in length; two 500-yard holes; two of the “drive and pitch” order, 300 to
  • 37. 320 yards; eight good two-shot holes, 350 to 470 yards; and four long one-shot holes varying from 190 to 250 yards, according to the contour of the ground, the longer holes having the fair green falling towards the putting green. These together would make up a course of about 6000 yards in length. IV Once a year there is a great foursome played between a Colonel and a Parson on the one side and an Author and an M.P. on the other, and they always look forward to it with great keenness. It is a compact among them that the match shall be played every year that all four are alive and within the United Kingdom. This is one of the most delightful kinds of matches, and no pleasure of reminiscence is so rich as that of golfers such as these in looking back over ten or twenty years of matches and comparing their recollections of them. All earnest golfers should have some arrangement of the kind with their best friends. It happened the other morning when this match was to be played, that a great disappointment was in store for the little party, as they took train from Charing Cross bound for that fine inland course some twenty miles away to which they were all most devoted. Heavy clouds of ominous complexion were above at nine o’clock, and there was a suspicious look and feel about the atmosphere; but, like all good golfers, these men were optimists all, and would not mention to one another the fear that was in their hearts.
  • 38. “I daresay we shall have a very nice day after all,” murmured the Parson, and the Colonel stated that he was nearly certain that the glass was rising when he last looked at it. A fine fellow is your golfing optimist. But when London had been left some ten miles behind, the hideous truth was exposed beyond any denial. It was snowing, and the chill of it went to the hearts of the golfers. “Oh, this won’t be much,” said the M.P., “and it is certain to melt quickly, anyhow; see how watery are the flakes.” But when they arrived at the course it was snowing more than ever, and big dry flakes were whirling in eddies all about, while the course already lay an inch beneath a white covering. It was a bad case. Unless there was a great change in an hour or so there could be no golf that day, and indeed the idea of it was already almost given up. The four sat in the smoke-room looking exceeding glum. Attempts to make congenial conversation failed. The Parson felt that it was incumbent on him to cheer up his friends, and after other kind efforts he bethought himself of what he considered to be an excellent story. “Upon my word, you fellows,” he said, “I nearly forgot to tell you of the most extraordinary occurrence that I have ever heard of, and one in which a strange point of golfing law is involved. The case must be sent to St. Andrews.” Everybody was alert at this announcement. It is an excellent thing to know that a poser of sorts is going to be put to that autocratic assembly in Fifeshire. “Splendid!” ejaculated the Colonel, “we must hear this story of yours, Septimus; but I hope you are not going to pitch us that yarn you once told me about your wife’s brother having once played a low push shot across a river, and a salmon leaping at the ball as it
  • 39. skimmed across and being carried with it on to the bank! We have heard that, you know.” “As I told you at the time,” responded the Parson, “I only repeated what my wife’s brother told me, and I certainly did not say that I had seen the fish dragged on to the bank in that manner. But this story was told me by my son Richard, when he was down from Oxford last time, and he declares the incident happened on the course at Radley. One of the men was engaged in a match, and going to the tenth he played a beautiful run up from forty yards off the putting green, that actually made the ball hit the pin and then it rolled into the hole; but it had no sooner got into the hole than out it flew again, and after it came a large frog! It was clear that the ball had rolled on the back of the frog in the hole, and that this frog, startled, no doubt, jumped up and out of the hole, ejecting the ball at the same time. The ball came to rest on the green, and my son’s friend thereupon claimed that he had holed out.” For a few seconds there was a stony silence, and then the Colonel burst out with a loud guffaw. “My dear old boy,” he exclaimed, “I am sure that you will find that story, or one very like it, in the Old Testament somewhere if you look sufficiently. It is as old as the hills! You really should not tell us these things. You know what the American did when he was told that story? He put a recommendation in the suggestion book that the club should urge upon the St. Andrews authorities that they should make an addition to the rules to something like this effect: “‘If any frog, toad, snake, or other reptile, or a mouse, rat, weasel, mole, gopher, or other vermin (or in the case of casual water, a pike, pickerel, perch, pompano, or other fish) be in or near the hole, its presence being established to the satisfaction of two
  • 40. independent witnesses, such reptile, vermin, or fish must be removed before the next stroke is played, under penalty of the loss of the hole. Should a player unwittingly play at the hole when such reptile, vermin, or fish is in it, its presence being subsequently attested by the aforesaid independent witnesses, and such reptile, vermin, or fish either hinder the ball from entering the hole or eject it therefrom, the ball shall nevertheless be considered to have been duly holed, and no penalty shall be incurred.’ “Still,” went on the Colonel, after this little pleasantry, “you have given us a most excellent idea, Septimus. Now let each one of us think awhile, and let us see who can present to our little company the stiffest poser in golf law. Each of us, I suggest, shall be allowed to look at the rules for the space of ten minutes, no more and no less, and shall then have ten more minutes for consideration of his problem. What do you say, boys?” All agreed that the idea was a most excellent one for the purpose of killing time and gathering knowledge about the rules. It was decided that the company should vote, if necessary, on the answers, and that while the Parson should be at liberty to choose his own position in the recital in virtue of what he had done already, the others should draw lots. The reverend gentleman decided that he would go last, and, on lots being drawn, the Colonel was settled to present the first problem, the Author the second, and the M.P. the third. When the twenty minutes had expired the four assembled at the table, and the Colonel was called upon to present his queer case. It was suggested to him that he should make it look as real as possible. He submitted it as follows:
  • 41. “Here is a nice point, which I think an Imperial Conference might be called upon to determine. General Botha, let us say, has a little dog, which takes some intelligent interest in the game of golf, as do many other dogs. He goes out to play a match with Dr. Jameson, and despite all rule and custom, ‘Bobs,’ as the little dog is called, is permitted to accompany them. When approaching the fourth hole the Doctor plays a lovely wrist shot with his iron which sends the ball on to the green, trickling close up to the pin. In one of his frisky moments that wretched dog scampers after it, picks it up in his mouth before it (the ball) had stopped running, and then begins playing about with it. The dog drops the ball on to the green two or three times, paws at it and plays with it, and then, seemingly struck by an inspiration, rolls it into the hole. ‘By Jove! That’s my hole, then, Botha!’ exclaims the Doctor, although the General has laid his ball dead with his mashie with the like. ‘How do you make that out? Let us be fair, now that we are such good friends,’ says Botha. ‘Most certainly,’ replies the Doctor, ‘but you must see that as the ball went into the hole from that last shot of mine I holed from that shot. Of course it was a pity that your dog got up to his tricks, but he is an outside agency, and I don’t see that it makes any difference to the result.’ Botha thinks awhile. Then he asks, ‘Did you watch “Bobs” closely while he had the ball?’ Dr. Jameson assented. ‘Then,’ Botha says, ‘there may be one circumstance in which you do not win that hole, my friend, and when we go to England we will discuss it with the authorities.’ Now what was passing through Botha’s mind, and is his point a good one anyway?” “Excellent for you, Colonel,” said the M.P. after a moment’s pause. “Now, gentlemen, what must we do with Botha, for it is clear that we are the authority to whom he refers. But then we have a
  • 42. right to know what it was that Botha had in his mind at the finish of his little argument with Dr. Jim. You will tell us that, Colonel?” “Botha urges that he saw ‘Bobs’ let the ball come to rest when pawing it about.” “And what does Jameson say to that?” inquired the Author. “Oh, Jameson does not deny it. He says that he did not see it, but he thinks it very probable, and he will certainly yield that point if it is material, as he desires that the case should be settled strictly on its merits, neither side taking any unfair advantage of the other.” “It is a pity that they could not settle it on terms of equity,” said the Parson. “I don’t agree that equity has anything to do with the case,” observed the Colonel at length. “It seems to me that Botha’s point settles it, and that the ball must be played from the place where the dog allowed it to come to rest. I don’t think Dr. Jim wins the hole at all. Rule 22 governs the case partly but not entirely. By the way, Septimus, when we turn up rules to settle these cases, I think you should only look at those affecting the one in hand, and not at other rules which have a bearing on the case you are to present. You have had your ten minutes’ study, you know. Now it is clear that the ball was in motion when the dog seized it, and if the dog then took it direct to the hole it all counted in the stroke. This case does not come within the clause about the ball lodging in anything moving, because the dog was not moving when it seized the ball. Once the dog let the ball stop on the green the stroke was ended. Therefore it is evidently a question as to whether it allowed it to come to rest or not, and Botha’s evidence settles the matter. What do you say, William?” “I entirely agree,” responded the M.P.
  • 43. “And you, Jim?” “I agree,” said the Author. “I trust we can count on your support, Septimus?” said the Colonel, looking across towards the Parson. “Oh, certainly,” he replied. “Gentlemen,” said the Colonel in his most official manner, “it is determined that Dr. Jameson did not hole out with that stroke. I am informed that they putted out afterwards, each in one more, and therefore the hole was halved. Now, my literary friend, will you kindly present your case?” The Author thereupon advanced his queer case as follows: “A very awkward point has arisen in the course of play on the links at Valhalla. Shakespeare and Bacon, who are staying there at the present time, got up very early one morning, when the other golfers were asleep, and went out for a match, without caddies. Going to the seventh hole, which is both a short one and a blind one —a thoroughly bad hole—the players were not aware that the greenkeeper was on the putting-green cutting a new hole. They played their tee shots and then went forward to the green, when they were surprised to find that the ball of each lay dead to a different hole. The greenkeeper had taken the flag and the metal lining out of the old hole, and had cut the slab of turf out of the new one, but had not at that time placed the metal cup or the flag into the new one, nor put the turf into the old one to fill it up. Bacon’s ball lay dead to the new hole, and Shakespeare’s to the old one. Each insisted on holing out at the hole to which his ball lay dead (the holes were many yards apart), and then the dispute began, each claiming the hole. Shakespeare said that as the new hole was not finished the old one was still in commission. ‘No,’ said Bacon,
  • 44. ‘not satisfied with cheating me out of my plays, you now try to take my holes. We have evidently been playing at new holes all the way out so far, and we must continue to do so. It is the new holes that count.’ ‘But,’ expostulated Shakespeare, ‘there are more old holes on the course at the present time than new ones. And this wretched greenkeeper will take two hours to finish his job. Must we dawdle behind him the whole way round? Let us ask the greenkeeper which hole was most like a hole at the time the balls came on to the green.’ The greenkeeper, however, was very ill-tempered, having been nearly hit by one of the balls, and he declined to answer the question. He said that people had no business to be playing on the course while holes were being cut, no matter who they were. Eventually the parties gave up their match and went back to the clubhouse, when they agreed to submit the point to some carefully constituted authority that would do its best to settle this most unfortunate and undignified quarrel between two eminently respectable persons of considerable standing.” The Author looked about him after this deliverance. “H’m!” muttered the Colonel, “not bad for you, Jim.” “It seems to me,” said the Reverend Septimus, “that Bacon certainly won if the new hole was full size, despite its not having had the tin put into it.” “Oh yes, it was full size,” interposed the Author. “The old hole,” pursued the Parson, “was ground under repair, but if the new hole was not full size Shakespeare won.” “Of course,” remarked the Author, “the tin is only mentioned to indicate the state of transition.”
  • 45. “I don’t agree with Septimus,” said the M.P. “The rules do not provide for this contingency, and it must be settled under the equity clause of Rule 36. Regarding it in this way, it seems exactly six of one and half a dozen of the other, and the best—indeed, the only thing—to do is to regard the green as under repair, and the hole as temporarily closed. Shakespeare and Bacon should therefore call it a half and pass on. If they had seen the flag before playing their tee shots it might have made a difference.” “I am in entire accord with you, William,” the Colonel declared. “Ditto,” said the Author. “That was the ruling I had in my mind.” “I think we ought to have another opinion,” persisted the Parson, “but for the present I desire to go with the majority.” “Now let us hear the character of the problem that our friend the hon. member for North-East Fife has to present to this tribunal,” said the Colonel, with an expectant look to the quarter indicated. “My case is a somewhat singular one, gentlemen,” the M.P. responded. “It is this: “A public road leading to the clubhouse crosses the line to the second hole, and when John Smith and Isaac Rosenstein were playing this hole it happened that Isaac’s bad slice landed his ball under the back seat of a motor-car standing still in the road, said car, curiously enough, being the new one which Rosenstein himself has bought this season, and which, it is suggested, he likes to ‘show off’ with. Seeing where the ball had gone to, and having the price of ten balls on the match, a thought passed through his mind. Hailing the chauffeur in the car, he exclaimed, ‘You mitherable vellow! Did I not tell you to geep that car in the garage at the back of the clubhouse, where it vould not be damaged. Be off vith you this very instant, or I vill sack you! Quick!’ And before John Smith could speak
  • 46. the chauffeur was doing his forty miles an hour back to the clubhouse—with the ball still in the car. Smith and Rosenstein then wrangled for hours, the latter being greatly astonished because his opponent objected to his dropping a ball, and that without penalty, at the spot where he played his last stroke. The points presented for argument are these: (1) Shall Rosenstein drop without losing a stroke? (2) Shall he drop and lose stroke and distance? (3) Shall he not drop at all, but lose the hole? (4) Shall he play the ball from where it lies under the seat of the motor-car in the club garage, as, if he loses on the first two counts, he wants to do? (5) What ought to have been done?” “I trust that your friend Rosenstein will not offer himself as a candidate for membership of this club,” observed the Colonel with a smile, “because you might tell him if he thinks of doing so that I have heard of this incident, and I happen to be on the committee.” “He is no friend of mine,” said the M.P. “Well then, gentlemen,” the man of arms demanded, “what is your pleasure that we should do in the affaire Rosenstein?” “I don’t think there is very much doubt about that,” observed the Parson, “We must be unanimous in this matter. I think we may safely leave it to you, Colonel, to make the award.” The M.P. and the Author assented, but it was understood that the former should have the privilege of sending the case back for re-trial if he disagreed. “Then, gentlemen,” said the Colonel, “I give judgment as follows: “Rosenstein loses the hole. It was his duty to have played the ball from the place where it lodged in the car, and there is a strong suspicion that he knew it! He is not entitled to regard the car as an
  • 47. agency outside the match, since he controlled the car and ordered it away. By his own act he made it impossible for him to obey the rules. He loses under Rule 7, and it may be mentioned that the Rules of Golf Committee has already decided that a ball played into a motor-car must be played out of it, or the hole given up. Clearly the ball lying in the car in the club garage does not lie where it did before.” “I quite agree,” said the M.P. “But should not something be done with Rosenstein?” the Parson asked. “That is for his own committee to determine,” the Colonel replied. “We have no jurisdiction. And now, Septimus, I am sure that the tit- bit of this sitting of the court will be submitted by you. We are anticipating that. I beg to move that if your case is not so pointed and interesting as those already presented, you shall be condemned to give such an order to the steward as will do something to stifle our disappointment, and take the chill from our blood on this wretched day. What do you think, my colleagues?” “It is an excellent and a most proper idea,” the Author said, and the M.P. concurred. “As you will,” the clergyman assented. “Now the little problem that has arisen in my mind runs this way:— “Dives said to Lazarus, ‘These are days of charity, my poor friend, but the cases must be deserving. The par of this course is 74. If you can get round in 68 I will give you one twentieth of what I have got.’ Lazarus wept tears of gratitude, and forthwith began to take lessons and to practise exceedingly, three rounds a day, for his handicap was 24. And years passed by and he did not go round even in par; but one day, having great luck, a sensation was caused about the links,
  • 48. and the word was passed about that old Lazarus had got a 4 at the last hole to do 68. And he had. But he took 3 to get on the green, and then had a 10-yard putt for the 4 and 68, which was not an easy matter, particularly as the putt was downhill and there was a big slope from the left as well. Dives was watching and he smiled, but Lazarus was in sore trouble. Then he bethought himself of an idea, and he placed a ball to the left of his own and he tried to putt it to a point exactly a foot to the left of the hole. First he found that he borrowed too much, and then too little, and next that he was too strong, but eventually he got it right exactly, and his ball just got to a foot to the left of the hole. ‘Now, I know,’ he said, and then he putted his proper ball, and with great confidence, and it went into the hole! Whereupon Dives was much wroth, and said, ‘Surely I will not give you a twentieth of what I have got, for you have offended against the law and the spirit of the game, and you did not go round in 68, but are disqualified.’ Lazarus said, ‘Master, I have not offended against the law of the game, and as for the spirit thereof I care not, for having gained the twentieth of what you have got I shall never play it more.’ And when they heard what Lazarus said they were amazed, and they said they must have some proper judgment upon it. Does Lazarus come into his fortune after finding the line and strength of his putt in that fashion?” The Parson seemed pleased with himself when he had finished his statement. “I believe the beggar’s got off—Septimus, I mean!” the M.P. ejaculated. “I am sure he has,” agreed the Colonel. “Now, you see,” put in the Author, “the wretched Lazarus did not tamper with the line of the putt. He practised along what was to all
  • 49. intents and purposes that line; but it was not the line, or else he might have been caught. He placed no mark and drew no line.” “That is so,” muttered the Colonel thoughtfully. “He clearly offended against the spirit of the game,” the M.P. observed. “You or I would not have done such a thing in any circumstances, eh, Colonel?” “Of course not,” the Colonel replied, “but it has to be remembered that this was really almost a matter of life and death to the old man, and in such a case he was perhaps not to be blamed for sticking to the strict letter of the law. From our point of view the spirit is above the law; but when it comes to a case of this kind, with goodness knows how many thousands at stake, a merciless fellow on the other side who is himself inclined to stick to the law exactly, and when Lazarus, as he says, intends to have done with the game, why I am not sure that from his point of view—his, mind you—he is to be condemned for throwing the spirit overboard. His opponent would do so—in fact, to all intents and purposes he does. This has become a strictly business transaction. The question is, did he break the law?” “You remember the Rules Committee’s decision in the famous Selkirk case in 1906?” the M.P. asked. “It showed the Committee’s very proper anxiety to preserve the true spirit even to the extent of straining the interpretation of the rule about touching the line of the putt. I believe some of them privately admitted that they were conscious of straining it; but they were doing so in a very good cause, and to my mind they were to be applauded rather than blamed. In this case a foursome was being played, and while one man was preparing to putt, his partner stood two yards beyond the hole on the other side, and from there pointed out the line of the
  • 50. putt, incidentally letting his putter rest on the turf to do so—two yards beyond the hole. The opponents claimed the hole on the ground that the line of the putt had been touched, meaning that the line from the ball to the hole, continued beyond the hole, was still the line of the putt. The case was sent to St. Andrews, and the Rules Committee upheld the claim and gave the hole to the opponents—a remarkable decision!” “H’m!” the Colonel grunted. “Of course, give some golfers an inch and they will take a yard; and supposing the putter had been laid on that line only two inches beyond the hole, the green had been very keen, and had sloped down to the hole from the back side. If the ball had got to the point where the putter had rested it might conceivably have rolled back into the hole. There would be splendid justification for the Rules Committee in a case of that kind, and it would prove the wisdom of the Selkirk decision. Of course every day of our lives we see golfers, when studying their putts from the back side of the hole, allowing their putters to rest on the green in the continuation of the line. However, Lazarus seems to have been quite clear of any decision of this kind. By no stretch of imagination can you call a line which is a foot to one side of the real line, although parallel to it, ‘the line of the putt.’” “The Americans have been tinkering with a proposed new set of rules,” the Author said, “and one of their suggested rules prohibits a practice swing anywhere except on the tee. That would govern this case.” “Ah yes, but what about our own code?” the Colonel said. “The practice stroke is not forbidden,” the M.P. observed after careful reference to the rules, “but I remember that on one occasion a very similar point was submitted to the Rules Committee, and they
  • 51. said that such a thing was so obviously contrary to the spirit of the game that they had not thought it necessary to legislate upon the point. And they have not done so, and”— “That is so, and they were quite right,” the Colonel interrupted hurriedly, “because this is golf, and we cannot have rules in our code to say that men must not cheat, and the penalties for doing so. It would be too much of a reflection on us as gentlemen and golfers. But here is a most exceptional case, where advantage is taken of the omission, and Lazarus appeals to the law and the law only. He will stand by the law—the strict letter of it.” “I believe he must have his money,” the Author said. “It is the law,” said the M.P. “I think so,” put in the Parson. “Then, Septimus,” the Colonel concluded, “will you kindly tell your friend Lazarus that he may send a chartered accountant round to Dives’ headquarters to examine his financial position, with a view to a proper apportionment of his estate on the basis of nineteen parts to Dives and one part to Lazarus? And you had better tell the new record-holder at the same time that we don’t like this sort of thing, and we expect him to keep to his statement that he will not play the game again. He will have the fever on him after that 68, and with a few thousands a year at his disposal he will be after getting into all the clubs. I know these renunciations of golf. I have renounced myself—hundreds of times!” At this moment the door opened and the steward entered to say that luncheon was ready. “Splendid!” exclaimed the Colonel. “Gentlemen, the court is closed!”
  • 52. V Golf remained impossible in the afternoon, and the M.P. filled up his time by working out some golf statistics with a view to indicating to the ignorant public what was comprised in a year of golf. “You see,” he said, “sooner or later some of the very high authorities will find it to be necessary to take very serious notice of this game, of the number of people whose time it claims, of the land it engages, of the capital sunk in it, and of the enormous current expenditure upon it. Golf has really become a considerable factor in the social scheme of this country, and this must be recognised by legislators. I see that the Union authorities at Wirral have been giving some attention to the matter, with the result that they have jumped on the Royal Liverpool Club with an enormously increased assessment. The process of milking the golfer will begin soon.” “Well,” said the Colonel indulgently, “if our little game is to become a matter of national importance, you will be having questions asked about it in the House before long; eh, William?” “It is odd that you should make that suggestion,” the Parliamentarian responded, as he began to rummage in the inside pocket of his coat, “because I have a rather curious document here which amplifies it somewhat. Let me see—I am sure I had it in my letter-case—well, well!—Ah yes, here it is! I was going to say that one of the keenest golf youngsters we have got in this Parliament is young Norris, whose constant object in life seems to be to pair off with one of the Opposition down to Sunningdale. I believe he would rather win the Parliamentary Handicap next year than get a small Government job. Well, in the House he is always filling up his spare time with the development of some golfing idea or other. The other
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