The Importance of Audit Independence

The Importance of Audit Independence 1. Introduction As the development of the modern business, audit is playing a more and more important role to insure the trueness of the financial report and help report users to make proper decisions. Consequently, it is very important for auditors to remain independence in body and mind when conducting an audit based on a public limited company. To expound this topic clearly, the essay is divided into the following parts: Firstly, it makes a literature review of audit independence and concluded the viewpoint into four categories; secondly, it introduces the definition of audit independence in body and mind and stated the important of both of them separately; Finally, it analyzes why it is important to remain audit independence from many angles such as shareholders, creditors, government, operators and other stakeholders. 2. Literature review When it comes to the audit independence, many scholars have conducted systematic research in this topic. Some scholars pointed out that auditor has two kinds of independence- body and mind, lack of the former one may shake the publics confidence on independence and lead to interest conflicts, and lack of the latter one means auditors lose their professional ethics and this is very dangerous (Carmichael Swieringa, 1968). Salehi have emphasized that the cornerstone for the auditing profession is audit independence. The auditors opinion is suspect without independence and the third parties think that there is no need for external auditors without independence (Salehi, 2009). Due to highly publicized audit failures, the topic of auditor independence has gained increasing attention from academics, regulators, and practitioners around the world in recent years (Hope Langli, 2008). Under the background of many high profile companies fraud cases exposure such as Enron, Adelphia, WorldCom, the importance of audit independence to improve corporate governance is getting more and more attention (Rezaee. 2003). As the no-audit services has become a more and more important lucrative business for CFA firms, audit independence is somewhat influenced, which make it even more crucial to maintain audit independence for auditors (Gul, Tsui Dhaliwal, 2006). Besides, Bou-Raad G. emphasized the significance of audit importance from the value -added prospect. Internal auditors are not just a traditional audit for supervision but also a valuable access to assisting managers to execute the objectives of the organization. In other words, corporate management benefits from audit quality (Bou-Raad. 2000). From the literature above, the importance of audit independence can be categorized into four reasons: Firstly, audit independence can hold the public confidence and avoid interest conflicts; Secondly, audit independence can help auditors to provide high quality financial report and avoid scandals like Enron bomb; Thirdly, the development of no-audit services make it more difficult but more important to maintain audit independence; Lastly, audit independence can improve the quality of audit and it can assist managers to make strategy formulations. 3. The introduction of audit independence in body and mind When it comes to remaining independence in body, it can be also called physical independence, external independence or surface independence. Auditors should take the role of independence auditors on front of the third parties. And it is the direct evidence for the public judging the independence of auditors. Once report users think that auditors have some current or potential relationship that damages the independence with the consigner such as employment, business partner, family or relatives and so on, it will definitely decrease the audit function as they probably do not depend on those reports so much (Law, 2010). Auditors should have no specific relationships with entity, and they mustnt hold equity stakes of the entity and should not be on the senior position of it. In order to avoid misunderstanding and enhance the trust, auditor must avoid or diminish this threat to a level which is acceptable. Independence in mind is hard to improve and the public can only infer the independ ence of auditors from the body like relationships with the entity and other stakeholders. Actually, even if auditors maintain independence in mind, as long as the public think they take sides with the entity or any other parties, no matter how precise the audit result is it is useless. As for remaining independence in mind, it demands that there is no stake between auditor and the consigner intrinsically. In the whole auditing process, auditor should keep an unbiased attitude that makes a professional decision and never succumbs to any external pressure. It comes up with higher requirement for auditors mindset. They are required to be neutral, objective and fact-based. Actually, those two concepts are different but integrative. They reflect both external and internal sides. Only remaining independence in body and mind can make sure the auditing result persuasive. Also, the function and value of conducting audit can be realized. 4. The importance of remaining audit independence Stakeholders make economy decisions by taking advantage of reports. Whether those reports are related and reliable are questions. Audit can help to solve this problem. However, auditor fails to fulfill the duty if they cannot remain independence in the conducting process. On one hand, report users will doubt this kind of dependence if they thought auditor and consigner belong to the same party. On the other hand, when auditor cannot keep an unbiased mindset, the auditing opinion probably gets wrong. For example, auditor fails to find out the information is cooked and issues unqualified opinion. This result is easy to mislead related report users for decision making. They may bear loss because of depending on this audit opinion. As the situation varies from Stakeholder to Stakeholder, the following analysis in the importance to remain independence in body and mind is based on different Stakeholders. 4.1 The importance of audit independence for the shareholders Shareholders are the direct beneficiary of companies and they will get more bonuses if the companies operate successfully. Consequently, shareholders have high demand for audit independence. Actually, when the company is in poor operation, controlling shareholders are not willing to public the truth, and then hurt the interest of minority shareholders. Controlling shareholders dont have the incentive to employ high independence auditors, and this phenomenon is called Entrenchment Effect (Fan Wong, 2002). As the shareholders right separates from the management right, owners do not involve into the daily management to the company. They employ staff to operate their company and enjoy the profits. Usually, shareholders care much about the profitability, efficiency, going concern, and solvency and so on. Those indexes reflect how well manager operates the company. Also, shareholders can assess managers performance according to the information. Generally speaking, they obtain the information from the reports prepared by managers. However, the report may involve fraudulence because it is manager who makes those reports. It has the possibility that managers cook the report so as to cover up their mistakes, bad performance and other situation where they fail to fulfill their responsibility. At this time, auditors work helps answer the question that how much report users can depend on the report information. But if auditor is unable to keep independence, it probably arouses the doubt to audit opinion from report users. Obviously, audit loses the value under this condition. Without unbiased and objective audit opinion, report users are unable to acquire useful information to know the companys condition and assess managers performance. Once shareholders lose control to the company, this business mechanism will definitely go disorder as managers probably make their own benefits by taking advantage of shareholders resource and power and regardless of the limitation from regulation and law (Agbejule, 2009). In the end, the company probably goes to liquidation or bankruptcy. 4.2 The importance of audit independence for creditor Nowadays, debtor-creditor relationshipÂÂ  is very common and necessary. Debtors want to loan in order to expend production or develop new market, and creditors want to obtain interest using their spare money. And what the creditors concern most is the debtors ability to pay for the debt. The debtors financial reports can offer some information such as some ratios which can reveal the debt paying ability. And if the company has a bad financial result, creditors can consider calling in a loan ahead of the expiry day to insure their money is safe. However, those reports are made by the debtor. Therefore, creditors may raise the doubt whether there exists the possibility that debtor offer false information to diddle money or conceal the fact that they have no ability to pay that money back. At this time, auditors work can eliminate or alleviate this doubt. However, audit cant work out if auditor were unable to remain independence when conducting the audit. Creditors are likely to ma ke a wrong decision due to the failed audit opinion. When creditor lends money to unqualified debtor, it probably bears a lot of bad accounts and toxic asset as consequence (Siddiqui, 2002). Consequently, audit independence which can help to provide true financial reports is very crucial to creditors. 4.3 The importance of audit independence to government As a company operates within one country, it uses the infrastructure construction and investment environment offered by the government. It should take on tax responsibility. The financial statement provided by companies is the evidence for government to decide whether levy or not and how many to levy. For example, business tax is based on the gross income of the company which can be found on the income statement. And the income tax is based on the profit also from income statement. If company cooks the financial reports in order to save tax cost, the government will be suffered directly. Therefore, government will conduct audit in case of tax evasion. Moreover, lacking of audit independence would influence government indirectly. If auditors provided fake financial reports, the pubic will be suffered. They will have less confidence on the trueness of the operation of the company, and the stakeholders will feel betrayed. If their interests are impaired, conflicts would emerge, and it is bad for the stability of the society. That is why the government published the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act after the Enron Bomb. 4.4 The importance of audit independence for operator Many people may misunderstand that auditor is enemy to operator referring to manager in this essay and the existence of audit is a stone in the way. This idea is partial and shallow. The role of audit plays is to increase the dependence to the information and check whether the whole business activities are in accordance with the regulation. To some degree, it serves to obtain superior management (Shih, 2006). Sometimes, auditors will come up with solutions to the existing management problems. For example, the internal control has leak which may incur situation where damages the whole benefits of company. Going details, the design of regulation may give a chance for embezzlement. Or auditor finds out some staff goes against regulation. Cases like that should call managers attention for better management. If auditor cannot keep independence when conducting audit, it will pose the threat to the company such as damage the company benefits. For example, the auditor is a brother to the cas hier. When this auditor conducts audit to cash, he cant remain independence or his independence has been affected. He may conceal the fact if the cashier had some guilt and issues unqualified opinion (Fadzil, 2005). Because of this opinion, managers cant notice this threat. It may have a bad effect on their working performance and company development. 4.5 The importance of audit independence for the other stakeholders The existence of a company has to bear many responsibilities. Therefore, the stakeholders can never be limited to the above mention. When a company becomes a listed company namely a public limited company, it has to fulfill more duties to the society and accept more supervision from the public. It raises fund by stock shares. Its public investors sell or buy the shares in the stock exchange, and their decision usually relies in the financial reports. However, those reports perhaps cannot reflect the financial position and income condition. Audit opinion is very important in their decision making process. If auditor could not remain independence, the audit opinion will mislead the users. Investors will lose money if they invested a loss company. For example, the collapse of Enron results from the accounting firm Andersen failed to remain independence. In the end, the share price cannot reflect the value of the company (Abbott, 2000). Stock market will go wrong and the economy will fal l apart. 5. Conclusions The most important responsibility for auditors is to provide high quality financial report which can help report users to make right decisions. The authenticity and reliability of the financial report is very crucial because it directly decides the strategies of stakeholders. The trueness of financial report which is also the quality of audit is decided by two factors: professional competence of auditors and audit independence, and the latter is more important. Audit failures caused by lack of audit independence have led to many companies fraud cases. Audit independence is also the need of shareholders, creditors, government, operators and other stakeholders. All in all, it is really important for auditors to remain independence in body and mind when conducting an audit.

Philips vs Panasonic: Facing the 2008 Economic Crisis Essay

1. Introduction Panasonic and Philips are two of the main consumer electronics companies in the world with different origins but similar international path. Several hurdles were faced by both companies in their evolution. This paper will analysis how the administrative heritage of Philips and Panasonic caused problem in the changing of their strategy, causing problem in the implementation of the respective strategic decisions. Moreover it tries to explain how time contingences and the external environment had influenced the strategy of the two MNEs and shape the organizational structure; sometimes leading to success, sometimes losing ground in the market field. Nowadays the main tasks of the two companies are conflictual : for Panasonic defending its leadership position, for Philips challenging the global leader. How to reach these goals? The last paragraph will address these objectives providing to the CEOs of the respective companies further steps to consider in order to remain com petitive in the market field, from 2008 looking forward. 2. How the environment and culture shape companies’ strategy and organization 2.1 Philips evolution: from responsive to integrated Philips’s strategy, right after WWII, led the company to its success. The economic situation during the 30s, forced the company to transfer part of its assets and laboratories abroad. This led to a dispersion of responsibilities. Countries protectionism, high tariffs and trade barriers required local production facilities. These problems led to the adoption of a decentralized federation with independent and self sufficient units and autonomous marketing. The contingent environment spurred the management to rebuild their structures upon National Operations (NOs). Philips built its success on a worldwide portfolio of responsive national organizations. Economic conditions, tastes and preferences, at that time, differed across countries; corporate management treated subsidiaries as independent national businesses with the aim to satisfy local needs. National Organizations were so vigil that they manage to preempt products required by customers, launching products such as the first color TV, the first stereo TV and the first TV with teletext. Innovation and R&D were the core strength of the company. They were flexible, responsive and fast in the approach to market. Entrepreneurial initiatives derived, not from top down imposition, but from every single division. The company succeeded in managing its innovation and to bring it to the next level, making innovation and customer’s needs the purpose of their business. The focus on national responsiveness was appropriate since the 50-60s, when it started to become the firm’s limitation. The great focus given to tailor solution to costumers’ tastes increased the cost of production and led to a dispersion of subsidiaries across too many countries. Problems of efficiencies and coordination arose. The company took several years to get rid of its matrix structure. Attempts to shift the companies to a slimmer organization in order to become more efficient in its production were slow and cumbersome. The National Operations continued to detain major responsibilities. The company was captive of its past. Contrarily to management prevision, the matrix structure created more problems that it solved. It was more complex than either the â€Å"worldwide area structure† or â€Å"the worldwide product structure†, and it created conflicts of responsibilities. Market signals warned the company to implement changes in the way business was conducted. However, in the 1990s, the company was, still, going through major losses. The structure was too costly and value added higher, compared to Japanese production facilities. Even if a good objective were settled in the strategic planning, however, as history showed, the further step of re-organization failed due to difficulties encountered in rebuilding the organization. It was not a zero-base reconfiguration. For more than 35 years, from 1971 onwards, different CEOs tried to take action in order to reduce the power of NO and create an agile and simple divisional organization that could create efficiencies, however trying not to neglects their sources of innovation: respond to country specific markets. 2.2 Matsushita evolution: from integration to responsiveness Matsushita point of departure instead was complete different from the one undertaken by Philips. Matsushita employed a divisional structure with a strong centralized decision making. The adoption of the divisional organization was well-thought due to the large and highly differentiated product range manufactured by the companies, aimed to different target clients. This allowed the company to reduce the organizational complexity and reducing transaction costs within the company. Matsushita exploited the favorable characteristic of the post war era, such as a convergence of tastes across borders and the â€Å"uncontrollable† globalization. In the 60s, the firm managed to expand its product range. It created self-funded research laboratories to develop new product solution. At the time, Matsushita detained a strong distribution channel directly owned by the company with more than 25.000 domestic retail store. However, when the demand in the domestic marketed slowed down, what was a competitive advantage domestically was not replicable abroad. The company made a lot of effort in expanding its international presence, without being demoralized. However as times passed by, the highly centralized control structure, create problems in their offshore operations. By the 1980s, the company, mainly concentrated on global integration instead of localization, decided to re-tailored its strategy . Decentralization of responsibilities was more than a necessity. Matsushita’s strategy was too focused on global efficiencies neglecting innovation, and learning and flexibility. R&D was vital in this industry. Actions of several CEO tried to address these issues, changing the company’s strategy from copycat to promoter of invention. However, as Philips encountered problem in its â€Å"transformation†, so did Mastushita. The firm had difficulties in promoting self initiatives among different divisions. The former centralized hub organizational structure was still present in the employees’ mentality. The initiatives, such as the introduction of local managers with stronger responsibilities in key positions and locations, did not give the expected outcome in the short run. It took several years and a lot of effort to see some res ults. Again the company was captive of its past. Today, Mitsushita’s configuration is mainly built around 3 main divisions: Digital networks, Home appliance and Components; reduced from the 36 product divisions used in the 1980s. The simplification was clear and so its advantages. The reaction of such a structure led the company to be more flexible to local need, reduce costs of duplication and achieve economies of scope. The products developed within each division were highly linked. However the company was not safe from competition. With the crisis’ approaching, the economical situation of the company does not remain untouched. What else is left to do? 2 Core issues today in the consumer electronic industry The current economic situation differs drastically from the one encountered in 10 or 20 years ago. Phenomena like globalization have given companies such as Philips and Panasonic the chance to provide their product to an extensive market, raising however new challenges. The global economic recession has created new needs. Consumers are more price sensitive and less willing to pay high prices for low quality products. Companies need to be aware of their cost structure and be ready to take respond to rapid technological changes and changing consumer preferences with timely and cost-effective introductions of new products in markets that are highly competitive in terms of both price and technology. The access to low factor cost, such as low labor force in emerging country as become crucial. Moreover, developing markets, such as India and China, are not only location where firms can manufacture products at lower costs, but also new opportunities where companies can market their own produ cts. In the consumer electronic industry, competition has become extremely high and innovation, now more than ever has become crucial as new source of revenues. 3. Recommendation for Philips: Exploit contingencies of the time you are in The 2008 situation of Philips is not flourishing. In 2008, the company scored a net loss of â‚ ¬260 million. This was probably due to the financial crisis that affected the company drastically. However, company’s loss can not only be attributed to external factors. The company has made some mistakes, in the recent years, and should take action and correct its own strategy, remembering it origins. Coherence with past is crucial to tailor an effective strategy that could lead to innovative solutions for the future. That’s why Philips should continue to develop consumer-centric solutions. Research laboratories should remain independent but linked across one another. Philips should tackle the recession without sacrificing its long term strategic ambition: â€Å"Improving people live through meaningful innovation†1. That why now, more than ever, the company should be able to forecast marke t trends. Philips should continue more efficiently to re-allocate resources to growth opportunities and emerging markets. To do so it should transfer part of its qualified personnel to target markets, such as from India and China, building a strong teams of both local and expatriates managers and engineers. The combination of foreign and local figures could help the firm to continue the strategy of local responsiveness. To do so, it is necessary to include in the company agenda selective mergers and acquisitions. M&A, however, should not be out of focus. Philips has reduced its current division to 3 main domains: healthcare, lighting and customers lifestyle. My recommendation would be to stay true to these three core segments, acquiring key strategic companies in foreign markets. How to finance these new objectives? Disinvestments in peripheral activities and less profitable plans are still needed in order to obtain liquidity to reinvest in developing countries. This tactic would not repay within short term but long term profits would offset the high level of investments. Moreover leveraging of local subsidiaries in emerging markets can a springboard, to target back developed markets selling low cost products. 4. Recommendation for Mastushita: defending worldwide dominance The economic situation of Panasonic is different from the once faced by Philips. Panasonic is the world’s leading plasma maker in the industry and has to defend its worldwide dominance. Matsushita has based its competitive advantage ion low cost production. However, particular during financial crisis period, several other initiatives are to be implemented. First the company has to reduce its cost structure in order to face the deep decrease in demand in order to continue to make profits. Panasonic its already leader in this activities, however, there are always margins of improvements. To achieve cost reduction, it has to downsize its workforce. The firm should prioritized certain businesses over less profitable ones. Moreover adopt a lean management in order to reduce at the minimum the wastes in the value chain. Secondly it should restructure its organization to make it as clear and simple as possible in order to avoid cost duplication, slow process and cost of bureaucracy. In addition, The shift of demand and the focus on emerging market, in particular Asian markets, should be the highest priority. The market signaled opportunities in untapped market. The firm should be upfront in order to gain advantages over competition. These is a necessity to shut down plants in Japan and oversea and transfer workforce and capital to new sites. This initiative can also overcome exchange currency risk. Also distribution channels in these countries should be enhanced. However, the company should not forget its heritage: leverage on efficiency. The company should achieve a â€Å"transnational strategy†; incrementing its local responsiveness and innovation and learning, at the same time. Even during times of recession in essential to continue to invest in R&D, with the objective to grow faster than competitors when the market recovers. The main revenues for the companies come from distinct technologies. Local responsiveness could be achieved through the delegation of, even more, profit responsibilities to the three main divisions. This could enhance the company performance and to keep it on the podium. 6. Conclusions The structural variety is function of the environmental characteristics, Organization has to adapt to the external environment. Both companies has gone through several changes in their evolution. Environmental factors pushed companies to rethink their strategy and consequently their organizational structures. In some cases the difficulties encountered in the transition, for instance from an highly integrated company to more responsive, was slow and cumbersome. Both companies has been proved to be reluctant to change. . It is true that the set of strategies a firm is limited by the decisions the company has made in the past, however, these limitation should not be considered as insurmountable. Change can occur and rapidly. Philips and Panasonic lacked the ambition to design solution at 360 °. Firms should learn from their past and continue to leverage on their own competitive advantages, building on existing infrastructure. Do not be captive of your own past, but use your past experience to create a strong advantage, compensating your deficiencies. 5

Get the Scoop on College Essays Prof Readers Services on Line Before Youre Too Late

Get the Scoop on College Essays Prof Readers Services on Line Before You're Too Late The Battle Over College Essays Prof Readers Services on Line and How to Win It Most likely possibly the most gifted authors find it impossible to start to observe the clients' minds you will need to get detailed in your instructions and inform them exactly the factor you are going to need if you would love by having an outstanding academic paper delivered employing the deadline. Our writers are highly competent so it is possible to place your order for any kind of custom essay with no hesitation. Moreover, academic writers want to know themselves in order to make the most of their professional lives. The necessary readings represent a few of those approaches. There are plenty of procedures that could help you to select a topic. You can also find a collection of sample essays so that you can definitely get a sense of the great provider, and understand what you're buying into. You ought to create a thorough study essay writing services before placing the transaction with any customized essay writing service online then only you're receiving the best paper for those dollars. Thus, should you feel you aren't competent enough, ask for skilled support and set an order with a trustworthy essay writing company, like ProfEssays.com. Make certain that you simply appraise the prices of countless essay writing services and be familiarized with conventional market prices, to make sure that you're in the larger place when searching for the best essay writing services. Things get difficult should you face numerous custom writing services you'll be able to buy, however, you can't make sure you will acquire the very best dissertation writing as you uncover most likely probably the most dependable company available in the marketplace. Our crew of writers processes hundreds of essay papers daily and thus know exactly the type of topics that are of a massive demand by professors. Therefore don't let the caliber of these essays intimidate you. That's how writing works, particularly with essays and papers or even with other kinds of reports. Essay editing isn't a whim, but it's rather an essential step towards an expert bit of work. Searching for an essay proofreading service on the internet is a fantastical notion, especially when your time is limited. Not to mention your private satisfaction when you get rewarding outcomes. There are a lot of writing services that offer poor writing services additionally to don't sustain a superb shipping time that might be an important concern for those students. So should you feel you don't have that period of time to spare, there isn't anything wrong with seeking the assistance of professionals. Well, eventually you are going to need expert assistance. It shows how this sector plays an important role in producing the financial conditions that allow much financial development to proceed. We realize how difficult it best be essay set your trust into a writing service, which explains why services have placed services this honest reviews on that which we found. A number of internet services and companies claim to extend the best academic aid but they normally fail to fulfil those promises. Our services don't just cater to you for short-term targets. Education is a rather intriguing approach. Since it is such a broad field of learning, you will need to confine your discussion to one main point. It is a huge science that focuses on both technical and psychological aspects of teaching. It is one of the ways of bettering yourself. Your writing can find that much-needed assistance to produce the very best work. It is almost always better to ask yourself whether your readers will truly see what you're saying. The publishers generate income from selling hardcovers. The Argument About College Essays Prof Readers Services on Line Our writers will make sure that you are completely pleased with the last edition. We won't cancel any order after it's been sent to a publisher. Our writing service permits you to maintain constant contact with your favorite writer, where you're able to message them with queries and they contact you whenever possible. This is known as plagiarism and can change your general academic future.

How To Use Spanish Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are those pronouns that are used almost exclusively in questions. In both Spanish and English, interrogative pronouns are typically placed at or very near the beginning of a sentence. The Spanish Interrogatives Following are the interrogative pronouns in Spanish with their translations and examples of their usage. Note that in some cases the pronouns can vary in translation when they follow a preposition. Also, some of the pronouns exist in singular and plural forms and (in the case of cuà ¡nto) masculine and feminine forms that should match the noun they stand for. quià ©n, quià ©nes — who, whom —  ¿Quià ©n es tu amiga? (Who is your friend?)  ¿Quià ©n es? (Who is it?)  ¿A quià ©nes conociste? (Whom have you met?)  ¿Con quià ©n andas? (Whom are you walking with?)  ¿De quià ©n es esta computadora? (Whose computer is this?)  ¿Para quià ©nes son las comidas? (Whom are the meals for?)quà © — what (The phrases por quà © and para quà © are usually translated as why. Por quà © is more common than para quà ©. They are sometimes interchangeable; para quà © can be used only when asking about the intent or purpose of something happening and can be thought of as meaning what for.) —  ¿Quà © es esto? (What is this?)  ¿Quà © pasa? (Whats happening?)  ¿En quà © piensas? (What are you thinking about?)  ¿De quà © hablas? (What are you talking about?)  ¿Para quà © estudiaba espaà ±ol? (Why did you study Spanish? What did you study Spanish for?)  ¿Por quà © se rompià ³ el coche? (Why did the car break down?)  ¿Quà © restaurante prefieres? (What restaurant do you prefer?)dà ³nde — where —  ¿Dà ³nde està ¡? (Where is it?)  ¿De dà ³nde es Roberto? (Where is Roberto from?)  ¿Por dà ³nde empezar? (Where do we begin?)  Ã‚ ¿Dà ³nde puedo ver el eclipse lunar?  (Where can I see the lunar eclipse?) Note that adà ³nde should be used when where can be substituted with where to with no change in meaning.adà ³nde  Ã¢â‚¬â€ where to, to where  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚  Ã‚ ¿Adà ³nde  vas?  (Where are you going to? Where are you going?)  Ã‚ ¿Adà ³nde podemos ir con nuestro perro? (Where can we go to with our dog?)cuà ¡ndo — when —  ¿Cuà ¡ndo salimos? (When are we leaving?)  ¿Para cuà ¡ndo estarà ¡ listo? (By when will it be ready?)  ¿Hasta cuà ¡ndo quedan ustedes? (Until when are you staying?)cuà ¡l, cuà ¡les — which one, which ones (This word also can often be translated as what. Generally speaking, when cuà ¡l is us ed it suggests the making of a selection from more than one alternative.) —  ¿Cuà ¡l prefieres? (Which one do you prefer?)  ¿Cuà ¡les prefieres? (Which ones do you like?)cà ³mo — how —  ¿Cà ³mo està ¡s? (How are you?)  ¿Cà ³mo lo haces? (How do you do it?)cuà ¡nto, cuà ¡nta, cuà ¡ntos, cuà ¡ntas — how much, how many —  ¿Cuà ¡nto hay? (How much is there?)  ¿Cuà ¡ntos? (How many?) — The masculine form is used unless in context it is known you are referring to an object or objects that are grammatically feminine. For example,  ¿cuà ¡ntos? might mean how many pesos? because pesos is masculine, while  ¿cuà ¡ntas? might mean how many towels? because toallas is feminine. Using Interrogative Pronouns As you may have noticed, the interrogative pronouns are all spelled with accent marks that do not affect the pronunciation. Many of the interrogative pronouns also can be used in indirect questions  (as opposed to questions) while retaining  the accent mark. Note also that many of the interrogative pronouns can be used as other parts of speech, including adjectives and adverbs, either with or without the accent marks, depending on the context.