After the cpas have selected particular accounts receivable for confirmation: a. as a control measure, the cpas should carefully list the audited values of all of those accounts before turning the letters over to the client to type and mail. b. it is important that every account selected that has a material balance ultimately be verified by confirmation or the application of alternative procedures; immaterial balances never require any follow-up through alternative procedures. c. all requests for confirmation should be mailed in envelopes bearing the cpa firm's return address and should include a return envelope addressed to the cpa firm. d. all differences between confirmation replies and book values should be reconciled by the cpas, rather than the client.

Reliability and validity reliability and validity are two important considerations that must be made with any type of data collection. reliability refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result. in the context of psychological research, this would mean that any instruments or tools used to collect data do so in consistent, reproducible ways. unfortunately, being consistent in measurement does not necessarily mean that you have measured something correctly. to illustrate this concept, consider a kitchen scale that would be used to measure the weight of cereal that you eat in the morning. if the scale is not properly calibrated, it may consistently under- or overestimate the amount of cereal that’s being measured. while the scale is highly reliable in producing consistent results (e.g., the same amount of cereal poured onto the scale produces the same reading each time), those results are incorrect. this is where validity comes into play. validity refers to the extent to which a given instrument or tool accurately measures what it’s supposed to measure. while any valid measure is by necessity reliable, the reverse is not necessarily true. researchers strive to use instruments that are both highly reliable and valid.