During the course of a bank audit, an auditor discovers that one loan officer has approved loans to a number of related but separate organizations, in violation of regulatory policies. The loan officer indicated that it was an oversight and would not happen again. However, the auditor believes that the action may have been intentional because the loan officer is a relative of one of the primary owners of the corporate group that controls the related organizations. The auditor should
A. nform management of the conflict of interest and the violation of the regulatory requirements and suggest further investigation
B. eport the violation to the regulatory agency because it constitutes a significant breakdown of the bank's control structure
C. ot report the violation if the loan officer agrees to take corrective action
D. xpand the audit work to determine if there may be fraudulent activity on the part of the loan officer and report the findings to management when the followup investigation is complete