Audit Steps and Associated Risk Mitigation †Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss About the Audit Steps and Associated Risk Mitigation? Answer: Introducation: The company has compared its current years ratios with the previous year and with the once they have budgeted in the beginning of the current year. Looking at the return on equity and the gross margin of the company in the current year, they have been a slight fall in the earning capacity of the company as compared to the previous year. The fall is majorly in the gross margin of the company which has fallen by nearly 1% in the current year. There has been a significant fall in the return the company has got on its equity and the total assets. The numbers which the company has budgeted and what the industry norms states, the company is no way near to them. The management of the company is planning to keep its cost in relation to the sales as low as possible but when we are looking at the marketing to the sales ratio the picture is all together different. The marketing to the sales ratio for the company in the current year is not higher from the last year but also from the industry ben chmark and also from the budgeted numbers. However, the admin ratio to sales has shown improvement and the same is better placed in the company. As provided earlier by the management that they are currently planning to reduce its inventory levels and the accounts receivable balances so as to manage its working capital requirement needs but the increasing days in for accounts receivable and inventory does not support the statement made by the management. The current ratio and the quick ratio that speaks about the financial health of the company has although improved over the period but the same is still on a lower side when it is compared with the industry standards. The company is further planning to reduce down its debt but the debt equity ratio has been increasing consistently irrespective to the planning and budgets made by the company. Thus overall, the financial position of the company is improving as compared to the last year but the company is way back in consideration to the industry standards and budgeted numbers. Ratio Analysis - Audit impact The auditors in this case, are required to work quite tactful. The auditors are required to analyze the difference between the ratios of the company and the budgeted ones and industry standards. The auditors should work with the management to get down to the reasons which has let to the downfall in the companys ratio. The company has decided to subcontract the manufacturing process to the factories in Fiji. The inventory system is entirely computerized. The system automatically generated Purchase orders when stocks of any raw material fall below 70% of the prior months usage and in case of finished goods at times when the finished goods fall below 60% of the prior months sales. The system automatically captures the prices of the raw material and the supplier name based on the criteria that have been set in the system for vendor selection. The auditors in this case are required to test the effectiveness of the system. The control testing is needed in this case being the major process that has been taken place in case of inventory is automated. The auditors in this case should test on sample basis the purchase orders that has been produced by the system. The auditors should prepare the process flow for the entire system and should carry out some walkthroughs as per the process flow that has been agreed with the management. This will give them sense of understanding and they can in a better way, will be able to comment on the effectiveness of the system. The auditors further will check the effectiveness of the master file from which the entire data has been captured by the system. The master list will contain information about the existing stock items including codes and warehouse location and name of the approved suppliers and sub-contractors. Considering the automation in the company, the auditor can easily rely on the numbers considering the effectiveness of the controls. The substantive procedures that the auditor need to select is dependent on the effectivene ss control testing. The auditors can increase the procedures if the controls been placed in by the company is not adequate. Ratio Analysis- Audit Steps and associated risk mitigation The audit risk that is there in the company is the effectiveness of the master list that is the core of all the purchase orders. Thus, if there is some error has been noted down in the master list, it will directly have its impact on the purchase orders of the company along with the price of the raw material. This has been regarded has an inherent risk for the company. The auditors in this case are required to follow the following audit steps: The IT team of the audit company will test the automated controls placed in by the IT department of the company and test their reliance and their effectiveness. The auditors will further prepare a process flow for the activities being carried out by the company. The process flow that has been prepared by the auditor will get validated by the management and based on the same; the auditor will carry out a walk through for the sample that they have randomly selected. The auditor will test the effectiveness of the assertions they have determined and will document the entire process which they can use in later years. Once they are satisfied with the process, the auditor can decide on the substantive procedure that they will carry in relation to the accounts that will be impacted by the above process, Internal control weakness In the given case, the Alex Blenheim Company has been operating with a low margin but with high volumes just to cover overhead costs and generate profits. The purchase order generation process of the company is automated. There is no manual intervention in the entire process and this is the major weakness that has been noted down in the process. The Purchase orders are automatically generated by the computer when stocks of any raw material fall below 70% of the prior months usage. In this situation as soon as the inventory level of the raw material fells below the expected level, the system will automatically place orders with the supplier whose price is less and who is providing the material early. In this situation, at times when it is expected that in the current month the demand for the finished goods will be on a lower side, but considering the system limitation, the system will automatically place order of the raw material. Thus, the material that has been ordered is in excess than what is actually been required considering the demand for the current month. This will block the working capital of the company and may not be in the interest of the company. This is an internal control weakness in the companys system. In this situation there should be a manual check to confirm the production order. The production order needs to be checked manually and the orders that needs to be checked should be linked with the expected finished goods that to be produced by the company in the current month. Further when the material has been received, the bar codes attached are scanned and is linked with the master list. But it has been stated that at times when the codes does not tie back to the master list, the scanning process is aborted. This is again a loop hole in the automation process and can be considered as a weakness in the internal control process. The management should avoid entry of goods whose bar codes dos not tie back to the master list. Internal control weakness- Audit Impact The weakness in the internal control will affect the audit procedures that have been designed by the auditors for the company. The auditors would check the inventory level requirement of the company and check and find out instances at when the company does not have any requirement for the raw material based on the budgeted finished goods and still order has been placed with the supplier. The auditor can project them with the management and educate them about the excess working capital that has been blocked in this process. Further for the scanning process when the bar codes for the material that has been coming in or gin gut is not been tied back to the codes in the master list, is also a matter of concern and this may arose attention of the auditors and they need to extend their substantive audit procedure in this area. They are required to figure out instances and may highlight them as a weakness in the internal control process as being the material has not been scanned and traced by the scanning machine, this will not update the inventory levels in the system and ultimately the purchase orders will get affected as the same is being placed based on the last month sales and inventory levels. Thus, it is a big loop hole and requires attention from both the management and from the auditors. Internal control weakness- Audit steps The auditor in this situation is required to take the following steps to reduce the risk: The IT team of the audit company will test the automated controls placed in by the IT department of the company and test their reliance and their effectiveness. The auditors will further prepare a process flow for the activities being carried out by the company especially at times of receipt of goods. The process flow that has been prepared by the auditor will get validated by the management and based on the same; the auditor will carry out a walk through for the sample that they have randomly selected. The auditor should test the samples in line with the process that has been agreed by the management. The document that has been collected by the auditors during the walk through should be documented. This will help in reducing the attached risk it occurs in future in relation to their duties. If while testing the samples selected, if any discrepancy has been noted, the auditor are required to extend their sample size and is required to focus more on the substantive procedures to test the effectiveness of the process. Computer Assisted Audit Techniques (CAATs) CAATs stand for Computer Assisted Audit Techniques. CAAT are audit techniques that has been used for carrying out the IT related audit processes. CAAT techniques in this case includes basic office related softwares such as excel spreadsheet, word processor. It at the same time includes some more advanced tools such as statistical analysis and business intelligence tools. Through the help of the CAAT techniques the audit process has automated. Computer assisted auditing techniques refers to the use of modern computer assisted techniques in carrying out the audit work. The auditing process tends to automate through the use of these techniques. As we are aware that the audit work is in same or the other way related to the process of sample section. The sample selected should represent the entire population. These Computer assisted auditing techniques has helped the auditors in the process of sample selection and provides samples that clearly and evidently represent the population size. The auditors prefers reduction of manual intervention during the sample selection process, the same is adopted through these Computer assisted auditing techniques. With the growing market and frauds in the companies the use of Computer Assisted Audit Techniques has increased multiple folds. Various new and more advanced tools has been introduced in the market The traditional method that has been used by the companies tends to reach to the conclusion based on analysising limited set of data rather than examining all the available larger set of data. Through the help of Computer Assisted Audit Techniques, the auditor can test some more specific risks. This can be well understood from the help of the following example: The auditor of an insurance company wanted to test whether the company has paid any insurance claim to any person after the policy has been terminated. In that case through the help of the traditional policy, they cannot test all the policies. They can only take some samples and based on them they have reach out to some conclusion. However, through the help of the Computer Assisted Audit Techniques the auditor can test all the polic y claims by examining the date of policy termination and claim settlement date and based on the same they can conclude o their thought. This is the process through the auditor of the company can conclude on some specific risk. (Bourke, 2010) The auditors has been using the techniques from years as through the process one can easily analyze large data and can get the required report out. The CAAT techniques have some attached advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of using the Computer Assisted Audit Techniques are as follows: The auditor can independently access the data from the computer system without any dependence of the client. Through the help of the Computer Assisted Audit Techniques, the accuracy of the audit results increased. The long run cost of the audit gets reduced and the audit test can be performed more efficiently. The auditor at the same tie through the help of the CAAT techniques can reach out the effectiveness of the client software. The disadvantages of using the Computer Assisted Audit Techniques are as follows: The CAAT techniques are expensive and is time consuming to set up the process. IN order to use the CAAT techniques, corporation is required from the management which is difficult to obtain. The audit team might lack expertise in terms of IT skills and knowledge to create the complex data extracts and programming required. Further there is always a probability attached related to data corruption. The audit team is required to go through proper training to understand the outcome of the CAAT techniques. (Kaplan, 2012) There are different Computer Assisted Audit Techniques being used by the auditors and considering the business that has been carried out by Alex Blenheim Pty Limited along with the automated inventory system that has been sued by the company, there are some specific CAAT techniques are preferable. CAATs include many types of tools and techniques, such as generalized audit software, test data, utility software, application software tracing and mapping, and audit expert systems. Specialized audit test and analysis software: Through the help of the specialized audit test and analysis software, the auditors can review the specialized computer files of the company. Through these softwares, the test transactions of the company can be checked with ascertaining a copy of the live production system so as to ensure whether the controls are adequate. Through the help of this softwares the invalid transactions can be identified easily and the same can be flagged. This can be done through putting standard input in the software. In case of Alex Blenheim Pty Limited there are certain areas where the system generated some specialized files which through this software can be analyzed in a better way. The purchase order file for the raw material and the finished goods can be analyses through these softwares. Sample extraction tools: The auditors cannot test the enter data. In the current world, the data of the companies are hugh and at the same time being they are processed from complex softwares making it difficult for the auditors to analyses the data. Further, the auditor has given their opinion on the financial statements of the company considering the data that they have analyzed. It is not possible for them to do that, thus they take out some samples from the entire population and based on the same they give their opinion. I this situation, the sample selection process should be robust enough so that the sample that has been selected represents the entire population. Thus, an adequate sample extraction technique is required. In case of Alex Blenheim Pty Limited, the auditor is required to test the effectiveness of the purchase orders placed, the scanning process effectiveness etc. (Adukia, 2017) Simplification of data Tools: The data that has been processed in the companies through the accounting softwares tends to be very complicated. The auditors based on their requirements process the data in their data tools so as to get them simplified. This will help in increasing the understanding levels of the auditors and they can in a better way process the information and reach out for better conclusion. In case of Alex Blenheim Pty Limited, the entire process of manufacturing is being carried out by sub contactors and the process is run through a master list, thus being there is high level of automation in the system, these types of data simplification tools are required on higher side. References Bourke J, 2010, Computer Assisted Audit Techniques or CAATS, viewed on 6th May 2017, Retrieved from https://www.aicpastore.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2010/CPA/Jan/CAATS.jsp Kaplan financial knowledge Bank, Computer assisted audit techniques (CAATs), 2012, viewed on 6th May 2017, Retrieved from https://kfknowledgebank.kaplan.co.uk/KFKB/Wiki%20Pages/Computer%20Assisted%20Audit%20Techniques.aspx Adukia R, 2017, A Hand Book on Internal Audit, viewed on 6th May 2017, Retrieved from https://www.caclubindia.com/books/internal_audit/Chapter5.asp Ready ratios.com, Computer assisted audit techniques (CAATs), 2012, viewed on 6th May 2017, Retrieved from https://www.readyratios.com/reference/audit/computer_assisted_audit_techniques_caats.htm