Case Analysis: Inside an IT audit by Meridith Levinson (CIO)
This case covers an audit on the IT department of Bluegreen Corporation; bluegreen corp. is a real estate developer and resort operator based in Florida, arranged by the company’s’ Vice President and CIO Sheila Beauchesne to achieve growth in the IT infrastructure of the company. The audit was carried out by the VP and CIO Sheila Beauchesne to understand the company’s overall spending and expenditure on its IT, GIP (Global information partners) were hired as the auditing team, Bluegreens IT financial auditor Krista Parker was made the audits main point of contact in case when the auditing team needs any information regarding the organization, and the IT manager of support Gary Kaul
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proved to be a vital key source during the auditing when it came to calculating and budgeting the help-desk support cost of the department. Beauchesne was handed the responsibility of growing the company’s IT infrastructure to another level, and in order to make this happen she would need to know the company’s IT budgeting in a lot more detail than the company was previously accustomed to. One of the other objectives were to identify the spending of the company and compare It with other organizations of a similar scale as that of Bluegreen Corporation. Although the recommendations and analysis helped Sheila Beauchesne to get the approval for additional workforce, new support and management systems and also improved reporting on the company’s IT accounts and budget, it can be categorized as a project success for Shelia Beauchesne, but in terms of project management, it’s a PM failure because the auditing team was not able to meet the scope of the project.
GIP initially anticipated this audit to be fairly easy but it appeared that it wasn’t as straightforward as it looked; the final analysis on the audit had all the results and findings which were presented to Sheila Beauchesne and her staff by GIP’s auditor David Burkett. The results indicated several points such as the quality of service provided by Bluegreen Corporation is fairly lower as compared to other organization which is why their costs are low. One of the key findings that the audit brought up were Bluegreen’s telecommunication rates which were classified as very competitive by the auditing team as they were spending a lot less annually than the other organizations which were taken as reference and the results also showed that there was need in improvement in the help desk support department. But there were several needs from Bluegreen Corporation which were not fulfilled, like costs relating to software licenses, hardware and costs relating to application development and testing were never …show more content…
identified. In order to carry out a project, firms and organizations deal in several PM considerations which either helps the project succeed or to fail.
Data acquisition and information management was one of the key factors of the project. There was not a lot of information available so GIP needed to dig in for the necessary details themselves. In my opinion, GIP relied a little too much towards the information that was fed by the Bluegreen associates, which resulted in discrepancies. Also, lack of data tempted GIP to generalize information based on the data from Indianapolis call
center. Communication is another very vital project management consideration. There was a lack of understanding between what was needed and what was provided, the figures Burrkett was Case Analysis: Inside an IT audit by Meridith Levinson (CIO) provided for the total Full time equivalent employees who are maintaining old applications and developing new application were less than the total FTEs who are maintaining current applications and upon discussing it with Parker he was able to understand the situation. Therefore, the question was posed in a way that it created misunderstanding. In another instance, Small noticed some discrepancies in the average call length to the help desk for which she visited the IT support manager of Gary Kaul. The communication between Small ad Kaul happened to be affective for the audit and provided her with a better understanding of how the help desk works which helped Small in her analysis and recommendation yet the help desk structure was not visible. The information communicated in the meetings were confusing since Burrkett relied on averages and generalization. Another very important consideration was to document each and every record and information collected. The project was successful in regards to the outcome Beauchesne received to grow the IT department with the help of the recommendations from GIP auditing team. The collection of information and continuous communication amongst the organizations contributed in the success of the project. GIP auditors found it really hard to get accurate data for the organizations IT expenditures, inspite of a few instances of miscommunication; GIP was able to make a solid recommendation on the data which they were able to extract from this venture. But, in terms of project management it was not a successful project because the scope and needs of the organization were not fully met, due to lack of information available and lack of transparency in communicating information from department representatives. These could’ve been address if issues were escalated to the VP and CIO if they felt that employees were being rather conservative than open about the details.
Arens, Alvin A., Elder, Randall J., and Beasley, Mark S. (2012). Auditing and Assurance Services:
As part of their goal to be the first choice for casino entertainment, Harrah’s continues to spur its growth through the development of new properties, expansion and acquisitions, not only in the United States but also in other parts of the world. Currently, it manages the largest number of casino entertainment facilities in the US, which are not only limited to land-based casinos, but also include riverboat casinos, dockside casinos and gambling facilities on Indian reservations. They also own similar gambling facilities such as slots, thoroughbread racetracks and greyhound racing. All of these establishments are operated under either one of their popular brands: Harrah’s, Caesars and Horseshoe .
Costco Company financial records were audited by KPMG, who further gave recommendations for improvements in accordance to the auditing requirements. In my opinion they presented a clean report following the required auditing standards and abiding by the standards set by the Public Company Oversight Board.
Individual Article Review Lily Cobian LAW/421 March 31, 2014 Ramon E. Ortiz-Velez Individual Article Review Introduction My article review is based on Sarbanes-Oxley and audit failure, a critical examination why the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was established and why it is not a guarantee to prevent failure of audits. Sarbanes-Oxley Act talks about scandals of Enron which occurred in 2001 and even more appalling the company’s auditor, Arthur Anderson, found guilty of shredding company documents after finding out Enron Company was going to be audited. The exorbitant amounts of money auditors get paid to hide audit discrepancies was also beyond belief. The article went on to explain many companies hire relatives or friends to do their audits, resulting in fraud, money embezzlement, corruption and even the demise of companies. Resulting in the public losing faith in the accounting profession, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed in 2002 by congress was designed to restrict what company owners and auditors can and cannot do. From what I gathered in the article, ever since the implementation of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act there has been somewhat of an improvement but questions are still being asked as to why there are still issues that are not being targeted in hopes of preventing more audit failures. The article also talked about four common causes of audit failure: unintentional auditor mistakes, fraud, fatigue and auditor client relationships. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct clearly states an independent auditor because it produces a credible audit, however, when there is conflict of interest, the relation of a former employer, or a relative or even the fear of getting fire...
Is the Compliance and Risk Management Framework reviewed annually by Auscred Services Legal and Compliance in conjunction with the business ?
The oversight responsibilities of the board, the CAE lacking of expertise or broad understanding of financial controls and responsibilities, and the understaffed internal audit functions lacking of independence and direct access to the board of directors contributed to the absence of internal controls. To begin with, the board should be retrained to achieve financial literacy to review financial reporting. Other than attending formal meetings, the board of directors should be more involved with the management. For the Audit Committee, the two members who were recruited as acquaintances to Brennahan need be replaced with experts who are more sufficiently knowledgeable about accounting rules beyond merely “financially literate”. Furthermore, the internal audit functions need to expand with different expertise commensurate with the expanded activities of the organization, testing financial reporting rather than internal controls from an operational perspective. The CAE should be more independent and proactive to execute audit plans, instead of following orders from the CFO, and initiate a direct and efficient communication between internal audit and audit
According to the article authored by Mark Rupert, what are the seven best practices in the roles and responsibilities of an internal audit function?
The auditors were more concerned with keeping the WorldCom account and should have been unbiased and independent in their decisions. Andersen even undercharged WorldCom as he looked at is as a bond in their long term relationship. Andersen’s “more efficient” method of auditing after WorldCom’s operation expansion skipped detailed individual transactions for
99, Congress took steps in response to big fraud scandals and passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002 to restore public confidence in accounting profession. The intention of the new legislation is to “improve the audit effectiveness and the credibility of financial reporting” (Ernst & Young 2012). Generally, the Act focus on strengthening corporate governance, enhancing auditor independence and management accountability for financial disclosures and accuracy. Under Sarbanes-Oxley Act, auditors are prohibited to provide non-audit services for audited firms. In addition, Section 404 of the Act requires auditors to evaluate and issue an opinion regarding the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting of the audited firm. The act also requires auditors the audit committee, consisted of independent members, to engage and oversee the external auditors. The implementation of these rules has led to great improvements in audit
As audit firms look to invest in big data, it will be even more critical to understand the implications of using big data and analytics on the audit profession. There are multiple ways in which data analytics would enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of external audits. From looking at the complete population, to finding trends, to allowing employees to do less routine tasks, there are multiple ways big data benefits audits. Big data would also enhance critical procedures performed for the sales and collection cycle. These benefits are not without some drawbacks that would need to be addressed by the profession.
In order to ensure an organization’s financial order, auditors with international standards are a vital part. However, very few auditing companies exist in Afghanistan that can provide auditing services in compliance with international accounting standards. Fortunately, ACC is one of those few auditing firms that can confidently say that its auditing services are in the highe...
The quantity of accounting fraud cases keeps on rising. Fraud is a consistent thing that will reliably be around, and in a bigger number of routes than just a single. An extensive apportion of organizations out there fight with fraud, either from within the organization, or from outside the organization. Knowing how to manage this is essential for an organization to be productive over a drawn out extended period of time. The investigation regarding the matter of accounting fraud will utilize sources from the web and the DeVry school library. The principle territory we are planning to address is accounting fraud and how it could impact an organization by answering, the who, what, when and how. Its goal is to increase the awareness
The major characters of the tradition audit are all information what is needed by auditors are on the paper and the manual calculators and without high communication technology. Auditors usually were limited by the place in the paper time. When a several people are working on the same auditing project for a client with offices in cities across the country, even worldwide, it takes a lots all time those auditors get the information which they need from the client, even there is risk paper information disappear for many reasons. on the another hand, mail paper information increase the auditing cost. The mistake caused by the manual calculators inevitably, no matter how fixed auditors concentrate on recalculate is, after all auditors are human. The global business become major in the modern business world, some example, several auditors who are in different locations are working a same auditing project, or auditors are in different city even country with the client, when there is issue among these auditors or between auditors and client, they only can communicate with each other by phone or be together and have meeting. Phone call can not make sure information been watched in the same time when the voice is talking about the issue, but having a meeting takes time and money make all people together, it increases auditing cost.
Overall, the company is having ineffective controls regarding different departments and in the whole organization. An effective internal audit department should be established within the organization which should test the effectiveness of these controls on regular basis and make it sure that all controls are working effectively and efficiently with the different departments of the organization. Also the Internal auditor should implement the most effective processes and measures to prevent and detect the fraud, corruption and non compliance with the laws and regulations in the organization. Establishment of internal audit committee would be helpful in this regard which comprises of executive and non executive directors.
Auditing has been the backbone of the complicated business world and has always changed with the times. As the business world grew strong, auditors’ roles grew more important. The auditors’ job became more difficult as the accounting principles changed. It also became easier with the use of internal controls, which introduced the need for testing, not a complete audit. Scandals and stock market crashes made auditors aware of deficiencies in auditing, and the auditing community was always quick to fix those deficiencies. Computers played an important role of changing the way audits were performed and also brought along some difficulties.