ACCT562 2022 April Course Project Latest

ACCT562 Auditing - An Operational and Internal Perspective Including Fraud Examination

Course Project

Overview

This Group Course Project is the Signature Assignment of the ACCT562 Course and is compatible with the DeVryTech path by requiring that:

Students use different technologies to present key deliverables related to the Group Course Project on fraud examination,

students use collaboration tools to coordinate their work as a team in solving the course project, and

students use online research methods to capture data relevant to the course project.

Groups will be assigned by the instructor during Week 1, and each group will be assigned an existing company to research for their project. The company will be one of the following: Home Depot, Walmart, General Electric, or Starbucks. Students must finish the project with the assigned group.

Students assigned to a group are to first select a group leader. This individual will be responsible for keeping the group focused, on target, and will submit the groups final paper in Assignment section of Week 7.

Once the groups are in place and the company is assigned to the group, the group will review information that is available about the company. There are several documents available for each company in the Files section to get you started, including the most recent annual report and a document containing four recent articles written about the company (gathered from a company search in our DeVry library). Using information in the Annual Report and through your own research, your group will perform an operational audit on selected areas of the company. Each week as we cover one phase of the operational audit, you will work with your group to perform that step for Home Depot, for example.

There is not a “right” answer to the project, since your group will determine which areas it wants to examine, and you will utilize commonly used auditing techniques (for example, performing ratio analysis on the financial information contained in the Annual Report or conducting hypothetical interviews with persons working at the company). The purpose of the project is to be able to identify issues that may need further investigation, and then perform the phases of an operational audit and report your findings to management. Have fun with this project, and use your imagination and creativity - there is no wrong answer!!

Click here for an animated overview of Group Dynamics (Links to an external site.).

The group project will be conducted on a weekly basis. Members of each group use collaboration software, as well as other collaboration tools, like discussion boards/Google docs, to coordinate the group's activities to complete the deliverable of each week and the final course project deliverable due in Week 7. Create a multimedia piece (such as a narrated power point slides with at least a 2-3 minute narration) for each part to the course project assignment of the respective week. For weeks 3, 5 and 7 you should submit your group's multimedia piece summarizing your findings. Do not make it available to the class. Do not make it available to the class. You may also present your group's solution as narrated PowerPoint slides.

Time Line

The project should develop on the following timetable:

Week    Action Required

1              Groups are assigned by the instructor after the close of Week 1.

2              Discussion of class project, election of a group leader - Draft of Introduction due by the end of Week 2. Submit the introduction part of the course project in the Week 2 Assignment section.

3              Groups work on Planning Phase Portion of the Assignment - Submit the Planning Phase part of the course project in the Week 3 Assignment section.

4              Groups work on the Work Program Portion of the Assignment - Submit the Work Program portion of the course project in the Week 4 Assignment section.

5              Groups work on the Field Work/Findings Phase Portion of the Assignment - Submit the Field Work/Findings Phase portion of the course project in the Week 5 Assignment section.

6              Groups work on the Recommendations Phase Portion of the Report – Final copy due to the by Sunday of Week 6. Submit the Recommendation Phase Portion of the course project in the Week 6 Assignment section.

7              Final Project (which will be all of the pieces you have done during the session combined into one professional document to be issued to your company's management) due by the end of Week 7. Submit the Final Project in the Week 7 Assignment section and upload the multimedia piece.

Deliverable Phase

There is no concrete, absolute solution to this problem, so each team is allowed quite a bit of room for analysis to get full credit for the project.

The project must be organized in a logical manner and with specific deliverable's. The team should work together for each phase of its project and collaborate its activities through collaboration tools like Big Blue Button, discussion boards, Google docs, etc.

 

Initial Survey and Engagement Development

Based upon your initial reading of articles and the Annual Report, identify three areas of the company which your group thinks may warrant further investigation through an operational audit. This could be anything from financial information to company structure to corporate culture to employee retention; in other words, anything that you read about the company which interests you could be an area to investigate! You may customize and use the sample Operation Review Survey Form and the sample Confirming Letter  given on page 23 and 36 respectively of the Reider text

Planning Phase

In the Planning Phase, you will determine the sources of information to be gathered in order to investigate the areas you have identified. For example, if you believe that some of the financial data should be looked at, then the Annual Report would be the source of information. Perhaps an organization chart needs to be (hypothetically) requested, or policies and procedures manuals. Perhaps a physical inspection or interviews are needed in order to gather the necessary information.

Work Program Phase

The Work Program Phase is the bridge between the Planning and actually doing the Field Work. In this phase, you will develop a work program in which you identify time, staff, and materials necessary to carry out that work program. A Gantt chart, similar to the one illustrated on page 113 of the Reider text, may be used, or any other similar schedule showing the allocation of audit team resources. In the real world, these schedules are used in all audits. They aid in the audit team’s understanding of expectations, as well as the client’s understanding of work to be performed for the company.

Field Work/Findings Phase Portion

In the Field Work Phase, your audit team is (hypothetically) out at the company performing the audit techniques that you identified in your Work Program. The team may be conducting interviews, observing, reviewing company documents, calculating financial ratios, or benchmarking the company’s data against competitors, among other things! What did your team find when it conducted its audit? This phase simply gathers the data collected out in the field. You may use the Specific Field Work Techniques given on page 137 and  Sample work papers file sections given on page 161  of the Reider text.

Recommendations and Reporting

Now that the team has gathered its data, it is time to analyze the information and also make recommendations to management based upon what you found. What recommendations do you have concerning corporate governance, segregation of duties, and working with the external auditor? Remember the Three E’s of an operational audit (economy, efficiency, and effectiveness) – what would you recommend to the management of the company to increase the economy, efficiency, or effectiveness of the functions or areas that your team investigated?. Here you may find going over the Operational Review Finding Attributes on page 201 and the Characteristics of Good Reporting on page 244 of  the Reider text useful.