E-commerce and Auditing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

E-commerce and Auditing - Essay Example These are: It is not viable for auditors to take leave of work and go back to school to learn the mechanisms needed to serve the new auditing scope. To deal with this aspect of the transformation on-the-job training is the strategy employed by the audit executives. The authors recorded that ,"Some audit executives are using external contractors to "off load" some of the regular work. Freed up internal resources are then being used to get in-house auditors trained in the use of technology." (pg 91). Nikoloyuk et al: further related that Audit executives use the strategy of increasing "audit teams with external specialists." These teams are used to train "internal resource" to become "internal specialist." Changes: Like many other businesses auditing has had to change and modify its practices to best adopt to the growth of technology. Businesses have moved away from the traditional methods and are becoming more and more technologically advanced. If auditing is to remain alive it too will have to adopt to these changes. More so, as their main clients are in fact businesses. Kumar in his work 'The Technological Auditor', noted that, "Accountants and Auditors are not always on the cutting edge of technology." Auditing by nature is not a very transparent job. The process of the job relied on a lot of paper work . This goes against the very nature of E-commerce where the paper work is almost non-existent. Auditing stands a chance of becoming obsolete if adaptations are not made. Companies were disgruntled by the former auditing process as they 4 viewed the as being too expensive and burdensome. In response to these and other concerns Kumar relates that the "US Public Company Accounting Oversight board (PLAOB)" responded to these concerns by "encouraging auditors to become more consistent and transparent in the way they conducted audits." This discontent among businesses and the realization that e-commerce was always moving away from the traditional were indicators that change was on the horizon for the auditing profession. These changes would include; more transparency. The maximizing of special auditing skills on a global basis. Rationalization of the controls. Increased focus on value-added services by auditors. Formerly businesses would schedule the auditing of their firm based on their "point-in-time" system where they would carry out internal assessments to "identify high risk areas of the business." This system soon become redundant as companies sought to comply to the Sarbanes-Oxley. The regulation stipulated that firms would now have to make their financial statements readily available for auditing. (Kumar pg1). Audit Risk: The switch to automated auditing comes with added risk and challenges. The risk that an e-commerce business faces are many

Financial Analysis of Bluescope Steel Ltd and Onesteel Ltd Australia Research Paper

Financial Analysis of Bluescope Steel Ltd and Onesteel Ltd Australia - Research Paper Example Today, millions of shares are traded every day on the world's stock markets. (Penman, 2003). Most often, investors see valuation as the first step toward intelligent investing. It has been argued (e.g. Penman 2003) that an investor can make informed decisions about where to invest once the value of shares are determine based upon the fundamentals. This is so because, without this value investors can either buy high or sell low Investors who trade on these stocks are often forced to ask themselves whether they are buying or selling at the right price. (Penman, 2003). In the face of this situation and their quest for an alternate answer, investors turn to various media including internet chat rooms, printed press, and "talking heads" on television and financial networks, who often voice opinions on what they feel the stock prices should be. (Penman, 2003). In addition, investors consult investment analysts who provide an almost endless stream of information and recommendations to sort out. There are often claims that some shares are undervalued and vice versa. (Penman, 2003). Faced with too much information, Investors at times get confused with no clear indication of what the true prices of stocks should be. (Penman, 2003). Under such circumstances, the investor either make decision based on his or her instinct, such investors according to Penman (2003) are intuitive investors while others who make their decision based on capital market efficiency are referred to as passive investors. Penman, (2003) further argues that in making their decision, passive investors assumed that the market price is a fair price of the shares quoted. These investment mechanisms appear to be very simple, as they do not require much effort. (Penman, 2003: pp 3). How ever that is not the case as neither passive nor intuitive investor turn to be better off in the face of their decision. This is so because these sets of investors can either pay to high or sell too low. Having said that, in the sections that follow, I will discuss analysis and valuation of Bluescope Steel Limited and One steel Limited in Australia including their products, employees, management, and corporate governance. I have also highlighted in a passing the methodology used in valuating the company. In the last section, I will make a conclusion and recommendation to prospective investors. 1.1BlueScope Steel Limited According to the Company 2008 report, BlueScope Steel