Safeguarding of Assets - Essay

Moreover, the auditor should preform test for effectiveness of internal controls. He may interview management by asking questions on the process of the transactions and operational activities. He may discuss with management the process of some transactions from beginning to end and then test it by using sample testing. Also he/she should make sure that there is proper control of activities; policies and procedures for adequate segregation of duties are met.

Provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Section 404 of the act requires that the auditor attest to and issue a report on management’s assessment of internal control over financial reporting. To express an opinion on internal controls, the auditor obtains an understanding of and performs tests of controls related to all significant account balances, classes of transactions, and disclosures and related assertions in the financial statements (Arens, 2010).

Use of due professional care, that is, whether the internal audit group has effective quality control

Auditors have the responsibilities as well as management to report internal controls. The auditors must examine closely management’s claim of effectiveness and also physically test the controls. After the examination, the auditors should express their opinion and any recommendations to fix any internal control weaknesses.

Measuring the extent to which a program is achieving its goals and objectives and determining whether the entity is using its resources in the most effective and economical manner

The purpose of each control on the Sphere of Protection is to protect the valuable information and information systems assets. The focus of each control is management, operational, and technical controls in which sums up the sphere of protection.  Management controls cover security processes designed by strategic planners and performed by security administration (2) Operational controls deal with operational functionality of security in organization and (3) Lastly, technical controls address tactical and technical implementations related to designing and implementing security in

Operations Management in an organisation is repsonsible for managing and in making decisions concerning the activities that convert inputs into outputs , that is goods and services. This covers both short term actvities as well as longer term activities to meet strategic goals. Inputs can be the raw materaials need to manufacture goods such as furniture or the computers needed to create a service like online shopping site. Operation management’s role is to make decisions to improve how operation activities function, for example, to improve the final quality of the output or to change production methods to be more efficient in terms of cost and in time.

Operations management (OM) is that phase of an organization where inputs are put into operations to acquire required output (services) without compromising on quality. In other words operations management is also described as combining and transforming various resources in the operations sub-system into value added services in line with formulated policies of the organization. (Kumar and Suresh, 2009)

The auditor must obtain an understanding of the entity and its environment, including internal controls, so that they can identify and assess the risks of material misstatement on financial statements due to fraud or error and design and perform further audit procedures.

Operations processes refers to the acquisition of inputs which are transformed in a business through the addition of value into outputs of goods and services. Businesses use operational processes involving inputs and transformation processes to increase efficiency and output. The operations management focuses on carefully and managing processes to produce and distribute products and services based on the nature of the business. To achieve objectives in a business, the quality of products are monitored regularly using customer services and warranties. Both Qantas and McDonalds, utilise operation process in order to gain maximum efficiency and productivity.

Projects are temporary endeavors with a beginning and an end and are initiated to solve a particular need of the organization. Operations, on the other hand, are the activities associated with the ongoing business of the company for as long as the company is in existence. While both activities use the organization 's resources and require planning to achieve the objectives, operations activities are repetitive in nature versus project activities which are unique to the particular endeavor. The approach required to manage each differs due to the nature of the activities.

Operations management focuses on managing the processes of producing and distributing products and services. Operations activities often include product creation, development, production and distribution. It deals with all operations within the organization. Related activities include managing purchases, inventory control, quality control, storage, logistics and evaluations. The nature of how operations management is carried out in an organization depends very much on the nature of products or services in the organization, for example, retail, manufacturing, wholesale, etc.

Operations management is generally described as the planning, arrangement, and control of activities that change raw materials or an organization's input into finished products and services. The overall activities covered by operations management include the creation, development, manufacture, and distribution of products. The concept also relates to various activities such as inventory control, controlling purchases, quality control, logistics, storage, and evaluation ("Operations Management in McDonalds", n.d.). Since operations management covers the entire operations in an organization, it mainly focuses on the efficiency and effectiveness of the firm's processes.

The role of internal audit is to provide independent declaration that an organization’s threatadministration, governance and internal control processes are functioning effectively. Internal auditors deal with concerns that are essentially important to the existence and success of any organization. Unlike external auditors, they aspect beyond financial possibilities and statements to reflect wider problems such as the organization’s reputation, development, its power on the location and the approach it treats its organizations.In summary, internal accountantssupport organizations to thrive.