Student Name: Karina Francis Student Number: Center Number:100121 School: Titchfield High School Territory: Jamaica Date Submitted: January 23, 2012 Teacher: Mrs. P. Thompson – Flemmings Topic: An investigation of the effectiveness of the auditing procedures used in the accounting office at the Portland Parish Council.
Name Page Acknowledgement1 Title2 Aims3 Functions4 Letter of Correspondence5 Methodology 6 Questions Asked7 Schedule of Activities 8Regulations and Policies9 Report10-11 Office Equipment12 Interview questions 14 Business Form15 Bibliography16 An investigation of the effectiveness of the auditing procedures used in the Accounting Office at the Portland Parish Council. In the completion of this School Based Assessment, I would like to thank God in giving me the strength in finishing it. Also to my teacher Mrs. Flemmings in assisting me when help was need and also to Ms. Maxine Speight for giving me accurate information that was well needed.
The researcher seeks to find out: ) What is auditing and how it is done. 2) Why is auditing important to a firm. Two functions of the accounts office are: 1) To control finances of an organization. 2) To maintain accurate records of all transactions. Lot 4 Stanton Harcourt Housing Scheme Fellowship PO Portland 12 September 2011 The Manager Portland Parish Council 1 Gideon Avenue Port Antonio Portland Dear Sir/Madam Permission to conduct research for SBA My name is Karina Francis; I am an 11 grade student of Titchfield High school. I am conducting a research for my Office Administration CXC course.
The topic is an investigation of effectiveness of the auditing procedures used in the Accounting Office. I am therefore asking permission to conduct the research at your organization. This research would involve me meeting with you and your accounting team for an interview. You may contact me at 484-3549 at any possible time after 2:30 p.
m. I await a favourable response. Thank you. Yours faithfully ___________________ Karina Francis The researcher employed the use of an interview in order to gather information needed to compile her School Based Assessment.
An investigation may be described as a meeting between an interviewer and an interviewee, with the aim of gathering information from the questions being asked. The interview method was chosen because it is less time consuming than the questionnaires that would take up time. It allows the researcher to get the most honest answers from the interviewee. The interview was conducted over the telephone, where the researcher asked eleven (11) questions. The researcher had only interviewed one member of staff. 1) What is auditing? 2) How is the auditing process done? ) How effective is this process to a business? 4) Why is it important for auditing to be carried out in a business? 5) Why does the government legislate auditing in a business? Date| Activities| Comments| September 9, 2011| Wrote title, aims and functions| Was a bit challenging and and fairly easy| September 12, 2011| Wrote the letter| Was challenging but was covered in a short time| September 16, 2011| Started to write the 5 main interview questions| Found this challenging because I had to change them completely| September 19, 2011| Started writing nterview questions| Was fairly easy| November 4, 2011| Wrote methodology| Was easy| November 7, 2011| Printed letter| Was done in a quick time has I had quick access to Facilities| | | | November 23, 2011| Sent out the letter of correspondence| I found this to be fairly easy for me as it was done with ease.
| January 16, 2012| Visited the organizationAnd also held an interview via telephone between me and the Internal Auditor of the organization| This was done in approximately 30 minutes where it did notTake up too much of the interviewer’s time or the interviewee.It went very smoothly| January 17, 2012| Wrote regulations and policies| I this was done in a quick time asI had all the necessary information| January 18, 2012| Wrote report and Completed the SBA| I found this to be a bit challenging| Legislation The Portland Parish Council follows the Factories Act of 1961 states that every window, door or other exit affording means of escape in case of fire or given access there to other than the means of exit in ordinary use, shall be distinctively and conspicuously marked by a notice printed in adequate size.The researcher was aware of this by interviewing members of the organization. Health and Safety Practice One of the health and safety practices carried out that was observed was that there was a fire extinguisher placed on every floor in the work place, mounted on a wall where it was at easy access to every employee. Staff Rules One staff rule in which all employees had to comply with is that there should be no excessive or loud talking in the work place during working hours. On visiting the organization I was instructed to put my phone on silent and also not to speak loudly.
In conducting this School Based Assessment the researcher became aware of a number of things about auditing in an accounts office. Auditing is the process by which an evaluation of an organization is done to ascertain the validity and reliability of information. There are two types of auditors, Internal Auditor and External Auditor and they play a vital role in finance of a firm. They may come into an organization at any time to begin this process. They evaluate and access the information of the organization to make sure every entry is accurate and is at proper standards.The goal of an audit is to provide business managers with accurate details about the financial status of their organization.
Auditing plays a very vital part in accounting in an organization where it is very important to the organization. It helps the organization to locate errors, discover frauds, the organization may seek advice and learn from the auditing process, better performance for tax payment, progress in economy and also to make sure accounting system in place is working and that the entries have been made correctly.One method employed is to take a random sample of transactions and follow these through. Very few times auditors may let the organization know that they are coming in a few days prior to the date to allow them to be prepared.
The government legislates auditing in many government agencies so that they can keep an account. Figure 1 In figure 1 show above it shows the percentage of how much an audit is scheduled or done anytime of the year.A major challenge that the researcher had to overcome while doing the School Base Assessment (SBA) was putting the information together, collecting the data needed and also scheduling interviews. On solving these problems one strategy the researcher used is to do an interview via a telephone call to the interviewee. Date| Equipment Used| Purpose of Equipment| Suitability for Tasks| 16, January 2012| Computer| Used for storing and for the easy access of information or data| This is suitable for that task because it may store very important information that is used more than once a week or day. 16, January 2012| Filing Cabinet | For the storages of files, folders or records | This is suitable because it allows you to store important folders or personal records.
| 16, January 2012| Photocopier| To make copies of information that is needed by one or more persons in or out of the organization| This is suitable because it is easy to make multiple copies of an original documents in case of needing copies of the same document| 1. Why is the auditing process important in your organization? 2.Where does the auditing process take place? 3. Do auditors literally check all the accounts of the firm? 4. Does the auditing process involve a team or one single auditor who carries out this process? 5. Is it that different persons out of the organization came in and do the auditing process or persons in the organization do this procedure? 6.
What can happen if the auditing process goes wrong? 7. What do auditors do when there is an error in the accounts of the business or firm? 8. Is the auditing process done yearly or monthly? . Do you think the auditing process needs to be improved in your organization? 10. What are some of the specific legislation that your organization has to comply with? 11. What will happen if the governments legislation in not carried out on a regular basis? http://www.
oag-bvg. gc. ca/internet/English/au_fs_e_828. html http://en.
wikipedia. org/wiki/Audit http://www. iso-9001-checklist. co. uk/tutorial/8. 2.
2-internal-audit. htm January 16, 2012 via telephone, Ms. Maxine Speight, Internal Auditor
