Audit (Term Paper Sample)

Walmart Inc. System Design
Walmart Inc. is one biggest global retailing enterprise that work on an array of line and segments; Walmart Inc. majorly operates within the US. The others deal with retail stockroom clubs, and Walmart International, that works outside the US, like Japan. Other services provided by the entity include but are not limited Walmart MoneyCard, Store Pickup, and Walmart Pay. With the differentiated areas of operations, Walmart employs an arrange of engineers, system developers, and experts in SDLC, who periodically test their systems and ensure they meet consumer needs and expectations. “The @WalmartLabs group, for example, has created more than 130 Agile teams to build software over the last two years (KingReporter, 2014).” In addition to this, they systems also ensure regulatory compliance and this is why from time to time, they have to enhance their systems to help with the current developments in the regulatory framework and the requirements that are set for by Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).
System Design Life Cycle
The System Design Life Cycle (SDLC) offers a pragmatic and systematic process for organizations to develop systems that help them run and augment their services and product offing. For most entities that have embraced E-commerce as a business model, SLDC deployment and testing plus continuous update are key components of operationalization of business. With an efficient system, Walmart Inc. has leveraged on cost, diversifying business process, reaching the consumers’ needs and expectations, while at the same time staying course in business amidst the fierce competition from rival entities. SDLC characterizes a strategy for improving the quality of system development and allied applications and the in general development process of entities. Walmart use two critical tools in their quest to stay ahead: active learning and performance monitoring- this ensures that they are able to respond to demand in time, meet consumer needs, and modernize their operations with the changing and rapidly developing technology infrastructure. And with the growing changes occasioned by the global pandemic, this need has grown and they have met it with their excellent team.
Operation of SDLC at Walmart Inc.
We have underscored the importance of SDLC for Walmart and seen it general influence on the business. The SDLC involves the process of analysis- getting to the root of business needs, Design- coming with an efficient system to meet the needs, implementation, testing, and assessment. The design stage is very significant in any venture and as such a great deal of time ought to be devoted to the design stage (Mustaquim & Nyström, 2015, p. xx). Whenever prerequisites have been got from the major business players, and the design development has begun, you need to have an approach to impart back to the key players that you have understood their needs and expectations and that they have been joined into the project. They design audit is a powerful method to do this. By ensuring that all colleagues and stakeholders meet and examine the design and any required changes, you can guarantee that necessities will be met, and that the business will grow and optimize profits. When the necessities gathering is finished, design is done to present to the stakeholders that their needs have been completely perceived (Mustaquim & Nyström, 2015, p. xx).
Feasibility in SDLC
Audit process and System Design Life Cycle go hand in hand and for organizations in a bid to ensure compliance, develop and test their systems to determine the viability and the vitality in operation and meeting organizational goals. On the off chance that the system proposition is satisfactory to the management, the following stage is to analyze the feasibility of the system design. The feasibility study is fundamentally the trial of the proposed system in the light of its usefulness, meeting client's needs, compelling utilization of resources and obviously, low cost differentiation (Cham et al., 2019, p. xx). The fundamental objective of feasibility study isn't to tackle the issue yet to accomplish the degree. During the time spent feasibility study, the expense and advantages are assessed with more prominent precision to discover how profitable the system design will be given the capital investment. This likewise characterizes the resources expected to finish the definite examination. The outcome is a feasibility report submitted to the management. This might be acknowledged or acknowledged with adjustments or dismissed. So, following choice are taken in various feasibility study:
Financial feasibility - The probable benefits exceed the cost; this is looking at the cost-benefit analysis and operational feasibility - Whether the issue can be addressed in the client's current circumstance with existing and proposed system functions? “Organizations constantly adapt their information systems to reflect changes in the type of information needed because of changes in technology, the organization's business processes, the organization's structure, or the external environment (Crookshanks, 2014, p. xx).”
Internal Control Measures
Walmart Inc. reports that have audited Walmart Inc's. internal control over financial detailing as of January 31, 2020, in view of models set up in Internal Control-Integrated Framework gave by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 structure) (the COSO measures). They note that Walmart Inc. (the Company) kept up, in every material regard, viable internal control over financial detailing as of January 31, 2020, in view of the COSO models. They additionally have audited, as per the principles of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the going with combined monetary records of Walmart Inc. as of January 31, 2020 and 2019, the related combined statements of pay, exhaustive pay, investors' value and incomes for every one of the three years in the period finished January 31, 2020, and the connected notes and in report dated March 20, 2020 stated an inadequate viewpoint subsequently.
Critical Audit Matters (CAMS)
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) – which has regulated the audits of public organizations since it was set up by the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act – made it compulsory for auditors to impart CAMs dependent on its new norm, The Auditor's Report on an Audit of Financial Statements When the Auditor Expresses an Unqualified Opinion, which supplanted portions of AS 3101 (Reports on Audited Financial Statements). The new norm – endorsed in 2017 by the PCAOB and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – applies to the audits of enormous sped up filers for financial years finishing on or after June 30, 2019, and will produce results on or after the monetary year finishing December 15, 2020 for the audits of any remaining organizations that are dependent upon the prerequisites (Walmart Inc., 2020, p. xx). This is one area that Walmart has implemented to avoid being caught on the wrong side, and this is captured on their 2020 financial report (Walmart Inc., 2020, p. xx).
Risk Factors for Walmart Inc.
In addition to the risks inherent in their operations, they are exposed to certain market risks, including changes in interest rates, currency exchange rates and Covid-19 pandemic, and the fair value of our equity investment in JD.com. The risk mitigation strategies include the fact that company has first contemplated an understanding of the globalization nature and worldwide climate where the organization compete. Also, the company studies the key measurement and operations goals that other local organizations embraced to compete in the global market. The enterprise capitalizes on the economies of scale to downplay the risks