Business Risk Analysis Project

Introduction and Project Requirements

The objective of this project is to provide you with an opportunity to assess the business risks and perform analytical procedures for a real world company. The project focuses on the following categories of information related the understanding the entity and its environment:

·         Nature of the entity

·         Industry, Regulatory, and External Factors

·         Objectives Strategies, and Business Risks

·         Entity Performance Measures and Monitoring

·         Management

·         Governance

Part 1 – Introduction and Background of the company

Choose the company that you will complete the final project on. You will need to give a background of the company. This will be a general background that gives details of when established, what industry the company falls into, the executive make up, and financial analysis.

Part 2 – Assessing Business Risks

Attached is a questionnaire (WORD template) that is to be used for assessing and documenting your assigned company’s business risks. In completing the questionnaire, you need to attempt to answer each question and then determine the possible effect(s) on the audit.

Information needed to identify the business risks can be obtained from the company’s annual report, FORM 10K, and proxy materials. Typically, these documents can be obtained from the company’s website. The company’s website also contains information on the audit committee (e.g., charter), internal audit function, and corporate ethics (e.g., conflict of interest policies). You should also consider obtaining a financial analyst’s report on the assigned company. If you cannot find a free analyst’s report, do not pay for one.

There may be some questions that you will not be able to answer. If you cannot answer a question, respond “information not available.”

Part 3 – Performing Analytical Procedures

You are also required to perform analytical procedures (ratio analysis) on the selected company for 3 years and compare those ratios across time, and to industry data or a major competitor. For example, if you are assigned MGM Mirage you can compare MGM Mirage to industry data or to a competitor of similar size (e.g., Las Vegas Sands). {Fill in names if different sizes}

You should investigate whether there are industry-specific ratios that may be helpful in conducting the analyses. Industry information can be obtained from sites such as http://finance.yahoo.com and http://www.bizstats.com.

Part 4 – Complete a Synopsis/Conclusion

For the last part of the final project, you will need to complete a synopsis or conclusion of what you learned and conducted during the research. Discuss some of the risk that you noticed that the company may be liable for if they were audited.

Your final project will be in APA formatting with the questionnaire included in the final project. Make sure that you use in-text citation where applicable. You will need to have a cover page and reference page.