Retail and Sales Audits are systematic methods used to analyze business processes and ensure their financial integrity. Auditors work to ensure the efficacy of operations, the reliability of financial reporting, deterring and investigating fraud, ensuring the safeguard of assets, and verifying that the company is in compliance with laws and regulations.

Midwest Audit is a group of certified internal auditors (CIA) and certified fraud examiners (CFE) with over 30 years of industry experience. We have worked with both small and large corporations and are well-versed with the requirements of professional auditing. We ensure the integrity of your retail and sales processes by completing a six step process.

1. Establish and communicate the scope and objects of the audit to the appropriate management.
2. Develop an understanding of the business area under review. This includes objectives, measurements, and key transaction types. This involves review of documents and interviews. Flowcharts and narratives may be created if necessary.
3. Identify control procedures used to ensure each key transaction type is properly controlled and monitored.
4. Develop and execute a risk-based sampling and testing approach to determine whether the most important controls are operating as intended.
5. Report problems identified and negotiate action plans with management to address the problems.
6. Follow-up on reported findings at appropriate intervals.

Our recommendations typically following this outline:

• Summary of key goals, risks and corresponding major audits, to illustrate alignment
• Analyses of audit effort along a variety of dimensions (e.g., by business segment, COSO objective category, IT, Sarbanes-Oxley, vs. prior year, etc.) along with commentary regarding changes
• Brief description of critical projects identified
• Projects requested but not planned for execution due to prioritization and resources
• Required co-sourcing effort, typically where outside expertise is required or during peak periods
• Appendix materials, such as planning approach, assumptions (e.g., days per auditor and staffing level) and brief descriptions of all planned audits and related prioritization.

The overall length of time to completion is variable, but most projects can be completed within 8-12 weeks.

With over 30 years of industry experience, we are your retail and sales auditing professionals. We diligently work to ensure that your financial integrity remains secure. Count on us to get the job done professionally and correctly.

Contact us today to learn how we can make a difference!