...A SOC 1 report contains five components: (Grant Thorton, 2012). 1. The external auditor’s report: The section would define the scope of the audit that specifies what the audit area is and the audit period at Apple. It also expresses the external auditor’s opinions on the test conclusions. This section may not cover the services that are outsourced by the service organization (Grant Thorton, 2012). Since Amazon is certified in SOC compliance standards, this report may skip the audit report for Amazon. 2. Management assertion: The section would include a fair presentation of the description about the company (Grant Thorton, 2012), including the working of iCloud and the outsourcing of some components to Amazon Web Services. It would also state the controls that are included in the description are suitably designed and they are...
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...Introduction According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of an audit is “a methodical examination and review” (Merriam-Webster). Throughout this whole semester, our class discussions have been about the audit practice and the process of auditing companies’ financial statements. There are many other instances where an audit is necessary to produce opinions, outcomes, and conclusions. The music industry consists of different segments where an audit is needed to make sure everyone is getting what they are entitled to whether it is the artist, songwriter, or the producer. I will discuss the roles of a royalty auditor and the process they go through during their audits. I will also point out royalty frauds that can occur within the music industry. But first, I will explain exactly what a royalty is and how it works. How Royalties Work A main concern in the music industry is royalties. It is the main source of income for anyone who has something to do with a particular song. A royalty is a payment made for the use of property, such as a patent, copyrighted work, franchise, or a natural resource (Investor Words). It can be a percentage of profit from sales and will be settled by an agreement (usually in writing) between the parties (Obringer). Songwriters and publishers have different royalties than the artist who performs it or records vocals on the song. The artist gets royalties from the sale of their recordings such as CDs. One misconception in the music industry is that the...
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...presence in, to collect sales taxes and use taxes for every state and jurisdiction where they have customers if they have $1 million or more in annual retail transaction. When individual purchases goods outside of their domestic state, the out-of-state sellers have no obligation to serve as the tax collector but the consumers have the obligation to report the use tax, a tax that individual should pay if one does not pay the tax already to his domestic state. Yet, very few consumers follow the requirement. This legislation is designed to close the loophole that currently allows buyers to purchase out-of-state item and avoid having to pay sales tax. Since every state and location have different tax requirement, the MFA intend to design tax software to help companies calculate their taxes and collect taxes for up to 46 states. One of the MFA’s main goals is to level the playing field between the local and online retailers by mandating the necessary taxes to be collect equally by every business. The MFA also attempts to protect the small businesses from the unfairness market competition set by giant online retailers, such as Amazon and Walmart. Since the MFA does not require any business to collect taxes if its retail transaction is lower than $1 million, one assumes that small businesses are being protected and benefited. However, that does not necessary be the case. With close examination, we might find that this proposed internet sales tax could potentially hurt...
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...also produces consumer electronics—notably the Amazon Kindle e-book reader and the Kindle Fire tablet—and is a major provider of cloud computing services. Jeff Bezos incorporated the company (as Cadabra) in July 1994, and the site went online as amazon.com in 1995. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewellery. Amazon has three primary customer sets: ▪ Consumer They serve consumers customers through their retail websites. ▪ Sellers They offer programs that enable seller customers to sell their product on their website. ▪ Developers Lastly they serve their developer customers through their web services that provide access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Mission statement Their mission is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online. Amazon.com is a digital colossus. [pic] Organization Structure Amazon started as Simple structure & then changed to Multi-Divisional structure. Divisions include: ▪ Seller Division ▪ Consumer Division ▪ Developer Division Each division has a vice president that reports directly to the CEO. Amazon currently employs more than 51,300 people around...
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...and Compliance Even though there are federal rules and regulations governing work place behavior, what if there were no boundaries for ethics and compliance, would Amazon continue to follow the same procedures set by the federal laws to ensure ethical behavior within the work place. How does Amazon differ from other organizations when it comes to ethical behavior? One way is because Amazon adheres to a strict conflict of interest policy regarding customers, employees, and Amazon follows strict policies on record keeping and financial integrity. Team C will depict Amazon’s policy and procedures for ethical and SEC compliance, explain the function of monetary markets in the United States, and assess Amazon’s monetary performance for the previous two years by means of financial ratios. Team C will explain Amazon’s financial health in reference to the debt, return of equity, and daily receivable ratios. As part of their code of business conduct and ethics policies, Amazon established basic guiding principles to help steer their employees to do what is ethically and morally right to reassure their investors that they are doing what is right for the investors and the public. Of course Amazon must be in compliance with the governing (a) laws, (b) rules and (c) regulations set forth by local and federal governments. Amazon also adheres to a strict conflict of interest policy that outlines what employees can and cannot do concerning conducting business with (a) customers, (b) competitors...
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...Ethics Audit Framework Essay # 3 Stephen Randall Texas A&M University – Central Texas Professor: Marshell J. Silva Ethics Auditing Ethics auditing by definition, an ethics audit is a “systematic evaluation of an organization’s ethics program and/or performance to determine its effectiveness.” This concept of ethics auditing is fairly new and few companies have conducted an ethics audit. However, performing such audits will likely become more mainstream as recent legislation encourages greater ethical accountability for companies to demonstrate they are abiding by the law and have established programs to improve their ethical decision making. The U.S. Sentencing Commission (the “Commission) has amended the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (“FSGO”) whereby an effective compliance and ethics program must “exercise due diligence to prevent, detect, and report criminal conduct and otherwise promote an organizational culture that encourages ethical conduct and a commitment to compliance with all applicable law." The Commission noted there are seven minimum requirements of an effective ethics program, standards and procedures to prevent and detect criminal conduct; Responsibility at all levels of the program, together with adequate program resources and authority for its managers; Due diligence in hiring and assigning personnel to positions with substantial authority; Communicating standards and procedures, including a specific requirement for training...
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...Ernst & Young EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Ernst & Young commonly referred as EY, is one of the Big Four professional services firms along with Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG Ernst & Young is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom and was the third largest professional services firm in the world by aggregated revenue in 2012. The firm has employed 167,000 people and has more than 700 offices across more than 140 countries, providing assurance (including financial audit), tax, consulting and advisory services. In FY 2012, EY earned a record of $24.4 billion USD in revenue, ranking the third among the Big Four, after PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte, ahead of KPMG. Ernst & Young offers its services to companies in a vast range of industries, including asset management, life sciences, mining, media and entertainment, retail, technology, and hotel and leisure. The company's financial reporting segment offers an IFRS/GAAP comparison so companies can compare and contrast the international and US accounting standards. The group's members firms are organized in four geographic areas: Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa; the Americas (including Ernst & Young LLP); Japan; and the Asia/Pacific region. Ernst & Young is increasingly focused on the emerging markets, which have seen more rapid economic recovery than the developed nations. The company sees the trend of growth in the emerging markets as one that...
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...A Financial Ratio Quarterly Trend Analysis of AMAZON, Inc. Stock symbol: AMZN Listed on the New York Stock Exchange 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Financial Ratio Calculation and Analysis 2.1 Methodology Our team obtained income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements and trading information for AMZN for the four most recent quarters (XXX>>>>>) 2.2 Ratio Computations The following table summarizes the results of the ratio computations for AMZ: KEY FINANCIAL RATIOS Amazon Liquidity Ratios | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | ANNUAL | Current Ratio | 1.32 | 1.40 | 1.46 | 1.32 | 1.32 | Quick Ratio | 1.02 | 1.09 | 1.00 | 0.91 | 0.64 | Net Working Capital Ratio | 2.56 | 1.76 | 1.49 | 1.52 | 1.52 | Current Liabilities to Inventory Ratio | 3.24 | 2.68 | 2.49 | 2.38 | 2.38 | Cash Ratio | 0.36 | 0.34 | 0.25 | 0.31 | 0.31 | Asset Ratios | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | ANNUAL | Inventory Turnover Ratio | 3.17 | 2.56 | 2.25 | 2.13 | 2.13 | Fixed Assets Turnover Ratio | 3.98 | 3.40 | 2.86 | 2.72 | 2.72 | Total Assets Ratio | 0.69 | 0.58 | 0.55 | 0.57 | 0.57 | Asset to Equity Ratio | 2.00 | 1.54 | 1.45 | 1.53 | 1.53 | Profitability Ratios | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | ANNUAL | Return on Assets Ratio | 22.13 | 11.91 | 10.65 | 3.31 | 6.12 | Return on Equity Ratio | 60.64 | 27.35 | 24.6 | 8.11 | 16.76 | Profit Margin Ratio | 3.21 | 2.04 | 1.9 | 5.7 | 3.36 | Basic Earnings Power Ratio | 2.72 | 1.79 | 1.42 | 0.77...
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...leaving N.Y. City for the Pacific Northwest. On its 15th-anniversary in 2010, Amazon is truly proud to be one of the world largest online retailers, selling everything from musical instruments and sports equipment to household appliances and apparels (Kayla, W. 2010). In our coursework group assignment, we are tasked to study and analyse the strategic management issues of Amazon.com. The case study will base on fourth quarter of 2007 as a current year. We will be evaluating the company's external and internal environments, how the company emerge into the industry by means of its strategies management in dealing with economic, technology & distribution issues and competition. We will also look at the company's vision & mission and it relate to the expansion of its product lines and reach, to increase its revenue and market share, and to understand and consider their possible near-term and long-term objectives that the organization could pursue. Lastly but not least, to out up recommendation for Amazon and conclude it with our learning experiences on BPS module. Page 3 of 27 2. Company Overview Amazon was founded by Mr. Jeff Bezos in 1994 with head office in Seattle, Washington, the company is one of the most customer-centric companies in the World and has grown to be a Fortune 100company. It has a diverse range of product offerings over at extensive network of customer service centers (About Amazon, 2007). Amazon.com is one of the most popular names on the internet, it operates...
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...Equipment: Inventory management technology is a mix of hardware and software designed to add reliability to inventory accounting, reduce incidents of theft and facilitate inventory audits. Individual inventory items or batches of items could be equipped with RFID tags that identify the item type, cost, price, shipment number, date of shipment and virtually any other useful information. Software inventory management solutions replace pen-and-paper systems, reducing the time required to account for inventory additions and subtractions. We have an average budget to set up this system, so I will buy two laptops, wireless router, two barcode scanners, barcode printer, printer and the internet service. For start up we will begin with the use of the inflow inventory system from Archon Systems. The software will help my sister to take orders and deduct items out of the inventory with a single click. This software will also generate reports, one of which will show the demand for a given product. We will also setup the laptop with wireless internet access which will enable her to conduct sales and do inventory with the same equipment using a wireless barcode scanner. These are what we should have as minimum equipment to setup an accurate inventory management system: 1. Laptop or Desktop Computer- Laptop or computer with wireless access can allow to her to manage her sales and create or manage inventory items. 2. Wireless Router – The wireless router will assure wireless...
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...A marketing plan report for Kindle Fire in the UK [pic] Contents A marketing plan report for Kindle Fire in the UK 1 Introduction 3 Amazon 3 Current Market Scenario 4 Global Market- eBook 4 Competitive landscape 4 Market Structure 5 SWOT Analysis 6 Amazon Kindle Fire 7 Corporate Strategy of Amazon 7 Marketing Objective 7 Marketing Strategy 8 STP of Kindle Fire 8 Segmentation 8 Targeting 9 Positioning 9 Marketing Mix 9 Product 9 Price 10 Place 10 Promotion 10 Promotional Cost 10 Cost Estimation of Kindle Fire 11 Revenue Model 11 Conclusion 11 Bibliography 12 Introduction Marketing is a strategic activity of a business, It incorporates understanding the marketplace, bring the product or service to the market or even developing a new market for a product. In the broadest sense marketing is a superset of different activities including market research, market development, competitor analysis, pricing strategy promotion etc (Weinstein, 1998). Here in this report, exclusively cover various marketing essential elements for Amazon Kindle, for the entrance into UK market. Apart this, main objective of this report is to develop a marketing plan for the successful entrance of Amazon into the UK digital market. In this report, various macro & micro elements which interact with the company as well as the global market scenario, competitive landscape and future trends and projections are discussed to tailor the marketing...
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...Anglia Ruskin University Marketing Consultancy, Report on ‘eBay Inc.’ Name: Mohammad Russel SID: 1351826/1_IM Faculty: Lord Ashcroft International Business School Module Code: MOD003058 Module Title: Marketing Consultancy Date: 14/11/2013 Academic Year: 2013/14 Semester: 01 London School Of Marketing Marketing Consultancy Report On ‘eBay Inc.’ Reported By: Mohammad Russel Report Date: 14/11/2013 Content Introduction 1. A brief history of eBay Inc. …………………………………… 03 2. Market position of eBay Inc. …………………………………… 03 3. Client Issues …………………………………… 05 4. Implications, if client problem is not treated …………………………………… 06 Situation Analysis of Market Market situation comparison .……………………………….….. 06 Situation Analysis Models ……………...……………………. 07 Internal Analysis: SWOT Analysis …..……………………………...... 07 External Analysis: PEST Analysis ........................................................ 08 Porters Five Force Analysis ........................................................ 08 Recommendations .….………………………………. 08 Appendix …………………………………… 09 References …………………………………… 12 ...
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...Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 2 1.1 Introduction of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Corporation 2 1.2 Objective of Ethical Audit Report. 2 2.0 Identification of KFC's Ethical Dilemmas 2 2.1 Trans fats 3 2.2 Animal cruelty 3 2.3 Environmental concerns 4 2.4 Wages and working condition 4 3.0 Ranking and evaluation of KFC's responses to its Ethical Dilemmas 6 3.1 Ranking of KFC's Ethical Dilemmas 6 3.2 Major Ethical Theories 7 3.2.1 Teleology 7 3.2.2 Deontology 8 3.2.3 Virtue Ethics 8 3.2.4 Marketing Ethics 9 3.3 Evaluation of KFC's Responses to its Ethical Dilemmas. 9 3.3.1 Trans Fats 9 3.3.2 Animal cruelty 10 4.0 Evaluation of KFC Best Practices 11 4.1 KFC Colonel's Scholar Program 11 4.2 World Hunger Relief, from Hunger to Hope 11 5.0 Recommendation 12 List of Reference 14 APPENDICES 16 Ethical Audit Report on KFC 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Introduction of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Corporation Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Corporation is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain, offering services to more than 12 million customers in 109 countries and territories around the world. KFC operates more than 5,200 restaurants in the United States and more than 15,000 units around the world. KFC began with Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952. Although Sanders died in 1980, Sanders remains an important part of the company's branding and advertisements, and "Colonel Sanders" or "The Colonel" is a metonym for the company itself...
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...network operators, Ericcson is one of the few companies worldwide that can offer communication standards suitable for all major mobile standards. With reported second quarter net sales of 8.1 billion, Ericsson is a key driver in standardizing organizations and holds various leadership and influential positions on boards such as the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses which develops standards in the areas of radio telecommunications and broadcasting, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project which prepares, approves and maintains specifications and reports for GSM (including GSM evolved radio access, and the International Telecommunication Union which allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develops the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strives to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide, to name a few. see www.ericsson.com Amazon Web Services(AWS) is an IT infrastructure referred to as ‘cloud computing’ provides agility, elasticity, flexibility, low cost, and security to thousands of businesses worldwide. Ericcson was able to benefit from Amazon’s AWS in terms of cost reduction, automated software updates, remote access, and on-demand availability where Amazon’s AWS offers low, pay-as-you-go pricing with no up-front expenses or long-term commitments for cost reduction, AWS provides a massive global cloud infrastructure that allows Ericcson to quickly innovate, experiment and iterate...
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...may purchase a product. MARKET DEVELOPMENT: This is when a company markets an existing product to a new market. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: This is where a business develops a new product to sell to existing customers. DIVERSIFICATION: This is where a business markets new products to new customers. This can works in two ways: the business may produce a new product in an area that it understands, or it may enter a completely new unrelated area. Many businesses are often faced with having to develop strategies just to survive. This could include downsizing the business to reduce costs. It could mean coming out of less profitable markets, discounting less profitable lines and making some employees redundant in order to balance the books. Amazon is a ecommerce company born in 1994. Jeff Bezos created Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994 , which he labeled as “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore.” The ecommerce company went online in 1995 and soon expanded into other media, including DVDs, VHS, CDs, MP3s, and eventually a wide range of other products, including toys, electronics, furniture and apparel. As such, the tagline soon changed to “Earth’s Largest Selection.” But books were only the beginning of Bezo’s up-and-coming enterprise. Amazon.com went public in 1997. Bezos planned on operating at a loss for 4-5 years. It was not until 2001 that Amazon.com posted a net profit at a minuscule one-cent per share. Yet, despite its bizarre business strategy, Amazon.com claimed over 1.4 million customers...
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