Bass Pro Shops is a catalog retailer concentrating on fishing and hunting equipment. It prints an annual catalog containing over 200 pages of products, as well as approximately six special sale catalogs during the year. Products range from fishing lures retailing for $1.29 to boat packages for over $15,000. Purchases can be paid for by personal check, MasterCard, or VISA. Customers can mail in their order (with check or credit card information included) or may place an order by calling the company's toll-free number.
The company has implemented an online order entry system by which computer operators take the customer order, check the availability of items for shipment, and confirm the invoice amount with the customer. Once an order is taken, the system generates a shipping-and packing document, places a hold on the inventory, and prepares an invoice (and recording of sales) when items are shipped.

Required
a. Identify the application control procedures (including edit controls) you would recommend to control the online order-taking process.
b. Briefly indicate how control procedures might differ for the orders that are sent in by the customer compared with those placed directly over the phone.
c. For each control procedure identified, briefly indicate the implication to the audit if a deficiency in the control procedure is found,
1. Indicate the potential types of errors or irregularities that could occur because the control is not operative.
2. Identify the audit steps the auditor might take to test the yearend account balances.