You have been assigned to do an operational audit of the purchasing department to determine whether it is effective, efficient, and economical. The department has been audited before.

Required

a. Should it be an auditor’s responsibility to determine the efficiency of operations? In formulating your response consider the following three viewpoints:
• Management should have their own information system to determine that operations are efficient, thus there is no need for an audit of efficiencies.
• Internal auditors bring a fresh perspective and an objective approach that provides insight on the efficiency of operations.
• Internal auditors are not “subject matter experts” in the operational area, e.g., the purchasing functions, and therefore do not have the expertise to perform an operational audit of the function.
b. What are the major objectives for an operational audit of the purchasing function?
c. What criteria might the auditor use to determine whether the department is operating efficiently?
d. What information should the auditor gather before starting the audit of the purchasing function? For each information item identified, indicate the major source of the information.