The production line has experienced shut-downs because needed production parts were not on hand. Which of the following audit procedures would best identify the cause of the parts shortages?

(a) Determine if access controls are sufficient to restrict the input of incorrect data into the production database.

(b) Use generalized audit software to develop a complete list of the parts shortages that caused each of the production shutdowns, and analyse this data.

(c) Select a random sample of parts on hand per the personal computer databases and compare with actual parts on hand.

(d) Select a random sample of production information for selected days and trace input into the production database maintained on the LAN.

A company maintains production data on personal computers, connected by a local area network (LAN), and uses the data to generate automatic purchases via electronic data interchange.
Purchases are made from authorized vendors based on production plans for the next month and on an authorized materials requirements plan (MRP) which identifies the parts needed for each unit of production.