In the information age, an auditor has a wealth of readily accessible data available to help understand a client's business and industry, particularly for industries not served previously by the auditor. But what once had been done with newspapers, magazines, and hardbound volumes, can now be done instantaneously using a search engine, such as Lycos, Magellan, or Yahoo! that accesses links to and about a variety of industries such as aerospace, agriculture, apparel, entertainment, real estate, telecommunications, or transportation.

Required:

Select an industry that interests you. Prepare a report that:

1. Identifies and summarizes key news issues that would bear on an auditor engaged in the industry. For example, news that foreign crude oil exploration slowdowns had driven artificial price supports could affect an oil & gas refining client's oil supplies. Or, news of rising interest rates could affect a construction client's new housing starts.

2. For three companies in the industry:

a. Summarize the companies' major products, and explain how the news you identify above could bear on the companies' results of operations.

b. Summarize the companies' most recent reported financial results, and explain whether the news you identify above is good or bad for the companies' results of operations.