Data for these 23 stores is shown in Table 1 below:

 

Store No	Prior Year's Sales	Current Year's Sales	Current Year's Inv	Square ft	Avg. Number	Sells Lottery
					Full Time Employees
1		781,793	48,725	2,500	11	0
2	1,165,221	1,146,438	44,171	2,500	11.31	0
3	1,147,430	1,195,004	45,714	2,500	12.46	0
4		951,784	37,218	4,000	11.86	0
5	2,037,463	1,981,409	45,826	4,000	10.06	1
6	2,257,920	2,300,671	53,862	4,000	11.1	1
7	1,850,354	1,956,481	49,883	4,000	10.71	1
8	1,916,884	1,799,713	47,016	4,000	7.5	1
9	1,833,209	1,820,641	59,726	4,000	14	0
10		774,954	35,882	2,500	11.2	0
11	980,484	1,159,004	37,664	2,500	11.6	0
12	1,069,652	1,139,475	34,662	2,500	12.7	0
13		948,522	44,782	4,000	11.86	0
14	1,795,123	1,984,777	38,774	4,000	12.2	1
15	2,119,015	2,293,847	55,423	4,000	11.1	1
16	1,947,303	1,984,722	52,884	4,000	10.4	1
17	1,705,789	1,798,336	46,834	4,000	8.84	1
18	2,396,971	2,484,503	53,772	4,000	12.1	1
19	1,901,631	1,837,400	43,982	4,000	9.7	1
20	1,514,798	1,609,385	44,893	4,000	7.2	1
21	1,886,587	1,874,229	37,665	4,000	10.5	1
22		698,333	33,826	2,500	10.5	0
23	1,092,908	1,198,229	44,857	2,500	10.9	0
Totals	30618742	35719650	1038041	80000	250.8	12

 

 Source: AICPA 

Five of the 23 stores (stores 1, 4, 10, 13, and 22) opened during the year. Operations vary by geographic location and the mix of products sold. 

 

The location of a store is based on several factors, such as competition and the economic environment of the location. Stores 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, and 23 are considered to be in favorable locations. 

 

Typically, a store's operations do not change much unless a new product line is introduced, such as providing lottery tickets and  offering check-cashing services.  The mix of products and services can vary, and the most important factor is whether the store sells gasoline. Assume you are the senior auditor for the audit of Quicky Stores. The CFO is asking, given the above table and charts presented in this case, why is their such a difference in revenue among the stores.  To complete this analysis you must answer each of the following questions. Remember your focus is on revenue.

 

Data Visualization 

Given the sales data provided on the 23 stores in Table 1, the senior auditor decided it would be beneficial to create visualizations to find additional information underlying the data. Thus, the senior auditor put together the five charts below. 

 

Figure 1: Quicky Stores, Current and Prior Year Sales in Store ID Order as Presented 

Store Sales, Current and Prior Years 

Figure 2: Quicky Stores, Current and Prior Year Sales in Store Sales Order Showing Stores Selling and 

Not Selling Gas as Separate Series Store Sales, Current and Prior Years, in Sales Order 

Store Sales, Current and Prior Years, in Sales Order

Figure 3: Quicky Stores, Sales per Square Foot by Store Compared with NACS Benchmark Sales per 

Square Foot Compared with NACS Benchmark ($490) 

Sales per Square Foot Compared with NACS Benchmark ($490) 

Figure 4: Quicky Stores, Inventory Turnover by Store 

Inventory Turnover 

Figure 5: Quicky Stores, Scatterplot of Sales versus Average Number of Employees

Correlation between Sales and Number of Employees

Sales 2500000 2000000 1500000 1000000 500000 O O O O O. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 O O. Store ID O 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 O Current-Year Sales ($) Prior-Year Sales (Audited) ($)