Internal auditing: assurance & advisory services 4th edition

Case 1

Oxalite Inc.: A cautionary Tale*

The headlines stunned investors, regulators and the business community. Over a period of five years, several members of the management team at Oxalite incorporated had engaged in fraudulent financial reporting. The offences discovered included revenue-timing schemes and the creation of fictitious revenue in both U.S. and Asian offices

Discussion questions:

1. for discussion purposes, treat Oxalite, Inc. as a public company. Based on this assumption, reflect on the following:

a. What were some internal control deficiencies and even material weaknesses? How would they have been discovered? What would be the implications for Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 compliance?

b. analyze this case using the COSO Fraud Risk Management Guides Principles 1, 2, and 5 relating, to the COSO internal control components of control environment, risk assessment and monitoring.

2. How could the external auditors have helped avoid this adverse corporate governance outcome?

3. How could the internal audit function have helped evaluate the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls?

4. Mr. N.G. Shankar, CAE of the Aditya Birla Group, a large conglomerate in India and a former member of the internal audit standards Board of the IIA, has remarked, poor culture leads to organizational disaster. In what way was his observation justified in the case of Oxalite, Inc?

Internal auditing: assurance & advisory services 4th edition