Trinity Industries passed their SOX compliance in 2004 by applying the bottom-up approach in identifying the gaps and the lack documentation controls. Bottom-up approach looks at individual base elements of a system first and then those elements are linked together to form a larger subsystems. Trinity used this method to figure out where the material weakness for SOX compliance were and to organize a system to fix the problems. This process involved Trinity going into the BUs work environment, collecting information form the employees, observing the flow process, collecting data on the system gaps and documentation, correcting the weakness, and educating the employees in the correct process. Some of the weakness in this approach were, over …show more content…
To determine all the possible weakness, they used the bottom-up approach and it was successful because they passed the SOX audit. I think this was the best option for their first year compliance because this was a new regulation and taking all precaution was necessary. One thing they could have done differently is, selected the areas in the BUs that had a material effect on the financial statements and controls. This would have decrease the cost and time used to test the process. After this approach, Trinity understood their company’s process and in the following year they could us the top-down risk approach to save cost and …show more content…
• Classification of controls into categories of importance.
• Have meeting with all level of management and employees to cover the SOX compliance.
Trinity installed the Oracle system (EDP) which centralized their financial data of all the BUs in one system to have reliability and accountability of their financial statements. This system combined four ledgers in one system and save Trinity $.5 million annually in SOX compliance expense. This system improved their reporting process, timely closing of books, and availability of financial information. This systems left little room for misrepresentation of their financial statements which satisfied some of the SOX requirements.
The testing process that Trinity performed to design their controls are listed below. These testing process uncovered where Trinity was miss controls and they took appropriate approach in designing a system to correct these controls.
• Interviewing the organization member to understand the process and where the controls were missing.
• Documenting the finding in flowcharts, control matrices, and gap-analysis.
• Shared with organization members for feed-back and
In the early 2000’s Lowe’s was rapidly intensifying its presence nationwide. The company carried a varied assortment of home improvement products and catered to the needs of retail as well as commercial business customers. Lowe’s expanded their reach by acquiring a 41-store chain, Eagle Hardware and Garden, and engaging in a strategic alliance with HGTV to obtain a more profound existence in their market (Rouse, 2005). By 2004, Lowe’s operated almost 1,000 stores with plans to continue expansion across the nation (Rouse, 2005). The company has a core competency in helping customers meet their home improvement needs at a low price. In order to use this core competency to gain a competitive advantage, the company has focused on key functional strategies. To continue their success, Lowe’s must specifically focus on marketing, logistics, and human resource management strategies.
...System (SMS). Knowing that the Harley-Davidson’s employees were not very susceptible to quick changes, SiL’k team made sure to employ company’s model to highlight People, Processes and Technology for any change initiatives. Additionally, company’s Technology decisions were differed to company’s Architecture Integration group to ensure all technical solutions will be compatible with existing Information Systems architecture. Last but not least, the team took an open communication approach and throughout the process, each party involved, shared their monthly updates as well as project newsletter that communicated objectives, activities and progress to the community. This was clearly an ultimate teams collaborative effort, which brought them all toward shared vision of the new process and activities, resulted in shareholder’s decision in favor of the new supplier.
Lowe’s is a home improvement warehouse that was founded in 1946 as a single store and since has grown to become the second largest in the world. As technology has evolved, Lowe’s has made many advances incorporating new systems and devices to stay competitive. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the information technology management systems used at Lowe’s. It will look at Porter’s Five Force Model, supply chain management; data base management system, five agent-based technologies, e-commerce and system development lifecycle. Furthermore, it will look at business continuity planning, emerging trends and security vulnerabilities relates to the organization to remain competitive.
Trinity Industries journey started in 1933 when they were known as Trinity Steel, founded by C.J Bender in Dallas. The company manufactured butane tanks, had revenues of $2.5 million, and 200 employees. Trinity steel was growing by producing large petroleum tanks, steel fabrication for refineries, and leasing trucks. However, in 1957, the company faced increasing competition and business started to decline. In 1958, there was a merger between Trinity Steel, Dallas Tank, and Bender Wallace Development Company. Trinity Industries was formed, incorporated, and went public. By 2007, Trinity Industries had 14,400 employees working in 22 business units with revenues of $3.8 billion. Bu’s were grouped into 5 line of business (2008):
In 1994, Jim Donehey was brought in to update Capital One’s IT system. His solution was to replace their aging mainframe computers with an object-based system, but this technology had never been used on such a large scale. In contrast, two-thirds of Capital One’s competitors outsourced their IT functions. Within 5 years the company had the world’s largest Oracle database with 23 terabytes of data – winning them the Gartner Group’s Excellence in Technology Award.
Highlighted in their code of conduct, clear and concise internal regulations and expectations concerning operational safety are outlined to provide company-wide compliance (Sustainability Report, 2015). Additionally, these regulations are substantiated by the company’s three levels of verification, which are labeled as self-verification (individual site corroboration), assurance (internal risk assessment team), and audit (independent verification) (Sustainability Report, 2015). While the first two internal systems are vital to the success of the intended safety strategies, the presence of the company’s independent assessment team assures an accurate and non-biased portrayal of compliance information, which validates the company’s transparency efforts. The company’s appointment of Carl Sandlin as their Independent Expert was intended to assist in the implementation of recommendations set out by an internal investigation, which the company has completed 25 out of 26 sanctions (BP, 2012; Sustainability Report, 2015). Moreover, these developments may be a result from past allegations that BP’s auditing systems only accounted for a safety system presence and failed to assess the quality of their structures, verification of correct usage, and system efficiency (Allford & Carson, 2015). Although the cause for these developments resulted from tragic events, these internal improvements provide authenticity to the company’s transparency and create a foundation for company-wide safety compliance in both current and future business endeavors. For example, BP has successfully screened 19 potential projects for their impact on the local communities and environment (Sustainability Report, 2015). However, their ultimate success is derived on their ability
As technology progresses it can truly change how a business operates in terms of accounting and financial reporting. Online software has become a widely used system by many businesses around the globe. Financial reporting is essential to any business especially when seeking for potential investors or stakeholders. The reason being is because a financial report contains all of the records of how a business is performing financial wise. Likewise there are purposes of securities regulations and the main one is to disclose any schemes.
The fourth step is effectively communicating standards and procedures to all staff. This step requires that all policies and procedures are clearly written out and distributed to all staff. Not only is it communicated in writing, it should also be clearly and verbally communicated. Most companies now do quarterly online compliance training. This way all staff are required to review the material, show that they are competent in the information provided and participation can be recorded by the corporation for future references. (Safian, 2010, p.
This is the second part of the strategic assignment. In this report the competecies, culture and resource analysis of Tesco is presented. Furthermore in this report SWOT analysis of Tesco is presented and then two strategic options are suggested to Tesco. The strategic options suggested are then evaluated through the SAF model.
Some faculties and departments are already using Oracle applications in their day-to-day operations. As time goes by, more and more information users will be working with an application based on Oracle database technology. If you get the opportunity to be a member of an application development team, you will become familiar with the workings of Oracle and relational databases. Other users may have to learn about this popular database management system through their own experience. This article is for our readers who, as of yet, have no access to Oracle databases but have a yearning for learning what they're all about.
This particular case is centered around the Human Resources strategy that was implemented by Johnson & Johnson in 1997. This strategy includes many key aspects of corporate culture, leadership and global strategy integrated into one single global human resources program. This program allowed Johnson & Johnson to diversify their current employees, raise the standards for future employees, redefine the standards of leadership within J&J and improve global management overall.
Stair, R.M., Reynolds, G.W., Gelinas, J.U. Jr., Sutton, S.G., Hunton, J.E., Albright, S.C., Winston, W.L. & Zappe, C. (2007) Accounting Information Systems and Financial Modelling, Thomson, South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
These procedures and practices are used both by GM and by their vendors. The policies vary from layered inspections, statistics, process failure modes, effects analysis and control plans (Drew, 2011). All quality measures produce a graded system of quality management utilizing quality tools. An example of quality control test is that of speedy response wherever dilemmas are resolved quickly and immediately throughout visual management. Individuals responsible for specific tasks are kept accountable for some corrective actions that may subsist. What General Motors did was ignore this quality measurement when it was dealing with the problems of the Chevrolet
Human Resource Management is an essential part for any organization. Moreover, development of this department is the first step, the ground on which the future of the company depends. It is essential for every single business unit and especially for such international company as Coca Cola. It is people, not technology who create the company. Human Resource Management at Coca Cola Company has many advantages as well as disadvantage. It is the global company and it is impossible to create certain policies or procedures applicable in all divisions of the company, cultural and political differences need to be taken into account. Therefore, the focus of this paper will be on four tasks and duties of Human Resource Management (performance management, compensation, career development, succession planning) based on the United States procedures.
Today, there is a range of computerised systems in the market that business can use to keep track of their finances; few of the most recognised for their performance are Sage, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, QuickBooks, SA...