Auditing Archive

Sandra Noble asked:




Avoid a visit from the OSHA police. Learning the rules and doing self evaluations will help employers stay on the right side of the law. As well as having a healthier, safer, workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is responsible for ensuring that workers can perform their jobs in a safe and non-toxic environment. Employers are directed to set up Process Safety Management (PSM) procedures. To avoid penalties, employers must pass OSHA audits and inspections.

Industries

If the business is in one of these industries:

* Aerospace & Defense

* Agricultural chemicals

* Ammonia refrigeration

* Automotive

* Batch process industries

* Coal mining

* Construction

* Electronics & semiconductor manufacturing

* Engineering companies

* Food processing

* Municipal water treatment

* Oil and gas production and pipelines

* Organic & inorganic chemicals

* Paints, coatings, resins and adhesives

* Petrochemicals

* Petroleum refining

* Pharmaceuticals & specialty chemicals

* Polymers and resins

* Propane storage and distribution

* Pulp and paper

* Rubber and plastics

* Ship Building

Processes

And one of the following applies:

* Concrete and masonry

* Confined space

* Cranes and riggings

* Electrical hazard/safety

* Fall prevention

* Fire prevention

* Forklift

* Gases, vapors, fumes

* Hand and power tools use and guarding / safety

* Hazardous materials and chemical

* Hazardous waste

* Illumination

* Iodizing and non-iodizing radiation

* Material handling

* Motorized mobile platforms

* Noise exposure

* Personal protective equipment

* Sanitation

* Scaffolding

* Signs signals barricades

* Stairs and ladders

* Steel ******** (Subpart R regulation)

* Trenching and Excavations

* Ventilation

* Welding and hot work

* Workplace traffic

Compliance

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides standards to ensure the health and safety of workers and performs inspections to enforce compliance with those standards. To support compliance, OSHA offers Process Safety Management (PSM) guidelines. Employers need to know about these OSHA compliance areas:

* Pre-startup Safety Review-Verifies the he construction, equipment and processes of a new facility.

* Mechanical Integrity-Mandates written procedures for the safe operation grity of process equipment.

* Hot Work-Ensures that the proper permits are issued for welding and hot work operations.

* Management of Change-Again, there is a requirement for written procedures to manage changes except “replacements in kind” to facilities that effect a covered process.

* Incident Investigation-Requires prompt investigation of incidents which did result or could reasonably have resulted in catastrophic releases of covered chemicals.

* Emergency Planning and Response- Compels employers to develop and implement an emergency action plan.

* Disclosure-Sets Requires employers to make PSM information available to employees.

* Compliance Audits-Stipulates that employers must self audit and verify compliance with process safety requirements at least every three years.

A self audit may avert an OSHA compliance inspection. Smart businesses will plan these periodic self assessments and audits for PSM compliance.

auditing procedures

Brice Alvord asked:




The Lean Management Audit is a structured knowledge gathering and assessment activity based on your company’s vision and strategy, its development plan, and its annual policy. Auditors will work within that framework to ensure that your performance improvement program is headed in the right direction. The audit should consist of a set of interviews that are carried out at different organizational levels depending on the size and complexity of your company. The audit team must assess the current condition in all key areas and control points at the work unit level.

The Lean Management Audit has three basic stages:

Preparation Site visit to plant or individual work units Analysis, scoring, and short-term prescription
Preparation

The preparatory stage of Lean Management Audit begins with reporting and analysis. At every level from the shop floor to the boardroom, the audit team should review regular, ongoing operations as well as the entire work environment. In the context of regular reporting and analysis, the Lean Management Audit should not be a surprise to managers or to the particular unit being reviewed.

The Site Visit

The site visit is the plant’s or unit’s chance to show its daily operating conditions-and the auditor’s opportunity to observe, ask more specific questions, and note ideas that can be implemented more broadly. During a site visit, the audit team has an opportunity to see firsthand what the current state is in the key areas and control points of lean management. Usually a full day is scheduled to visit an entire plant. If the unit diagnosed is a department or a work area, the visit may be shorter. The audit team determines the length of the visit and prepares an agenda, after considering the ground to be covered and the depth of questioning to be pursued.

As they tour the workplace and hear presentations, members of the audit team must listen and observe carefully. To focus their thinking, they should use a prepared scoring aid

Analysis, Scoring, And Short-Term Prescription

Immediately after the site visit, the audit team typically meets with the management team to provide initial feedback and observations. The team reviews what they have observed and clarifies understanding of processes and procedures. The audit team leaves the facility and writes an audit report based on three basic elements: Strategic Framework, Fundamental Structure, and Organizational Strength

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Michael Russell asked:




Forensic accounting is one of the newly identified types of accounting jobs available. A forensic accountant is either an internal or external auditor who is brought in to investigate a case of fraud, bankruptcy or other legal conflict. He or she audits the situation and comes to a conclusion regarding the wrong doings and amount of loss involved. The auditor composes a report, which is often used as evidence in a court case. The forensic accountant may even testify personally.

Forensic accounting has arisen from the vast amount of scandals wreaking havoc in the business world the last few years. Enron and WorldCom caused severe loss for many owners and employees. The accounting profession heard the call and has made several mid-course adjustments to help assure these crimes won’t happen as easily ever again.

COMMON PROJECTS

Forensic accounting is a specialized form of auditing. Regular audits are required by the SEC or the company itself to assure compliance with accounting standards or company policy and procedures.

Forensic audits, on the other hand, are done because something happened that needs further investigation. It is not a matter of routine. Here are some examples of projects that may rely on forensic audit procedures:

Agent fraud – A descriptive and frequent example is with insurance agents. An insurance agent has a lot of access to personal information of his customers. A common fraud scheme is for an insurance agent to fake the application for his customer to take out a loan on the insurance policy. The agent keeps the proceeds from the loan and the customer can remain unaware of it for months or even years.

Insurance and personal injury claims – Many people falsify claims they make to insurance companies. This is another big area needing forensic accounting techniques.

Construction audits – Here, forensic accounting is used to make sure construction is done using the quality of components that was called for.

Royalty audits – In any situation where a worker, usually a performer, is owed royalties for the showing or airing of his work, a forensic accountant is often brought in to make sure he is being paid everything that is owed.

SEC inspections – Wall Street scandals abound these days and forensic accountants assist in following the financial information to find the wrongdoers.

Matrimonial disputes – Divorces settlements often use the skills of a forensic accountant to assure both parties get a fair settlement.

COMPETENCIES

To be good in Forensic Accounting, more than just an accounting degree is required. The forensic accountant uses more than just his spreadsheet and accounting skills. He or she must be willing and able to deal with the totality of the particular business situation under investigation. This includes analyzing the financial evidence, reporting it in various traditional and technical ways and perhaps even testifying in court. All delivered documents must be in such a format as to be used as court evidence. Therefore, the forensic accountant must be familiar with legal terms and procedures.

The Forensic Accountant must also be a good public speaker and an excellent writer, as well. He/she must be confident and articulate in convincing the court of the evidence he has uncovered.

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Jimmy Sturo asked:




A careful management of your telecom bills and their audits in respect of the use of the voice, data and wireless devices is essential to check the loss of a big chunk of your revenue. Proper management can help you track your assets and invoices and reduce your costs, which would otherwise add reduce your overall profits. For this you need to streamline your audit management and audit your telephone bills to find overcharges, wrong charges, and oversight errors that may total up to heavy costs on your company. You can achieve this by either hiring the services of a Telecom Audit and Bill Management company, or just by going in for software designed specifically to audit and manage your telecom expenses.

In case you opt for software to perform this job for you, you will have to go in for the one that is based upon the latest Telecom Bill Auditing Management techniques. You will also need to get your staff trained in the use of such software, as they can have very complicated programs. The software can automatically reconcile and verify vendor invoices.

It can also provide you with a centralized bill management audit report so that you can process the bills, track the communications assets and discover billing errors, frauds, misuse, thus generating a consolidated statement of all aspects of the communication network in your company. In this way you can save a lot of precious time, obviate manual processes, and thus increase accountability.

However, using software has its own problems. It gets outdated soon, as the technologies keep advancing with new features appearing on the market every few days. So you have to again fall back upon the manual process and since you do not have the resources on your own, you have to seek the assistance of a Bill Audit Management company.

You must understand that your approach in efficiently managing your communication network should be dynamic, proactive rather than reactive. This only means that you should keep yourself abreast of the advances in telecom bill and audit management techniques that come up frequently.

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David Jerome asked:




Trust account rules vary from state to state, but one constant for attorneys or anyone working in a fiduciary capacity is the over-riding fear of running afoul of strict requirements. Take the following steps and you won’t lose sleep worrying about your responsibility to comply with complicated trust account regulations.

1. Migrate from Manual to Automated Record Keeping

Review your firm’s trust bookkeeping procedures and identify which procedures are managed manually. Often, law firms enter each client’s transactions separately and issue trust checks manually. Manual bookkeeping is the root of several problem areas. Not only are manual processes time-consuming, but also mistakes are difficult to detect and reports are next to impossible to prepare.
A good trust accounting software program can easily replace ALL your manual bookkeeping tasks and provide you with total control of your trust accounting. You will:

o Simplify transaction entries, trust check printing, bank reconciliations, and generating reports

o Readily detect errors

o Maintain an audit trail for any changes made in your trust books

o Make it easy for your accountant to review your trust data and make appropriate corrections without shuffling through stacks of paper

2. Choose Your Trust Accounting Program Wisely
Don’t rush to embrace the first accounting program you find to manage your trust books. Many accounting packages that work very well for general operating accounts often lack features that trust accounting requires. For example, general accounting packages typically do not produce client ledgers easily and do not prevent trust accounting mistakes from occurring. There is typically no audit trail log and one can even go back to reconciled months and edit prior transactions. That’s not proper trust accounting! When you evaluate your trust program choices, consider the following questions:

o Does the program make deposits and disbursements in each client account very easy to enter, track and reconcile?

o Is the program designed to prevent common trust accounting errors, such as duplicate check numbers, client ledger overdrafts etc.? These are examples of problems that must be stopped at the transaction entry itself.

o Are required monthly reports such as ledger card balances, transactions, reconciliation and three-way reconciliation, etc. easily produced?

o Is there an option to print trust checks and/or deposit slips?

3. Avoid Commingled Bank Trust Accounts

A client trust bank account is a special kind of account. Today, many banks offer a particular type of trust account with separate sub-accounts for each client.

A bank account that allows you to manage individual client funds separately provides a double layer of protection for your firm because a bank can also alert you to any client ledger overdraft situation. Additionally, you will receive monthly client ledger trial balances from the bank, which you can then match with your office client ledger records.

4. Archive Closed Client Accounts

When a client matter has been completed, the balance on the client’s ledger is zero, and all transactions have been reconciled with the bank statement, you should “close” or archive that client ledger. Otherwise, over a period of time, you will be dealing with hundreds or even thousands of “open” client ledgers.

5. Protect Your Trust Software Data File

While a computer or software can be replaced, lost data is not easy to re-create. For trust accounts, always maintain a hard copy of each client ledger on a monthly basis. Make regular backup copies of your trust database files and store them at a remote location.

Automate Today and Put a Stop to Trust Fund Account Worries

Managing trust accounts is easier than you think. Start with a careful review of your firm’s trust accounting processes. Begin using trust account software designed to help you comply with state regulations. Remember, a client A’s money has nothing to do with client B’s money. Your trust books should only contain open accounts. And, make an iron clad rule to backup copies of data files and store them in a secure and separate place. Follow these tips and you will bring order to your trust bookkeeping, tighten controls and no longer worry whether or not you are in full compliance with state regulations.

Also check out details for hud software, comprehensive and fully automated real estate closing software.

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Michael Ohare asked:




The ever-increasing cases of stolen credit cards has led to the creation of additional security measures to keep things clean and safe. One of these advancements is called the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard or PCI DSS. This is designed to ensure that all merchants who are processing, storing and/or transmitting credit card information are able to maintain a safe and secure environment for their clients. Right now, this set of rules and regulations applies to all merchants who accepts, transmits and stores cardholder data, no matter the size and scope of the organization. When it comes to the PCI compliance cost, it would depend on several factors.

The factors to look at in order to determine the PCI compliance cost of your organization includes your business type, the number of transactions that you process annually, your existing IT infrastructure, storage practices, and current processing practices. It has been estimated that an organization processing about six million transactions a year (or businesses classified as level 1) would spend at least half a million dollars in order to meet the requirements.

On-site audit of the card system is required for level 1 merchants. For levels 2-4 merchants, they need to fill out the Self Assessment Questionnaire. After this, they need to sign up for a quarterly scan to check for any weaknesses and/or vulnerabilities in the system’s IP addresses. These scans run from a hundred and fifty dollars to two thousand dollars per IP address.

Aside from that, there are also some additional PCI compliance costs to be aware about, such as hardware and software upgrades for merchants who store information themselves. It is estimated that you will have to pay around six dollars if you have a hundred thousand card information stored in your system.

Even small businesses with a single POS system or terminal are required to be compliant with these regulations. All merchants who are currently using a POS system should ensure that all the transactions are being transferred properly. More importantly, the system should not be storing any prohibited data from the cardholder.

Be it a big or small business, every merchant who makes use of a credit card system needs to be secure. Although the PCI compliance cost can be somewhat high for some businesses, these regulations have been placed to protect the consumers; and without the consumers, merchants will have no one to sell to. This is very beneficial in the long run.

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Dimitrios Litsikakis asked:




Description

The well known English phrase “last but not least” could not better describe how important the project closeout phase is. Being the very last part of the project life-cycle it is often ignored even by large organizations, especially when they operate in multi-project environments. They tend to jump from one project to another and rush into finishing each project because time is pressing and resources are costly. Then projects keep failing and organizations take no corrective actions, simply because they do not have the time to think about what went wrong and what should be fixed next time. Lessons learned can be discussed at project reviews as part of the closeout phase. Closure also deals with the final details of the project and provides a normal ending for all procedures, including the delivery of the final product. This paper identifies the reasons that closeout is neglected, analyzes the best practices that could enhance its position within the business environment and suggest additional steps for a complete project closeout through continuous improvement.

Project managers often know when to finish a projects but they forget how to do it. They are so eager to complete a project that they hardly miss the completion indicators. “Ideally, the project ends when the project goal has been achieved and is ready to hand over to customer” (Wellace et. al, 2004, p156). In times of big booms and bubbles, senior management could order the immediate termination of costly projects. A characteristic example of that is Bangkok’s over investment in construction of sky-scrapers, where most of them left abandoned without finishing the last floors due to enormous costs (Tvede, 2001, p267). Projects heavily attached to time can be terminated before normal finishing point if they miss a critical deadline, such as an invitation to tender. Kerzner (2001, p594) adds some behavioural reasons for early termination such as “poor morale, human relations or labour productivity”. The violent nature of early termination is also known as ‘killing a project’ because it “involves serious career and economic consequences” (Futrel, Shafer D & Shafer L, 2002, 1078). Killing a project can be a difficult decision since emotional issues create pride within an organization and a fear of being viewed as quitters blurs managerial decisions (Heerkens, 2002, p229).

Recognition

The most direct reason that Project Closeout phase is neglected is lack of resources, time and budget. Even though most of project-based organizations have a review process formally planned, most of the times “given the pressure of work, project team member found themselves being assigned to new projects as soon as a current project is completed” (Newell, 2004). Moreover, the senior management often considers the cost of project closeout unnecessary. Sowards (2005) implies this added cost as an effort “in planning, holding and documenting effective post project reviews”. He draws a parallel between reviews and investments because both require a start-up expenditure but they can also pay dividends in the future.

Human nature avoids accountability for serious defects. Therefore, members of project teams and especially the project manager who has the overall responsibility, will unsurprisingly avoid such a critique of their work if they can. As Kerzner (2001, p110) observe, “documenting successes is easy. Documenting mistakes is more troublesome because people do not want their names attached to mistakes for fear of retribution”. Thomset (2002, p260) compares project reviews with the ‘witch hunts’ saying that they can be “one of the most political and cynical of all organizational practices where the victims (the project manager and the team) are blamed by senior management”. While he identifies top management as the main responsible party for a failure, Murray (2001) suggest that the project manager “must accept ultimate responsibility, regardless of the factors involved”. A fair-minded stance on these different viewpoints would evoke that the purpose of the project review is not to find a scapegoat but to learn from the mistakes. After all, “the only true project failures are those from which nothing is learned” (Kerzner, 2004, p303).

Analysis

When the project is finished, the closeout phase must be implemented as planned. “A general rule is that project closing should take no more than 2% of the total effort required for the project” (Crawford, 2002, p163). The project management literature has many different sets of actions for the last phase of the project life cycle. Maylor (2005, p345) groups the necessary activities into a six step procedure, which can differ depending on the size and the scope of the project:

1. Completion

First of all, the project manager must ensure the project is 100% complete. Young (2003, p256) noticed that in the closeout phase “it is quite common to find a number of outstanding minor tasks from early key stages still unfinished. They are not critical and have not impeded progress, yet they must be completed”. Furthermore, some projects need continuing service and support even after they are finished, such as IT projects. While it is helpful when this demand is part of the original statement of requirements, it is often part of the contract closeout. Rosenau and Githens (2005, p300) suggest that “the contractor should view continuing service and support as an opportunity and not merely as an obligation” since they can both learn from each other by exchanging ideas.

2. Documentation
Mooz et. al (2003, p160) defines documentation as “any text or pictorial information that describe project deliverables”. The importance of documentation is emphasized by Pinkerton (2003, p329) who notes that “it is imperative that everything learned during the project, from conception through initial operations, should be captured and become an asset”. A detailed documentation will allow future changes to be made without extraordinary effort since all the aspects of the project are written down. Documentation is the key for well-organized change of the project owner, i.e. for a new investor that takes over the project after it is finished. Lecky-Thompson (2005, p26) makes a distinction between the documentation requirements of the internal and the external clients since the external party usually needs the documents for audit purposes only. Despite the uninteresting nature of documenting historical data, the person responsible for this task must engage actively with his assignment.

3. Project Systems Closure
All project systems must close down at the closeout phase. This includes the financial systems, i.e. all payments must be completed to external suppliers or providers and all work orders must terminate (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2004, p13). “In closing project files, the project manager should bring records up to date and make sure all original documents are in the project files and at one location” (Arora, 1995). Maylor (2005, 347) suggest that “a formal notice of closure should be issued to inform other staff and support systems that there are no further activities to be carried out or charges to be made”. As a result, unnecessary charges can be avoided by unauthorized expenditure and clients will understand that they can not receive additional services at no cost.

4. Project Reviews
The project review comes usually comes after all the project systems are closed. It is a bridge that connects two projects that come one after another. Project reviews transfer not only tangible knowledge such as numerical data of cost and time but also the tacit knowledge which is hard to document. ‘Know-how’ and more important ‘know-why’ are passed on to future projects in order to eliminate the need for project managers to ‘invent the wheel’ from scratch every time they start a new project. The reuse of existing tools and experience can be expanded to different project teams of the same organization in order to enhance project results (Bucero, 2005). Reviews have a holistic nature which investigate the impact of the project on the environment as a whole. Audits can also be helpful but they are focused on the internal of the organization. Planning the reviews should include the appropriate time and place for the workshops and most important the people that will be invited. Choosing the right people for the review will enhance the value of the meeting and help the learning process while having an objective critique not only by the team members but also from a neutral external auditor. The outcome of this review should be a final report which will be presented to the senior management and the project sponsor. Whitten (2003) also notices that “often just preparing a review presentation forces a project team to think through and solve many of the problems publicly exposing the state of their work”.

5. Disband the project team

Before reallocating the staff amongst other resources, closeout phase provides an excellent opportunity to assess the effort, the commitment and the results of each team member individually. Extra-ordinary performance should be complemented in public and symbolic rewards could be granted for innovation and creativity (Gannon, 1994). This process can be vital for team satisfaction and can improve commitment for future projects (Reed, 2001). Reviewing a project can be in the form of a reflective process, as illustrated in the next figure, where project managers “record and critically reflect upon their own work with the aim of improving their management skills and performance” (Loo, 2002). It can also be applied in problematic project teams in order to identify the roots of possible conflicts and bring them into an open discussion.

Ignoring the established point of view of disbanding the project team as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary overheads, Meredith and Mandel (2003, p660) imply that it’s best to wait as much as you can for two main reasons. First it helps to minimize the frustration that might generate a team member’s reassignment with unfavourable prospects. Second it keeps the interest and the professionalism of the team members high as it is common ground that during the closing stages, some slacking is likely to appear.

6. Stakeholder satisfaction

PMI’s PMBoK (2004, p102) defines that “actions and activities are necessary to confirm that the project has met all the sponsor, customer and other stakeholders’ requirements”. Such actions can be a final presentation of the project review which includes all the important information that should be published to the stakeholders. This information can include a timeline showing the progress of the project from the beginning until the end, the milestones that were met or missed, the problems encountered and a brief financial presentation. A well prepared presentation which is focused on the strong aspects of the projects can cover some flaws from the stakeholders and make a failure look like an unexpected success.

Next Steps

Even when the client accepts the delivery of the final product or service with a formal sign-off (Dvir, 2005), the closeout phase should not be seen as an effort to get rid of a project. Instead, the key issue in this phase is “finding follow-up business development potential from the project deliverable” (Barkley & Saylor, 2001, p214). Thus, the project can produce valuable customer partnerships that will expand the business opportunities of the organization. Being the last phase, the project closeout plays a crucial role in sponsor satisfaction since it is a common ground that the last impression is the one that eventually stays in people’s mind.

Continuous improvement is a notion that we often hear the last decade and review workshops should be involved in it. The idea behind this theory is that companies have to find new ways to sustain their competitive advantage in order to be amongst the market leaders. To do so, they must have a well-structured approach to organizational learning which in project-based corporations is materialized in the project review. Garratt (1987 in Kempster, 2005) highlighted the significance of organizational learning saying that “it is not a luxury, it is how organizations discover their future”. Linking organizational learning with Kerzner’s (2001, p111) five factors for continuous improvement we can a define a structured approach for understanding projects.

This approach can be implemented in the closeout phase, with systematic reviews for each of the above factors. Doing so, project closure could receive the attention it deserves and be a truly powerful method for continuous improvement within an organization. Finally, project closeout phase should be linked with PMI’s Organizational Project Management Maturity (OPM3) model where the lessons learned from one project are extremely valuable to other projects of the same program in order to achieve the highest project management maturity height.

References

1. A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge, 2004, 3rd Edition, Project Management Institute, USA, p102

2. Arora M, 1995, Project management: One step beyond, Civil Engineering, 65, 10, [Electronic], pp 66-68

3. Barkley & Saylor, 2001, Customer-Driven Project Management, McGraw-Hill Professional, USA, p214

4. Bucero A, 2005, Project Know-How, PM Network, May 2005 issue, [Electronic], pp 20-22

5. Crawford K, 2002, The Strategic Project Office, Marcel Dekker, USA, p163

6. Department of Veteran Affairs, 2004, Project Management Guide, Office of Information and Technology – USA Government, p13

7. Dvir D, 2005, Transferring projects to their final users: The effect of planning and preparations for commissioning on project success, International Journal of Project Management vol. 23, [Electronic], pp 257-265

8. Futrel R, Shafer D & Shafer L, 2002, Quality Software Project Management, Prentice Hall PTR, USA, p1078

9. Gannon, 1994, Project Management: an approach to accomplishing things, Records Management Quarterly, Vol. 28, Issue 3, [Electronic], pp 3-12

10. Heerkens G, 2002, Project Management, McGraw-Hill, USA, p229

11. Kempster S, 2005, The Need for Change, MSc in Project Management: Change Management module, Lancaster University, [Electronic], slide 16

12. Kerzner H, 2004, Advanced Project Management: Best Practices on Implementation, 2nd Edition, Wiley and Sons, p303

13. Kerzner H, 2001, Project Management – A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, 7th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York, p594

14. Kerzner H, 2001, Strategic Planning For Project Management Using A Project Management Maturity Model, Wiley and Sons, pp 110-111

15. Lecky-Thompson G, 2005, Corporate Software Project Management, Charles River Media, USA, p26

16. Loo R, 2002, Journaling: A learning tool for project management training and team-building, Project Management Journal; Dec 2002 issue, vol. 33, no. 4, [Electronic], pp 61-66

17. Maylor H, 2005, Project Management, Third Edition with CD Microsoft Project, Prentice Hall, UK, p345

18. Mooz H, Forsberg K & Cotterman H, 2003, Communicating Project Management: The Integrated Vocabulary of Project Management and Systems Engineering, John Wiley and Sons, USA, p160

19. Murray J, 2001, Recognizing the responsibility of a failed information technology project as a shared failure, Information Systems Management, Vol. 18, Issue 2, [Electronic], pp 25-29

20. Newell S, 2004, Enhancing Cross-Project Learning, Engineering Management Journal, Vol. 16, No.1, [Electronic], pp 12-20

21. Organizational Project Management Maturity (OPM3): Knowledge Foundation, 2003, 3rd Edition, Project Management Institute, USA

22. Pinkerton J, 2003, Project Management, McGraw-Hill, p329

23. Reed B, 2001, Making things happen (better) with project management, May/Jun 2001 issue, 21, 3, [Electronic], pp 42-46

24. Rosenau & Githens, 2005, Successful Project Management, 4th Edition, Wiley and Sons, USA, p300

25. Sowards D, 2005, The value of post project reviews, Contractor, 52, 8, [Electronic], p35

26. Thomset R, 2002, Radical Project Management, Prentice Hall PTR, USA, p260

27. Whitten N, 2003, From Good to Great, PM Network, October 2003 issue, [Electronic]

28. Young, 2003, The Handbook of Project Management: A Practical Guide to Effective Policies and Procedures, 2nd Edition, Kogan Page, UK, p256

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David Cooks asked:




The Advantages Of PCI Scanning

Over the past few years major credit card companies have gotten together to develop one set of conditions for internet businesses in order to process credit cards. Their reason for doing this was to help reduce the liability they carry by handling such sensitive information. While there is no way to completely protect themselves from fraudulence, they have created a way to get maximum protection through PCI Scanning.

Not only does PCI Scanning insulate the credit card company, but there is a way for online companies to use it to their advantage. While doing your work and conforming to the PCI Data Security Standards, you’re also setting up major road blocks for the hackers, and making major headway in protecting your website. It is essential to do your research on the PCI Standards to see how well your website is protected and whether you need to take further steps to secure it. That said, the protection that being PCI Certified provides is pretty comprehensive

Personally, when I am shopping online, it always makes me nervous to make a purchase from a web site I’ve never been to. But, when I see a trust seal posted, and I can click on it and see that it has been verified by a third party, it makes me feel so much safer. Now that I am more aware, I know that I will never purchase something from a site that is not PCI Certified, or at the very least, verified by a third party.

Besides offering protection for your business, another benefit that could actually come with PCI Scanning is more sales! If you have a seal posted that states you are PCI Certified, consumers will know that your company takes their security and safety seriously. When people feel more secure they are more trusting and it is more likely that they’ll buy something from your site.

PCI Scanning is most certainly an investment of money and time, but it�s worth the trouble if you use it to your every advantage!

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Joe Hughes asked:




Simply put, if you have certain expectations of security within your organization, from a cash handling program to merchandise protection standards, you must audit these procedures regularly, or they will lose much of their effectiveness. Why? Because your employees will perceive them only as important as you do.

If you place high importance on a particular program, you will follow up regularly to ensure that it is running properly, and efficiently. Employees see that, and will take their cue from you, in most cases. For example, if you demonstrate great customer service skills, and demand that same level of customer service from your employees; and, you regularly review with them any opportunities and strengths to help them improve, they will “get it”. Essentially, they will become very good at customer service, and will thereby increase your sales.

By the same token, if your employees know that you are going to review your security policies and programs, and that you are going to follow up with them about any deficiencies or strengths you find, then of course, they will follow your lead, and make those programs important to themselves, too.

It’s really about managing people. You just have to apply the same principles you employ to increase your business to the programs that protect your assets. If you never check to see if the back door is locked, your employees will not think it is important to keep it locked.

Even small businesses can, and should, have a security audit in place. Depending on the size of the business, and the specific need, the audits could range from a simple checklist to a full-blown multi-area, detailed audit process. When it comes to security, here are some things that every business owner should be checking on a regular basis:

* Physical Security – Are your doors locked? Is your building secure? Is your alarm working properly? Including all motion sensors and door contacts? If you have cctv, is it working properly? Are the times correct on your video output?

* Cash Handling – Is your cash handling policy being followed? Are the proper signatures, dates, etc. in place? Is your safe always locked? Do you regularly remove cash from registers so that you limit your liability in case of theft or robbery? Are your daily/nightly deposits secured? How are your registers counted? By whom? Are the fail-safes being used consistently? Is there accountability for discrepancies?

* Merchandise Protection – Are your lockable cases kept locked at all times? Is your high theft or high risk merchandise protected from theft? If you use Inventory tags, are they being used to your expectation? Do your employees respond to alarm activations?

* Operations – Are you checking your receipts of goods for discrepancies? Are you following up with vendors on any issues to ensure you get credit for mistakes? Is your stock area clean and organized, so that any theft activity will be more obvious? Is there a process in place to verify all receipts?

* Safety – Are your customer areas free of any potential dangers? Are your fire exits clear and unobstructed? Are your back areas clean, organized, and a safe work environment for your employees? Do you have an emergency plan? And, do all of your employees understand it?

This is just an example of the basic items that any business owner should be auditing on a regular basis, be it monthly or weekly. Sometimes, a simple checklist will work. The key to the audit is the follow up. All discrepancies must be corrected, and reviewed with the employees to ensure that everyone understands the importance of the programs. If you inspect what you expect, you will find that you will see improvements in execution, and reductions in losses.

auditing procedures

Davis Woodruff asked:




An ISO quality management or environmental management system audit can be an uneasy and stressful time for many people in companies today. This article gives 16 common sense tips for a successful audit are based on real world experiences consulting with dozens of companies and auditors over the past two decades. These tips apply to ISO 9001; ISO 13485; ISO 17025; ISO 14001; RC 14001; AS 9100 or TS 16949 audits.

In my consulting practice I have observed people at all levels in an organization getting “uptight” or having “audit anxiety” about an ISO registration or continuing effectiveness (surveillance) audit by their registrar. Proper preparation can help lower the anxiety level. These tips can help you and everyone in your organization be better prepared for the audit.

Know your job, roles and responsibilities. Know where to find the appropriate procedures, forms and documents; It is o.k. to refer to them to answer questions, do not guess. Be sure all forms and records are up to date and completed properly. Be sure your work area is clean and clutter free; have files, records and information readily accessible. Know your quality policy and how it applies to your job. If you don’t understand a question, ask the auditor to clarify or repeat the question. If a question is still not clear, then ask someone to help you understand it. It could be a question that should be asked of someone else, if so tell the auditor it is not a part of your job and ask him/her to talk to ask else. Do not guess at an answer. Answer questions honestly, clearly and concisely. Do not keep on talking after you answer the question. Be aware that whatever you tell the auditor may have to be supported by the appropriate documents or records. Know what is done with a customer complaint (if it applies to your job). Know what to do with any non-conforming material (if it applies to your job). Know that we have a corrective action process and who is responsible for it. If there are regulatory or special requirements for your job, process or product know and be able to explain them (i.e. FDA, FAA, special handling requirements; soldering; sterilization). Know the quality objective and/or goals that apply to you. If there are areas of which you are unsure, do not guess, defer to someone else! DO NOT ARGUE with the auditor. Questions of the auditor are fine, but don’t argue. Remember, this is not an adversarial situation. Your company is paying the auditor to be there to do his/her job and the auditor is actually a customer. The auditor cannot fine you, send you to jail or get you fired. The auditor is there simply to insure the QMS meets the requirements of the standard. The auditor will not tell you how to do something, but may say something like “I have seen…..” Listen and learn. Be positive. We have an effective quality system and are a good company. Talk about our successes as appropriate…just be aware that anything said could require documented evidence.

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