This is a solution of Inherent Risks For Westerners Limited that describes about Developing business

Inherent Risks For  Westerners Limited

Wesfamers Limited is a group of being a diversified conglomerate engaged in eight core business divisions including retail operations (Coles) such as home improvements and office supplies, target, shopping mart (Kmart), insurance, resources sector (coal mining), chemicals, energy and fertilizers sector, industrial and safety products and investment sectors. Keeping in view the veracity of business risks management within industrial perspective of each segment, following are few identified possible inherent risks at the planning phase of audit.

Inherent Risks	Implications
1. Wesfarmers’ breach of environmental regulation imposed by the Federal Government of Australia against carbon and greenhouse emissions particularly pertaining to coal mining and chemicals and fertilizer sectors.	·        Legal complications leading to fines and penalties ·        Non-disclosure of contingent liabilities in the financial statements ·         Bad reputation and loss of goodwill among the general public
2. Wesfarmers’ significant risk of uncertainty in insurance business causing high claim costs prone to increasing trends in natural disasters, calamities and catastrophes and death rates across worldwide, credit risks and complexity of calculations in actuarial valuation reports subjecting to significant estimation uncertainty.	·        Insurance liabilities are not stated accurately in the financial statements. ·        Inability to meet insurance liabilities as and when they fall due
3. Wesfarmers’ retail business operational risks including disruption in replenishment of stock (supply chain), theft of stock and risk of embezzlement of cash due to millions of transaction each week in retail outlets. In addition, there is a considerable risk of valuation of the stock leading to overstatement of stock if net realizable value is lower than the cost caused by price fluctuations.	·        Revenue from retail business is not giving true and fair view. ·        Frequent stock outs and inefficiency in the operations ·        Loss of physical and financial resources ·        Overstatement of stock of retail segment
4. A newly integrated management information system has been implemented in the current year 2012 to effectively monitor the activities of the retail business. However, there is a considerable risk in the effectiveness and efficiency of such system unless examined by our information risk management team.	·        Since it is newly incorporated, it is highly prone to errors and omissions thus challenging the reliability of data.

 Inherent risks for Virgin Australia Group of Airlines

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited formerly known as ‘Virgin Blue Holdings Limited’ is primarily engaged in the airline industry both domestic and international. The principal office of the company is situated at 56 Edmondstone Road, Bowen Hills, Queenland 4006. After performing risk assessment procedures, the key identified possible inherent risks at the planning stage of the audit are as follows;

Inherent Risks	Implications
1. Virgin Australia Holdings Limited is a highly geared company having 153% debt to equity ratio ($m 1,420.1/929.7) which can be regarded as key business concern. This situation can significantly impair future operating capability.	·        Manipulation of financial statements by falsely concealing any significant charges and encumbrances of the loaner because too much gearing inhibits any sort of further investment. ·        Inadequate or misclassifying interest expense to show good returns with intent to reward employees or payment of dividends to shareholders
2.  Lack of sufficient working capital to continue operations with a total deficit of $m 559.6 ($m 1,032-1,591.6).	·        Inability to meet current liabilities as and when they fall due ·        Manipulation in the current liabilities by understating
3. The fuel supply is integral to the airline industry and any length of time lag for any reason can have a significant operational impact which can consequently result in total loss of revenue and customers’ goodwill at the same time. Accordingly, the rise in fuel costs over the periods has adversely affected the airline industry.	·        Significant rise in fuel cost is indicative of the increased pressure to manipulate financial statements to show better earnings by understating or misclassifying fuel expense.
4. All the airline companies in Australia are bound to comply with the rules and regulations imposed by Australian Government’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and have severe legal repercussions in case of non-compliance including the safety and security of its customers and employees. The breach of such regulations can be imminent.	·        Legal complications leading to fines and penalties ·        Non-disclosure of contingent liabilities in the financial statements ·         Bad reputation and loss of goodwill among the general public
5. The revenue of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited and airline industry in general in Australia is highly sensitive to fluctuating economic conditions. Any sort of deterioration on the Australian economy would have a material impact on its financial position and financial performance.	·        Creates incentives and pressures towards management to manipulate reported earnings. ·        Falsely concealing or misleading the material information required for the users.

(B) What audit procedures and/or tasks would you have planned to carry out in response to the inherent risks identified by you in 1 above?

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Audit procedures against identified inherent risks at planning stage of audit of Wesfarmers Limited are as follows;

Inherent risks	Audit procedures
1. Breach of environmental regulations	·        Obtain list of all litigations from the Chief Compliance Officer or other responsible personnel and corroborate it with the Wesfamers’ legal adviser/consultant. ·        Meetings with the Wesfarmers’ legal consultant to clarify whether it is compliant with the environmental regulations or if there is a pending litigation obtain an understanding of the outcome of decision and probable penalty to be imposed on the company.
2. Significant risk of uncertainty in insurance business	·        Engage an actuarial expert (actuary) independent of the Wesfarmer to cross examine the actuarial reports issued by the Wesfarmers’ actuary including benchmarking data and performing industry analysis to identify unusual trends ·        Read the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors to identify whether any unfavorable incidents have occurred which can result in significant claim of the insured entity.
3. Retail business operational risks	·        Perform a walkthrough test over the point of sales terminal to evaluate whether the retail process is operating effectively ·        Perform a physical cash and stock count at year end on surprised basis to verify existence and completion ·        Benchmark data along with competitors and compare prices to test for the net realizable value to check the correct valuation of retail inventory items
4. Implementation of newly integrated management information system in retail segment	·        Employ and use the services of an IT expert independent of Wesfamers particularly specialist in information systems audit to evaluate the consistency, effectiveness and reliability of the reports generated by the system and any exception reports are noted.

Audit procedures against identified inherent risks at planning stage of audit of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited are as follows;

Inherent risks	Audit procedures
1. Highly geared 153% debt to equity ratio susceptible to undisclosed charges and encumbrances	·        Obtain the list of all financing facilities from the management and seek for external confirmation from the bank in respect of terms and conditions of the facilities, limit of any fixed and floating charge against all classes of assets including letters of credit and bank guarantees and other related covenants. ·        Perform compliance whether the facility is used for the stipulated purpose as mentioned on the agreement. ·        Recalculate the amount of interest and check whether the company is not defaulting towards payments of principal and interest
2. Lack of sufficient working capital to continue operations	·        Enhance the nature, timing and extent of substantive testing over current assets and current liabilities
3. Significant increase in fuel costs susceptible to misstatement in fuel expense	·        Review the agreement of the company between its fuel supplier to establish whether there are any unusual terms and conditions. ·        Design procedures to verify assertions such as occurrence, completeness, accuracy, classification and cut-off by detailing testing of fuel transactions (vouching) along with test of controls put in place by the company ·        Check for accruals of any unpaid bills at year end and seek for external confirmation with the supplier(s).
4. Possibility of non-compliance with rules and regulations of Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA)	·        Obtain list of all litigations from the Chief Compliance Officer or other responsible personnel and corroborate it with the company’s legal adviser/consultant. ·        Meetings with the company’s legal consultant to clarify whether it is compliant with the CASA regulations or if there is a pending litigation obtain an understanding of the outcome of decision and probable penalty to be imposed on the company
5. Deterioration in the Australian economy creating pressure for the management to manipulate reported earnings	·        Benchmarking and compare the industry wide trends for effects of economy on the business of competitors through ratios analysis

(C) If you had carried out an analytical review on the financial statements of these companies in the planning phase, what areas of concern (high risk or problem areas) or comfort would you have identified? Justify your answer and identify at least three (3) points for each company. (Hint: To answer this part you will need to carry out an analytical review.)

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Answer:

A diagnostic examination have been performed on the financial statements of Wesfarmers Limited for the year ended June 30, 2012 ranging from simple comparison with prior periods to detailed ratios analysis including checking consistency with other relevant financial information with the results as follows;

Results

• Although the above financial ratios indicate more of kind of satisfactory results with exception of high inventory turnover days. This might indicate that the company takes a long time in replenishing of existing finished goods stock. Possible reasons can be low demand of product which can result in deterioration of stock resulting in overstatement of stock if it had not reduced against its respective net realizable value as inventory is always stated at lower of cost or net realizable value (NRV). Quite possibly that is why sales have only increased by 6% over the year of which might be contributed by inflation factor. So, the key areas of concern are

• Revenue from sale of goods because it comprises of 96% of the total revenue along with the detailed testing on inventory items

• Another key area of concern is 850% increase in impairment of goodwill. That happened following the announcement by BlueScope Steel Limited (BlueScope), on 22 August 2011, that it intended to significantly restructure its Port Kembla operations, including a shutdown of its No.6 Blast Furnace at Port Kembla, the Industrial and Safety division’s Coregas business agreed to amend its contract with BlueScope for the supply of industrial gases to its steel operations as a result of the amendments, Coregas has become the primary supplier of industrial gases to BlueScope at the Port Kembla operations, with reduced volumes reflecting the reduced demand from BlueScope under its new operating structure. Given the amendments to this agreement, and having regard to an associated review of the Coregas business, Coregas has recognized an impairment charge against goodwill and plant and equipment of $172 million and $9 million respectively in the year ended 30 June 2012.

• The total goodwill comprises of 38% of the total assets which is a significant area of concern with regard to its reported amount in the balance sheet. The high amount of impairment as mentioned above is indicative of possible issues that might also exist in the valuation of goodwill. A key focus should be devoted to this area of the financial statements including the reliability, reasonableness and consistency of methods used therein.

Comfort level

• The only comfort level at the marketing planning phase is its financial stability in terms of its leverage and low debt to equity ratio that comprises of 15% and good interest coverage ratio. Moreover, the interest bearing liabilities have been reduced by 16% which is also a good sign as the company is placing more reliance on equity injection rather than debt borrowing.

A diagnostic examination have been performed on the financial statements of Virgin Holdings Australia Limited for the year ended June 30, 2012 from simple comparisons with prior periods to detailed ratios analysis including checking consistency with other relevant financial information resulted as follows;

Key areas of concern identified

1. Highly geared debt to equity ratio and low interest coverage ratio calculated above based on the financial statements of 2012. This casts significant doubt about going concern issues in the subsequent years. Interest coverage ratio of 0.9 times indicate that the company would not be able to pay off interest costs with ease. It also shows the company’s potential reliance on borrowings. Hence, at planning phase I as an auditor should devote key attention towards loan financing and all its related covenants.
2. Poor liquidity position because of inadequate working capital. It is evident from the fact that since average collection period of 9 days is a good sign for cash flow, however, in contrast the company is taking too long to settle its liabilities towards its creditors resulting in negative cash conversion cycle. This might also be indicative of disputes among the creditors for delayed payments and also necessitates the need to check for completeness of provisions booked in the current liabilities.
3. There has been decrease in value of property, plant and equipment during the financial year 2012 for changes in the airline’s use of certain assets resulted in devaluation and write-down of aircrafts and aeronautical assets totaling $ 18.5 million (2011: nil). A thoroughly analysis and scrutiny is needed to be done to check the basis and reasonableness of such treatment.

(D) What audit procedures and/or tasks would you have planned to carry out in response to the high risks or problem areas identified by you in (C) above? Alternatively, in relation to which area would you have minimized your evidence gathering procedure?

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Answer:

In relation to the high risky problem areas of Wesfarmers Limited identified in above section, I as an auditor hereby planned to do the following audit procedures as follows;

Problem Areas	Audit procedures
1. High inventory turnover days and low sales growth	·        Inquiries of sales and marketing departments’ personnel about the possible reasons of slight increase in sales and the inventory management departments and supply chain. ·        Obtain list of inventory items along with their aging analysis and perform NRV testing by market survey or through benchmarking competitors’ data. ·        Perform substantive testing on all the processes related to management of inventory of all segments.
2. An 850% increase in impairment with a total of $ 172 million charge for the year	·        Evaluation of macroeconomic factors and detailed analysis of the event of amendment of agreement with BlueScope Steel Limited. ·        Recalculate the discount rates ·        Review the financial models prepared management for impairment testing
3. Goodwill revaluation	·        Review the impairment review and discuss with the management ·        Agree goodwill calculation by recalculation ·        Agree the consideration to sales agreement by inspection and involve experts and considering whether asset valuation is on reliable, reasonable and consistent basis.

In relation to the high risky problem areas of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited identified in above section, I as an auditor hereby planned to do the following audit procedures as follows;

Problem Areas	Audit procedures
1. Highly geared debt to equity ratio and low interest coverage ratio	·        Inquiries of management about the reasons for potential reliance on borrowing and discussion on current critical situation. ·        Obtained all the agreements of financing from management and confirming all the terms and conditions and major covenants mentioned therein with the bank. ·        Obtain written representation from the management about the completeness of information related to financing including declaration of any off the balance sheet arrangements, if any ·        Vouch all the major payments of principal along with interest and checking their accuracy, completeness and cut-off procedures including whether it is meeting such liabilities within stipulated time period.
2. Poor liquidity position because of inadequate working capital. Click Here	·        Inquiries with management about current liquidity position and future course of action for remedial measures. ·        Circularizing confirmations to all major creditors to confirm the terms of agreements and outstanding balances at year end. ·        Check for any long outstanding payables that might have resulted in disputes or law suits. ·        Meetings with legal advisor to confirm the adequacy of provisions and contingent liabilities.
3. There has been decrease in value of property, plant and equipment totaling $ 18.5 million	·        Meetings with the management about the reasons for change in use of fixed assets and assessing the reasonableness of such treatment. ·        Engage technical experts e.g. aeronautical engineers for evaluation of physical condition of such assets. ·        Employ a valuation analyst for determination of reliable fair market value and compare it with those written down aircrafts’ costs. ·        Checking the mathematical accuracy of records and documents of such assets by recalculating the depreciation charge from Fixed Assets Register and other relevant supporting documents such as invoices etc.

(E) An Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members has been issued for each company for the financial year ended 30 June 2012:

(a) Identify the type of audit opinion issued by each auditor, and justify your answer.

Wesfarmers Limited	Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
An unmodified opinion has been expressed by the auditors M/s Ernst & Young	An unmodified opinion has been expressed by the auditors M/s KPMG

 An unmodified opinion means that the auditor has concluded that the financial statements of the entity are giving true and fair view because they have been prepared in accordance with all the material respects that include the applicable financial reporting framework. The applicable financial reporting framework includes Australian Accounting Standards and any other International Accounting Standards being adopted and also includes legal and regulatory requirements such as Corporations Act, 2001.

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(b) Do you agree with the type of opinion issued by the auditor? Why or why not?

Please indicate an alternative audit opinion if you do not agree with the one issued.

Wesfarmers Limited	Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
Yes, I agree with the type of opinion issued by M/s Ernst & Young on the financial statements of Wesfarmers Limited for the year ending 30 June 2012 as the company is growing and there are no significant issues related with the company’s business and no such material misstatement exist in the financial statements.	However, I do not agree with the type of opinion expressed by M/s KPMG on the financial statements of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited. Although, the company has earned a profit of $m 22.8 but since it is totally instable in terms of financial leverage and also due to poor liquidity position. The working capital has a deficit of $m 560 which cannot be compensated by the annual profits. Moreover, there are no present signs of improvement. Therefore, the opinion should have been modified.
	Alternative Audit Opinion KPMG should have modified the audit opinion by including an emphasis of matter paragraph after the opinion paragraph to highlight going concern issue that if present circumstances continues to deteriorate it  can significantly impair its future operating capability

 (c) Are there any other matters or events that have taken place after the issue of the audit report that strengthens or weakens the auditor’s opinion?

Wesfarmers Limited

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited

No events have occurred after the issue of audit report. The dividend was declared for a payments date of 28 Sep 2012, but it does not affect the auditor’s opinion and similarly the company has announced the issue of € 650 million EURO bonds on 25 July 2012 and on same day repaid $ 400 million seven year bonds that were issued by Coles on 25 July 2005 but it also does not affect the audit opinion.

As such there are not any events that have taken place after the issue of the audit report that strengthens or weakens the auditor’s opinion. However, 0n 5 July 2012, the Group announced an agreement with Boeing to order 23 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, the first in Australia. The fuel-efficient aircraft will join the Group’s fleet between 2019 and 2021. The agreement, of which the terms are commercially sensitive and therefore confidential, includes four additional delivery options, ensuring flexibility to respond to market conditions. To align with its current capacity plan for the next three years, the Group has delayed the delivery of some of its Boeing 737NG aircraft to after 2016, leaving 31 scheduled deliveries of Boeing 737-800 aircraft between 2013 and 2016. This gives the airline flexibility to develop the appropriate mix of narrow-body and wide-body aircraft. But it does not affect audit opinion.

 (F) In relation to audit committees research and answer the following questions and justify each answer –

 (a) Do the above companies have audit committees?

Wesfarmers Limited	Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
Yes, Wesfamers do have audit committee established by the Board of Directors which comprise of following persons namely; ·        Tony Howarth (Chairman) ·        Bob Every ·        Charles Macek ·        Diane Smith – Gander ·        Vanessa Wallace	Yes, the Board of Directors of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited has established an audit and risk management committee comprising of the following persons namely; ·        Robert Thomas (Chairman) ·        Neil Chatfield ·        Mark Vaile

 (b) Under which section of the annual report would you expect to find information on them?

Wesfarmers Limited	Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
The Audit Committee of Wesfarmers Limited can be found on the Corporate Governance Statement section of the annual report on page # 60 to 61 whereby their composition and responsibilities are duly mentioned.	The Audit Committee of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited can be found on the Corporate Governance Statement section of the annual report on page # 44 whereby their composition and responsibilities are duly mentioned.

 (c) Do both companies have the correct composition in relation to audit committees?

Yes, both the companies have the correct composition in relation to audit committees because the ASX Corporate Governance Principles stipulates following criteria for the composition of audit committee as follows;

The Audit Committee must comprise of:

• only non-executive directors;
• at least three members;
• a majority of non-executive directors who are able to exercise independent judgment in their role as a member of the Committee, as determined by the Board;
• members who are sufficiently financially literate to understand financial statements and general accounting principles, for the purpose of assessing and questioning information presented in Committee meetings; and
• at least one member who has relevant financial qualifications and experience

(d) In your opinion, are audit committees of benefit to the auditor, the company, the auditing profession and/or society as a whole?

Audit committees play a critical role in ensuring the integrity of a company’s financial reporting and the audit process, including the independence and objectivity of the external auditor. The audit committee also plays a wider role in ensuring that the company has sound internal financial control systems. Overall, a well-functioning audit committee underpins the assurance that the board of directors gives to shareholders in relation to the company’s financial statements and the audit process.

 Part 2

Audit Quality in Australia – A Strategic Review

1. a) Purpose

This report elaborates the importance of reforms for continual enhancement in the audit process that is integral to the corporate sector which plays a key role in the growth of Australian economy published by the Treasury after a diagnostic review methodology. The primary objective of this report is to inculcate an effective, sound and transparent audit mechanism which provides an independent check on the integrity of the financial statements by promoting the credibility locally as well as in global marketplace and increases the confidence of investors

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1. b) Scope

In order to achieve such a strategy, the report describes the methodology used in assessing the quality of audit in Australia keeping in view International perspective. It also provides guidelines on quality control procedures to be followed by the professional audit firms. Moreover, it also addresses the role of major stakeholders such as Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), the Financial Reporting Council (FRS), professional accounting bodies (ICAA and CPA), the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB), Audit Quality Review Board (AQRB) and other related legal and regulatory agencies. Lastly, it also points out the key findings in relation to Australia’s audit regulation framework of audit quality, review processes followed, audit firms and its liabilities and factors outside the control of auditors.

1. c) Major Findings

The major findings by the treasury relates to following areas as follows;

• Australia’s audit regulation framework is in line with International Practice and is functioning effectively
• Statutory Audit Directives period of five year is deemed to be appropriate as it serves a balance between continuity, the familiarity threat and audit quality unless the same change has been incorporated by Canada, the UK and the US
• Regulatory bodies such as ASIC, APRA etc continues to monitor future developments resulting from global financial crisis. In addition, other stakeholders should need to take initiatives for improving audit quality
• ASIC program is in line with best practices of overseas bodies of developed economies and its inspection reports duly identify areas which need improvement including audit documentation
• The completion of the three-year charter of the Audit Quality Review Board (AQRB) will result in reduction in the firm’s compliance burden
• A strong ethical culture of honesty and integrity in Australian’s firms is in place.
• Emphasized particular focus on audit quality through compliance based approach and ASIC’s proactive audit inspection program.
• Amendment in Corporation Act by incorporating Quality Control Reports as in EU’s Statutory Audit Directive.
• Audit partners and staff should possess skills and expertise and excellent personal attributes
• The auditors should exercise professional judgment and must comply with all the accounting standards and legal framework (Corporations Act)

1. d) The profession’s ICAA and CPA response to the report

The professional bodies ICAA and CPA have duly supported and endorsed the report as they themselves are continually monitoring auditing firms through quality control programs and professional conduct and code of ethics (issued by APESB) including ensuring that their members are compliant with auditing, accounting and assurance standards.

1. e) Benefits

Yes, certainly this type of report is beneficial to the auditor, the auditing profession and the society as a whole because it not only serves as a basis for improvement in the quality of the audit process but simultaneously it also safeguards the auditor and creates awareness to general public about the possible misconception of the auditor regarding fraud and detection of material misstatement for which the primary responsibility rests with management. For auditors, it specifically prescribes to comply with the requirements of the standards on quality control and annual review of independence check to safeguard their own interest. It will eventually save the auditor from possible repercussions.

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This is a solution of Inherent Risks For Wesfamers Limited that describes about Developing business

Inherent Risks For  Wesfamers Limited

Wesfamers Limited is a group of being a diversified conglomerate engaged in eight core business divisions including retail operations (Coles) such as home improvements and office supplies, target, shopping mart (Kmart), insurance, resources sector (coal mining), chemicals, energy and fertilizers sector, industrial and safety products and investment sectors. Keeping in view the veracity of business risks management within industrial perspective of each segment, following are few identified possible inherent risks at the planning phase of audit.

Inherent Risks	Implications
1. Wesfarmers’ breach of environmental regulation imposed by the Federal Government of Australia against carbon and greenhouse emissions particularly pertaining to coal mining and chemicals and fertilizer sectors.	·        Legal complications leading to fines and penalties ·        Non-disclosure of contingent liabilities in the financial statements ·         Bad reputation and loss of goodwill among the general public
2. Wesfarmers’ significant risk of uncertainty in insurance business causing high claim costs prone to increasing trends in natural disasters, calamities and catastrophes and death rates across worldwide, credit risks and complexity of calculations in actuarial valuation reports subjecting to significant estimation uncertainty.	·        Insurance liabilities are not stated accurately in the financial statements. ·        Inability to meet insurance liabilities as and when they fall due
3. Wesfarmers’ retail business operational risks including disruption in replenishment of stock (supply chain), theft of stock and risk of embezzlement of cash due to millions of transaction each week in retail outlets. In addition, there is a considerable risk of valuation of the stock leading to overstatement of stock if net realizable value is lower than the cost caused by price fluctuations.	·        Revenue from retail business is not giving true and fair view. ·        Frequent stock outs and inefficiency in the operations ·        Loss of physical and financial resources ·        Overstatement of stock of retail segment
4. A newly integrated management information system has been implemented in the current year 2012 to effectively monitor the activities of the retail business. However, there is a considerable risk in the effectiveness and efficiency of such system unless examined by our information risk management team.	·        Since it is newly incorporated, it is highly prone to errors and omissions thus challenging the reliability of data.

 Inherent risks for Virgin Australia Group of Airlines

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited formerly known as ‘Virgin Blue Holdings Limited’ is primarily engaged in the airline industry both domestic and international. The principal office of the company is situated at 56 Edmondstone Road, Bowen Hills, Queenland 4006. After performing risk assessment procedures, the key identified possible inherent risks at the planning stage of the audit are as follows;

Inherent Risks	Implications
1. Virgin Australia Holdings Limited is a highly geared company having 153% debt to equity ratio ($m 1,420.1/929.7) which can be regarded as key business concern. This situation can significantly impair future operating capability.	·        Manipulation of financial statements by falsely concealing any significant charges and encumbrances of the loaner because too much gearing inhibits any sort of further investment. ·        Inadequate or misclassifying interest expense to show good returns with intent to reward employees or payment of dividends to shareholders
2.  Lack of sufficient working capital to continue operations with a total deficit of $m 559.6 ($m 1,032-1,591.6).	·        Inability to meet current liabilities as and when they fall due ·        Manipulation in the current liabilities by understating
3. The fuel supply is integral to the airline industry and any length of time lag for any reason can have a significant operational impact which can consequently result in total loss of revenue and customers’ goodwill at the same time. Accordingly, the rise in fuel costs over the periods has adversely affected the airline industry.	·        Significant rise in fuel cost is indicative of the increased pressure to manipulate financial statements to show better earnings by understating or misclassifying fuel expense.
4. All the airline companies in Australia are bound to comply with the rules and regulations imposed by Australian Government’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and have severe legal repercussions in case of non-compliance including the safety and security of its customers and employees. The breach of such regulations can be imminent.	·        Legal complications leading to fines and penalties ·        Non-disclosure of contingent liabilities in the financial statements ·         Bad reputation and loss of goodwill among the general public
5. The revenue of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited and airline industry in general in Australia is highly sensitive to fluctuating economic conditions. Any sort of deterioration on the Australian economy would have a material impact on its financial position and financial performance.	·        Creates incentives and pressures towards management to manipulate reported earnings. ·        Falsely concealing or misleading the material information required for the users.

(B) What audit procedures and/or tasks would you have planned to carry out in response to the inherent risks identified by you in 1 above?

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Audit procedures against identified inherent risks at planning stage of audit of Wesfarmers Limited are as follows;

Inherent risks	Audit procedures
1. Breach of environmental regulations	·        Obtain list of all litigations from the Chief Compliance Officer or other responsible personnel and corroborate it with the Wesfamers’ legal adviser/consultant. ·        Meetings with the Wesfarmers’ legal consultant to clarify whether it is compliant with the environmental regulations or if there is a pending litigation obtain an understanding of the outcome of decision and probable penalty to be imposed on the company.
2. Significant risk of uncertainty in insurance business	·        Engage an actuarial expert (actuary) independent of the Wesfarmer to cross examine the actuarial reports issued by the Wesfarmers’ actuary including benchmarking data and performing industry analysis to identify unusual trends ·        Read the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors to identify whether any unfavorable incidents have occurred which can result in significant claim of the insured entity.
3. Retail business operational risks	·        Perform a walkthrough test over the point of sales terminal to evaluate whether the retail process is operating effectively ·        Perform a physical cash and stock count at year end on surprised basis to verify existence and completion ·        Benchmark data along with competitors and compare prices to test for the net realizable value to check the correct valuation of retail inventory items
4. Implementation of newly integrated management information system in retail segment	·        Employ and use the services of an IT expert independent of Wesfamers particularly specialist in information systems audit to evaluate the consistency, effectiveness and reliability of the reports generated by the system and any exception reports are noted.

Audit procedures against identified inherent risks at planning stage of audit of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited are as follows;

Inherent risks	Audit procedures
1. Highly geared 153% debt to equity ratio susceptible to undisclosed charges and encumbrances	·        Obtain the list of all financing facilities from the management and seek for external confirmation from the bank in respect of terms and conditions of the facilities, limit of any fixed and floating charge against all classes of assets including letters of credit and bank guarantees and other related covenants. ·        Perform compliance whether the facility is used for the stipulated purpose as mentioned on the agreement. ·        Recalculate the amount of interest and check whether the company is not defaulting towards payments of principal and interest
2. Lack of sufficient working capital to continue operations	·        Enhance the nature, timing and extent of substantive testing over current assets and current liabilities
3. Significant increase in fuel costs susceptible to misstatement in fuel expense	·        Review the agreement of the company between its fuel supplier to establish whether there are any unusual terms and conditions. ·        Design procedures to verify assertions such as occurrence, completeness, accuracy, classification and cut-off by detailing testing of fuel transactions (vouching) along with test of controls put in place by the company ·        Check for accruals of any unpaid bills at year end and seek for external confirmation with the supplier(s).
4. Possibility of non-compliance with rules and regulations of Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA)	·        Obtain list of all litigations from the Chief Compliance Officer or other responsible personnel and corroborate it with the company’s legal adviser/consultant. ·        Meetings with the company’s legal consultant to clarify whether it is compliant with the CASA regulations or if there is a pending litigation obtain an understanding of the outcome of decision and probable penalty to be imposed on the company
5. Deterioration in the Australian economy creating pressure for the management to manipulate reported earnings	·        Benchmarking and compare the industry wide trends for effects of economy on the business of competitors through ratios analysis

(C) If you had carried out an analytical review on the financial statements of these companies in the planning phase, what areas of concern (high risk or problem areas) or comfort would you have identified? Justify your answer and identify at least three (3) points for each company. (Hint: To answer this part you will need to carry out an analytical review.)

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Answer:

A diagnostic examination have been performed on the financial statements of Wesfarmers Limited for the year ended June 30, 2012 ranging from simple comparison with prior periods to detailed ratios analysis including checking consistency with other relevant financial information with the results as follows;

Results

• Although the above financial ratios indicate more of kind of satisfactory results with exception of high inventory turnover days. This might indicate that the company takes a long time in replenishing of existing finished goods stock. Possible reasons can be low demand of product which can result in deterioration of stock resulting in overstatement of stock if it had not reduced against its respective net realizable value as inventory is always stated at lower of cost or net realizable value (NRV). Quite possibly that is why sales have only increased by 6% over the year of which might be contributed by inflation factor. So, the key areas of concern are

• Revenue from sale of goods because it comprises of 96% of the total revenue along with the detailed testing on inventory items

• Another key area of concern is 850% increase in impairment of goodwill. That happened following the announcement by BlueScope Steel Limited (BlueScope), on 22 August 2011, that it intended to significantly restructure its Port Kembla operations, including a shutdown of its No.6 Blast Furnace at Port Kembla, the Industrial and Safety division’s Coregas business agreed to amend its contract with BlueScope for the supply of industrial gases to its steel operations as a result of the amendments, Coregas has become the primary supplier of industrial gases to BlueScope at the Port Kembla operations, with reduced volumes reflecting the reduced demand from BlueScope under its new operating structure. Given the amendments to this agreement, and having regard to an associated review of the Coregas business, Coregas has recognized an impairment charge against goodwill and plant and equipment of $172 million and $9 million respectively in the year ended 30 June 2012.

• The total goodwill comprises of 38% of the total assets which is a significant area of concern with regard to its reported amount in the balance sheet. The high amount of impairment as mentioned above is indicative of possible issues that might also exist in the valuation of goodwill. A key focus should be devoted to this area of the financial statements including the reliability, reasonableness and consistency of methods used therein.

Comfort level

• The only comfort level at the marketing planning phase is its financial stability in terms of its leverage and low debt to equity ratio that comprises of 15% and good interest coverage ratio. Moreover, the interest bearing liabilities have been reduced by 16% which is also a good sign as the company is placing more reliance on equity injection rather than debt borrowing.

A diagnostic examination have been performed on the financial statements of Virgin Holdings Australia Limited for the year ended June 30, 2012 from simple comparisons with prior periods to detailed ratios analysis including checking consistency with other relevant financial information resulted as follows;

Key areas of concern identified

1. Highly geared debt to equity ratio and low interest coverage ratio calculated above based on the financial statements of 2012. This casts significant doubt about going concern issues in the subsequent years. Interest coverage ratio of 0.9 times indicate that the company would not be able to pay off interest costs with ease. It also shows the company’s potential reliance on borrowings. Hence, at planning phase I as an auditor should devote key attention towards loan financing and all its related covenants.
2. Poor liquidity position because of inadequate working capital. It is evident from the fact that since average collection period of 9 days is a good sign for cash flow, however, in contrast the company is taking too long to settle its liabilities towards its creditors resulting in negative cash conversion cycle. This might also be indicative of disputes among the creditors for delayed payments and also necessitates the need to check for completeness of provisions booked in the current liabilities.
3. There has been decrease in value of property, plant and equipment during the financial year 2012 for changes in the airline’s use of certain assets resulted in devaluation and write-down of aircrafts and aeronautical assets totaling $ 18.5 million (2011: nil). A thoroughly analysis and scrutiny is needed to be done to check the basis and reasonableness of such treatment.

(D) What audit procedures and/or tasks would you have planned to carry out in response to the high risks or problem areas identified by you in (C) above? Alternatively, in relation to which area would you have minimized your evidence gathering procedure?

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Answer:

In relation to the high risky problem areas of Wesfarmers Limited identified in above section, I as an auditor hereby planned to do the following audit procedures as follows;

Problem Areas	Audit procedures
1. High inventory turnover days and low sales growth	·        Inquiries of sales and marketing departments’ personnel about the possible reasons of slight increase in sales and the inventory management departments and supply chain. ·        Obtain list of inventory items along with their aging analysis and perform NRV testing by market survey or through benchmarking competitors’ data. ·        Perform substantive testing on all the processes related to management of inventory of all segments.
2. An 850% increase in impairment with a total of $ 172 million charge for the year	·        Evaluation of macroeconomic factors and detailed analysis of the event of amendment of agreement with BlueScope Steel Limited. ·        Recalculate the discount rates ·        Review the financial models prepared management for impairment testing
3. Goodwill revaluation	·        Review the impairment review and discuss with the management ·        Agree goodwill calculation by recalculation ·        Agree the consideration to sales agreement by inspection and involve experts and considering whether asset valuation is on reliable, reasonable and consistent basis.

In relation to the high risky problem areas of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited identified in above section, I as an auditor hereby planned to do the following audit procedures as follows;

Problem Areas	Audit procedures
1. Highly geared debt to equity ratio and low interest coverage ratio	·        Inquiries of management about the reasons for potential reliance on borrowing and discussion on current critical situation. ·        Obtained all the agreements of financing from management and confirming all the terms and conditions and major covenants mentioned therein with the bank. ·        Obtain written representation from the management about the completeness of information related to financing including declaration of any off the balance sheet arrangements, if any ·        Vouch all the major payments of principal along with interest and checking their accuracy, completeness and cut-off procedures including whether it is meeting such liabilities within stipulated time period.
2. Poor liquidity position because of inadequate working capital. Click Here	·        Inquiries with management about current liquidity position and future course of action for remedial measures. ·        Circularizing confirmations to all major creditors to confirm the terms of agreements and outstanding balances at year end. ·        Check for any long outstanding payables that might have resulted in disputes or law suits. ·        Meetings with legal advisor to confirm the adequacy of provisions and contingent liabilities.
3. There has been decrease in value of property, plant and equipment totaling $ 18.5 million	·        Meetings with the management about the reasons for change in use of fixed assets and assessing the reasonableness of such treatment. ·        Engage technical experts e.g. aeronautical engineers for evaluation of physical condition of such assets. ·        Employ a valuation analyst for determination of reliable fair market value and compare it with those written down aircrafts’ costs. ·        Checking the mathematical accuracy of records and documents of such assets by recalculating the depreciation charge from Fixed Assets Register and other relevant supporting documents such as invoices etc.

(E) An Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members has been issued for each company for the financial year ended 30 June 2012:

(a) Identify the type of audit opinion issued by each auditor, and justify your answer.

Wesfarmers Limited	Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
An unmodified opinion has been expressed by the auditors M/s Ernst & Young	An unmodified opinion has been expressed by the auditors M/s KPMG

 An unmodified opinion means that the auditor has concluded that the financial statements of the entity are giving true and fair view because they have been prepared in accordance with all the material respects that include the applicable financial reporting framework. The applicable financial reporting framework includes Australian Accounting Standards and any other International Accounting Standards being adopted and also includes legal and regulatory requirements such as Corporations Act, 2001.

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(b) Do you agree with the type of opinion issued by the auditor? Why or why not?

Please indicate an alternative audit opinion if you do not agree with the one issued.

Wesfarmers Limited	Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
Yes, I agree with the type of opinion issued by M/s Ernst & Young on the financial statements of Wesfarmers Limited for the year ending 30 June 2012 as the company is growing and there are no significant issues related with the company’s business and no such material misstatement exist in the financial statements.	However, I do not agree with the type of opinion expressed by M/s KPMG on the financial statements of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited. Although, the company has earned a profit of $m 22.8 but since it is totally instable in terms of financial leverage and also due to poor liquidity position. The working capital has a deficit of $m 560 which cannot be compensated by the annual profits. Moreover, there are no present signs of improvement. Therefore, the opinion should have been modified.
	Alternative Audit Opinion KPMG should have modified the audit opinion by including an emphasis of matter paragraph after the opinion paragraph to highlight going concern issue that if present circumstances continues to deteriorate it  can significantly impair its future operating capability

 (c) Are there any other matters or events that have taken place after the issue of the audit report that strengthens or weakens the auditor’s opinion?

Wesfarmers Limited

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited

No events have occurred after the issue of audit report. The dividend was declared for a payments date of 28 Sep 2012, but it does not affect the auditor’s opinion and similarly the company has announced the issue of € 650 million EURO bonds on 25 July 2012 and on same day repaid $ 400 million seven year bonds that were issued by Coles on 25 July 2005 but it also does not affect the audit opinion.

As such there are not any events that have taken place after the issue of the audit report that strengthens or weakens the auditor’s opinion. However, 0n 5 July 2012, the Group announced an agreement with Boeing to order 23 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, the first in Australia. The fuel-efficient aircraft will join the Group’s fleet between 2019 and 2021. The agreement, of which the terms are commercially sensitive and therefore confidential, includes four additional delivery options, ensuring flexibility to respond to market conditions. To align with its current capacity plan for the next three years, the Group has delayed the delivery of some of its Boeing 737NG aircraft to after 2016, leaving 31 scheduled deliveries of Boeing 737-800 aircraft between 2013 and 2016. This gives the airline flexibility to develop the appropriate mix of narrow-body and wide-body aircraft. But it does not affect audit opinion.

 (F) In relation to audit committees research and answer the following questions and justify each answer –

 (a) Do the above companies have audit committees?

Wesfarmers Limited	Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
Yes, Wesfamers do have audit committee established by the Board of Directors which comprise of following persons namely; ·        Tony Howarth (Chairman) ·        Bob Every ·        Charles Macek ·        Diane Smith – Gander ·        Vanessa Wallace	Yes, the Board of Directors of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited has established an audit and risk management committee comprising of the following persons namely; ·        Robert Thomas (Chairman) ·        Neil Chatfield ·        Mark Vaile

 (b) Under which section of the annual report would you expect to find information on them?

Wesfarmers Limited	Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
The Audit Committee of Wesfarmers Limited can be found on the Corporate Governance Statement section of the annual report on page # 60 to 61 whereby their composition and responsibilities are duly mentioned.	The Audit Committee of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited can be found on the Corporate Governance Statement section of the annual report on page # 44 whereby their composition and responsibilities are duly mentioned.

 (c) Do both companies have the correct composition in relation to audit committees?

Yes, both the companies have the correct composition in relation to audit committees because the ASX Corporate Governance Principles stipulates following criteria for the composition of audit committee as follows;

The Audit Committee must comprise of:

• only non-executive directors;
• at least three members;
• a majority of non-executive directors who are able to exercise independent judgment in their role as a member of the Committee, as determined by the Board;
• members who are sufficiently financially literate to understand financial statements and general accounting principles, for the purpose of assessing and questioning information presented in Committee meetings; and
• at least one member who has relevant financial qualifications and experience

(d) In your opinion, are audit committees of benefit to the auditor, the company, the auditing profession and/or society as a whole?

Audit committees play a critical role in ensuring the integrity of a company’s financial reporting and the audit process, including the independence and objectivity of the external auditor. The audit committee also plays a wider role in ensuring that the company has sound internal financial control systems. Overall, a well-functioning audit committee underpins the assurance that the board of directors gives to shareholders in relation to the company’s financial statements and the audit process.

 Part 2

Audit Quality in Australia – A Strategic Review

1. a) Purpose

This report elaborates the importance of reforms for continual enhancement in the audit process that is integral to the corporate sector which plays a key role in the growth of Australian economy published by the Treasury after a diagnostic review methodology. The primary objective of this report is to inculcate an effective, sound and transparent audit mechanism which provides an independent check on the integrity of the financial statements by promoting the credibility locally as well as in global marketplace and increases the confidence of investors

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1. b) Scope

In order to achieve such a strategy, the report describes the methodology used in assessing the quality of audit in Australia keeping in view International perspective. It also provides guidelines on quality control procedures to be followed by the professional audit firms. Moreover, it also addresses the role of major stakeholders such as Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), the Financial Reporting Council (FRS), professional accounting bodies (ICAA and CPA), the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB), Audit Quality Review Board (AQRB) and other related legal and regulatory agencies. Lastly, it also points out the key findings in relation to Australia’s audit regulation framework of audit quality, review processes followed, audit firms and its liabilities and factors outside the control of auditors.

1. c) Major Findings

The major findings by the treasury relates to following areas as follows;

• Australia’s audit regulation framework is in line with International Practice and is functioning effectively
• Statutory Audit Directives period of five year is deemed to be appropriate as it serves a balance between continuity, the familiarity threat and audit quality unless the same change has been incorporated by Canada, the UK and the US
• Regulatory bodies such as ASIC, APRA etc continues to monitor future developments resulting from global financial crisis. In addition, other stakeholders should need to take initiatives for improving audit quality
• ASIC program is in line with best practices of overseas bodies of developed economies and its inspection reports duly identify areas which need improvement including audit documentation
• The completion of the three-year charter of the Audit Quality Review Board (AQRB) will result in reduction in the firm’s compliance burden
• A strong ethical culture of honesty and integrity in Australian’s firms is in place.
• Emphasized particular focus on audit quality through compliance based approach and ASIC’s proactive audit inspection program.
• Amendment in Corporation Act by incorporating Quality Control Reports as in EU’s Statutory Audit Directive.
• Audit partners and staff should possess skills and expertise and excellent personal attributes
• The auditors should exercise professional judgment and must comply with all the accounting standards and legal framework (Corporations Act)

1. d) The profession’s ICAA and CPA response to the report

The professional bodies ICAA and CPA have duly supported and endorsed the report as they themselves are continually monitoring auditing firms through quality control programs and professional conduct and code of ethics (issued by APESB) including ensuring that their members are compliant with auditing, accounting and assurance standards.

1. e) Benefits

Yes, certainly this type of report is beneficial to the auditor, the auditing profession and the society as a whole because it not only serves as a basis for improvement in the quality of the audit process but simultaneously it also safeguards the auditor and creates awareness to general public about the possible misconception of the auditor regarding fraud and detection of material misstatement for which the primary responsibility rests with management. For auditors, it specifically prescribes to comply with the requirements of the standards on quality control and annual review of independence check to safeguard their own interest. It will eventually save the auditor from possible repercussions.

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Create Your Career Marketing Tools

Create Your Career Marketing Tools
What are the traditional career marketing tools?
Career marketing tools refer to those strategies and concepts that will be used to promote your career in a positive light to create better opportunities for your brand.
The traditional career marketing tools refer to those career marketing tools that have not been influenced by the recent wave of digital marketing tools. The traditional career marketing tools have existed long before the use of the digital marketing tools, the use of these traditional marketing tools in many cases require a physical interaction with the target audience through your traditional marketing materials.
The traditional career marketing tools include:

1. Personal brand statement.
2. Brand profile
3. Core branding story.
4. Media advertisements.
5. The use of flyers and handouts.

These traditional career marketing tools have a remarkable level of positive effects on the subject matter being advertised, it is however necessary to brand the materials you have chosen to be used during your traditional marketing campaigns. The branding of these materials will ensure that the target audience knows the reason for the campaign, your brand being the subject matter and they will be able to reach out and locate the brand when they have been fully convinced from what they see from the branded materials.
Branding your resume, cover letters and core branding story is necessary to convey your brand with the information you need to be passed on to your target audience. The inclusion of your personal brand in your official documents like a resume, cover letter or your core branding story will give a better insight and information about your personality and your value to the employer. It takes a little over 1 minute for the employer to go through your resume or cover letter, so it has to be instantly captivating from the initial first reads.

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When including your personal brand in your cover letters or resumes, you should take care not to sound too official and unfriendly as this will instantly put off the employer studying your papers. The employers go through thousands of resumes and they can instantly spot a unique one when they come across it, this will be your chance to get a leverage by using your personal brand to create your resume or cover letters in a manner that it will be unique, original and very different from the thousands of generic sounding presentations from your competition.
While drafting your cover letters, resume or core branding stories, you should create a structure that will easily lead the reader through your written package, this structure will show the reader your genuine interest in getting a chance to offer your services, with an assurance that you have been adequately trained with a remarkable experience when it comes to delivering that service. You should also direct the reader’s attention to your previous accomplishments and how easy it is for you to achieve these positive feats easily now that you have gathered the vital experience to do this over the years. Identify and explain your special skills and the training that you have received to get those skills. Then it will be an added advantage if you can clearly describe how you will be useful to your employer, this should be done in the most accurate and professional manner while you only make the claims for the services you know you can truly deliver effortlessly when the enabling work environment is provided for you to execute your responsibilities. When these steps are followed in the right manner your employers will clearly know why they should employ you and what they will benefit from employing your services.
There are very many marketing materials available through which the necessary information on how to present your brand and your career can be obtained. These materials can be found free online and bought from the website portals of higher institutions that offer these courses. The knowledge provided by this career marketing materials are important but they have also been generalized to cover a vast area of careers. You can go beyond what has been offered to you through these materials by engaging in other educational exercises that will push your imaginations to the highest levels of innovation. Learning to be innovative will always produce very good results especially when this is backed by the knowledge you have already acquired that is relevant to marketing your career. You should think outside the box, this means you should think outside the boundaries and limits that might have been constructed by the career marketing materials, push your spirit of innovation towards achieving more things than those that have been prescribed in the materials you have access to. By thinking outside the box, you will gradually get used to resolving challenges in different and better ways than have been previously applicable. You can also add value to your abilities by diversifying and getting more knowledge from a wider source of information, this can be from books and other materials that are of interest to you from which you will be able to get the necessary inspiration to become even more innovative.

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The internet as a marketing tool

The internet over the year has been able to gather the biggest audience ever known to man, the internet has become widely popular all over the world, and the internet is constantly being used by millions of people at the same time in different parts of the world. This is one of the reasons why it is a very important tool that can be effectively used to build and promote your brand.
With the internet, you will be able to easily get the attention of millions of people in a very short time when you apply the right methods of internet marketing. Many entrepreneurs have utilized the internet platform as a means through which they express themselves to their target audience, this way they can directly reach out and present the direct value of their brands to the target audience while explaining how the brands will add value to their lives. The worldwide reach of the internet has made it one of the most valuable means of marketing in these current times.

Advantages of using the internet as a marketing tool

There are many advantages of using the internet as a marketing tool, there are so many testimonials that will confirm the importance of the internet as a marketing tool, these success stories have inspired even more people to innovate better ways to harness the advantages of using the internet for marketing at higher levels in a bid to get even better results. The notable advantages of using the internet as a marketing tool are:

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1. It is very cheap - using the internet as a marketing tool is very cheap when compared to the costs that will be required to conduct marketing exercises through the TV stations or the radio. The internet as a marketing medium is very cheap and highly effective while giving you the versatility of creating your own marketing campaign as you see it fit. With the internet millions of people can be reached at very minimal financial costs.
2. Speed – using the internet as a marketing tool provides a medium through which millions of people can be reached in a matter of seconds, just with the click of a mouse key, your message is broadcast all over the entire world for your target audience to see.
3. Far reaching ability - the internet has a wide reach that covers the entire world, there is very little limits to the parts of the world you can reach through the internet, this has been supported by the millions of people that have also adopted the internet as their means of getting information, they will get your information when you use the internet to execute your marketing needs.
4. Customized search - with the internet, you can perform customized search activities to locate and identify any particular group of your target audience that you specially need to reach out to. This versatility offered by the internet has promoted its use by many marketing teams from all over the world.

Marketing your brand will be further promoted when you create a website for your brand; your brands website will be unique and exclusively designed to promote your brand and to provide the necessary information that your target audience will need during their search. You will also be able to include your direct contact information on your website; there are many members of your target audience who will seek to have a form of physical interaction with the owners of the brand before they patronize the brand. Advertising on other popular internet websites is also a good marketing practice through which your target audience will be directed to your website or social media pages for more information that they will need.
Your guide to action
In this chapter we have discussed the rudiments of using the various types of career marketing tools that are available to you in your bid to understand the basic concepts of branding and how to get your brand out in the market so that it can be easily seen by your target audience and the buying decisions made promptly.
The following questions have been included in this guide to action segment as a means through which you can carry out a self-assessment of your understanding of every part of this chapter which you have just finished.
What are your career marketing tools?
Marketing your brand is one of the core activities you and our brand team will be constantly engaged in doing. You need your brand to become as publicized as possible, every brand owner has one big dream, the dream of building their brands to become very conspicuous and a house hold brand name. You can achieve this for your brand as well once you have followed the right principles without cutting any corners. These methods have been tested and are known to have had good results, they have been used for over many years and the results and mistakes have been modified, this is good news because this fact has created the reason why you should never make the common mistakes that have been made in the past concerning branding and marketing works.
Your career marketing tools will basically be made up of the testimonials and reports of your qualifications and your achievements as you have had in your business or official working life. You career marketing tools will create the opportunities for you to climb up higher on the corporate ladder in every field of operation you find yourself, you will use these tools as the indication of your qualification through which you can express your abilities to deliver the services that are expected from the positions you desire to occupy. Developing your career marketing tools might take a long while, but as with everything that is worthwhile, it is advised that you should always take your time to make sure you get the best qualifications and practical training that you will need to sell yourself in the very competitive corporate market.
Can you identify your readily available career marketing tools?
It is very important that you should know the career marketing tools you have readily available at your disposal for use any time the needs arise. You should always have them handy while you are making more plans to add to these qualifications in a bid to improve your chances in the open corporate markets and also in the private sector of the economy. Every member of your brand community and your entire target audience should be impressed when they come across your career marketing tools; this is why these tools must be in the best position.
Take action now, start the process of identifying your career marketing tools, and get the comprehensive compilation of every career marketing tool you can lay your hands on. Now when you have done this please have a good look at your collection, study it and then ask yourself, are you impressed with the career marketing tools that are available to you? Are you cover letter the way you have always dreamt it should be? What can you do to improve your resume? What does your brand statement reflect about you?

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When you have these answers if you are okay with them then start launching your personal brand out there, but if you are not satisfied with the career marketing tools you have at your disposal, there should be no alarm, it is never too late to correct what it should be. You have to take immediate action to add to your career marketing tools no matter how long it takes, never give up because if you give it your best you will always succeed.
Why is it important to brand your career marketing tools?
There have been some reservations expressed by many gurus in the branding industry on how to brand your career marketing tools. Many options are available to you when you have made the choice to brand your career marketing tools. It is a very good way of putting your personal brand out there, these career marketing tools go very far and they are constantly moving through different offices, so there are better chances of your brand going even further.

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What you need to do is to identify the branding methods you will use for your career marketing tools and then stick to them. Your cover letter can be branded in a very attractive way that will compel the beholder to study it even more; the right use of professionalism in your branding project will be the most important determining factor that will indicate how successful branding your career marketing tools will be.
You should identify the career marketing tools you want to brand and then choose the branding methods then go ahead while ensuring the message you need to be passed along is effectively communicated to the target audience.
Do you understand the benefits of branding your career marketing tools?
The only way you will brand your career marketing tools in the right way is if you absolutely understand how you can conduct this exercise in the most effective way. This will be done when you understand what you stand to gain when you when you successfully brand your career marketing tools in the most professional manner.
What I need you to do are to convince yourself about the benefits of branding your career marketing tools to you with this conviction, when you are executing the branding exercise for your career marketing tools, you will do it very well.
Do you need to stamp your resume?
You should always be stamping your resume in my opinion; you should always look for those organizations where you can become a great intern with good learning opportunities. As you go through the educational phase of your career always open up your mind to getting new information and learning new skills that you will use to overcome the numerous forms of challenges that will always arise in your branding career. When looking for the opportunity to gather the right experience in your branding career, seek out the organizations that operate in the most practical manner. Those are the organizations that will give you practical responsibilities that you will be required to execute personally.
How can you achieve your goals with branding your career marketing tools?
The best way you can achieve your goals after branding your career marketing tools is to create a system through which your career marketing tools that have been well branded will be able to circulate throughout the areas that your target audience will be able to see them and know the good and selling attributes of your personal brand. When this is done in the right way, all your expectations from the branding of your career marketing tools will be achieved with very commendable results.
Have you understood how you can use the internet to build your brand?
Understanding how the internet can be used to build your brand will expose your brand to an almost unlimited avenue for expansion growth and success in every respect. I am confidently attesting to this because I know the number of internet users that has been estimated from the many studies carried out about internet usage on a global scale. Getting the internet to work for your brand will be so good for your brand, you can easily reach out to millions of people with your brand statements and you have an almost inexhaustible opportunity to always pitch your brand profile to your target audience using the various mediums that the internet provides for the internet users.
Great testimonies have been reported of the breakthroughs in business for brands that only just started out with very little but they were able to use the internet in the right way to positively project their brands and the end result was a successful branding campaign that has been sustained for many years to come.

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How can you promote your brand with through the social media?
The first step you have to make while attempting to promote your brand through the social media will be to have a very good understanding of how the social media operates and how it can be used to project your brand effectively to your target audience. Once you have established your social media presence for your brand, you need to start sending out the broadcast messages that will be received by your target audience on the social media platforms.
Basically what you need to do is to conduct a study of the available social media platforms and you will have to identify those platforms that will be best suited for your brand, when you have made your choices because they might be more than one, you will then have to create your social media account for your brand through which you will be reaching out to your brand community and the target audience. The information you will be passing on to your target audience through your social media accounts must be very well managed, they should be contents that are easy to read and understand and they should be a source through which the target audience will be able to benefit from, the social media platforms are filled with many spammers and the various spam bots available on many platforms will immediately block those accounts that have been found out to spam useless content to millions of people, you need to ensure you share good and useful information every time and this will keep your brand community actively interested in your brand on a daily basis. You can always use the effects of a good SEO strategy to improve your online presence on the various social media platforms and on the internet, you can learn how to write a SEO papers or you can outsource it to freelancers who have become professional SEO writers, they will create great materials that will be very visible on the internet through the various social media platforms as well.
Organizing your social media strategy for brand building is very interesting and it has a lot of rewards, you have to just do it in the right way, if you make mistakes you might end up sending across the wrong information to your target audience and the processes you will need to take to correct the misconceptions will be time consuming as well as financially draining leading to a waste of your much needed funds for other projects. You should avoid wasting the time of your brand community members by sending them on useless searches that will yield very little results to their benefit. The victims of this mistake will find it very difficult to forgive you and this will not be good for your brand, this is why it is important to ensure that every information you send through your social media account should be important to your brand community.