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Business continuity and disaster recovery auditing

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Given organizations ' increasing dependency on information technology (IT) to run their operations, business continuity planning (and its subset IT service continuity planning ) covers the entire organization, while disaster recovery focuses on IT.

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107-448: Auditing documents covering an organization's business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plans provides a third-party validation to stakeholders that the documentation is complete and does not contain material misrepresentations. Often used together, the terms business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) are very different. BC refers to the ability of a business to continue critical functions and business processes after

214-556: A backup site . A hot site is fully equipped to resume operations while a cold site does not have that capability. A warm site has the capability to resume some, but not all operations. A cost-benefit analysis is needed. Data backup : An audit of backup processes determines if (a) they are effective, and (b) if they are actually being implemented by the involved personnel. The disaster recovery plan also includes information on how best to recover any data that has not been copied. Controls and protections are put in place to ensure that data

321-741: A Dell press release stated that starting in September, Dell Dimension desktop computers would have AMD processors and that later in the year Dell would release a two-socket, quad-processor server using AMD Opteron chips, moving away from Dell's tradition of only offering Intel processors in Dell PCs. CNET 's News.com on August 17, 2006, cited Dell's CEO Kevin Rollins as attributing the move to AMD processors to lower costs and to AMD technology. AMD's senior VP in commercial business, Marty Seyer, stated: "Dell's wider embrace of AMD processor-based offerings

428-596: A Voluntary Separation Program that they expected to reduce their workforce by up to seven percent. The reception to the program so exceeded the expectations that Dell may be forced to hire new staff to make up for the losses. On November 19, 2015, Dell, alongside Arm Holdings , Cisco Systems , Intel , Microsoft , and Princeton University , founded the OpenFog Consortium , to promote interests and development in fog computing . On October 12, 2015, Dell Inc. announced its intent to acquire EMC Corporation in

535-514: A bid to host it. Less than a year later, Dell planned to double its workforce to nearly 3,000 workers add a new building. These plans were reversed, due to a high Canadian dollar that made the Ottawa staff relatively expensive, and also as part of Dell's turnaround, which involved moving these call-center jobs offshore to cut costs. The company had also announced the shutdown of its Edmonton , Alberta , office, losing 900 jobs. In total, Dell announced

642-425: A cash-and-stock deal valued at $ 67 billion (equivalent to $ 84,210,000,000 in 2023), which has been considered the largest-ever acquisition in the technology sector. As part of the acquisition, Dell would take over EMC's 81% stake in the cloud-computing and virtualization company VMware . This would combine Dell's enterprise server, personal computer, and mobile businesses with EMC's enterprise storage business in

749-427: A change campaign called "Dell 2.0," reducing the number of employees and diversifying the company's products. While chairman of the board after relinquishing his CEO position, Michael Dell still had significant input in the company during Rollins' years as CEO. With the return of Michael Dell as CEO, the company saw changes in operations, the exodus of many senior vice-presidents and new personnel brought in from outside

856-669: A correlation between higher spending on auditing fees and lower rates of incidents . According to Geoffrey H. Wold of the Disaster Recovery Journal, the entire process involved in developing a Disaster Recovery Plan consists of 10 steps: Initial testing can be plan is done in sections and after normal business hours to minimize disruptions. Subsequent tests occur during normal business hours. Due to high cost, various plans are not without critics. Dell has identified five "common mistakes" organizations often make related to BCP/DR planning: Site designation : choice of

963-485: A few months to improve on this and rolled out DellConnect to answer customer inquiries more quickly. In July 2006, the company started its Direct2Dell blog, and then in February 2007, Michael Dell launched IdeaStorm.com, asking customers for advice including selling Linux computers and reducing the promotional "bloatware" on PCs. These initiatives did manage to cut the negative blog posts from 49% to 22%, as well as reduce

1070-513: A hands-on management tool for achieving continual improvement in an organization. To benefit the organization, quality auditing should not only report non-conformance and corrective actions but also highlight areas of good practice and provide evidence of conformance. In this way, other departments may share information and amend their working practices as a result, also enhancing continual improvement. A project audit provides an opportunity to uncover issues, concerns and challenges encountered during

1177-411: A move that would eventually occur over 12 years later. In 2003, at the annual company meeting, the stockholders approved changing the company name to "Dell Inc." to recognize the company's expansion beyond computers. In 2004, the company announced that it would build a new assembly-plant near Winston-Salem , North Carolina ; the city and county provided Dell with $ 37.2 million in incentive packages;

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1284-437: A negative impact on Dell and other major PC vendors, as consumers switched away from desktop and laptop PCs. Dell's own mobility division has not managed success with developing smartphones or tablets, whether running Windows or Google Android . The Dell Streak was a failure commercially and critically due to its outdated OS, numerous bugs, and low resolution screen. InfoWorld suggested that Dell and other OEMs saw tablets as

1391-438: A new project manager is provided, there is no indication the projects in trouble and there is a need to report whether the project is as opposed to where its supposed to Informal audits can apply the same criteria as formal audit but there is no need for such a in depth report or formal report. An energy audit is an inspection, survey and analysis of energy flows for energy conservation in a building, process or system to reduce

1498-488: A plan often includes tasks such as inquires of personnel, direct physical observation, and examination of training records and any certifications. The auditor must review procedures that take into account the possibility of power failures or other situations that are of a non-IT nature. Audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination

1605-471: A range of options. This approach allowed them to offer competitive prices compared to retail brands, coupled with the convenience of pre-assembled units, making them one of the early success stories of this business model. The company grossed over $ 73 million in its first year of operation. The company dropped the PC's Limited name in 1987 to become Dell Computer Corporation and began expanding globally. The reasoning

1712-412: A reputation as a company that relied upon supply chain efficiencies to sell established technologies at low prices, instead of being an innovator. By the mid-2000s many analysts were looking to innovating companies as the next source of growth in the technology sector. Dell's low spending on R&D relative to its revenue (compared to IBM , Hewlett-Packard , and Apple Inc. )—which worked well in

1819-554: A result, the company was selling a greater proportion of inexpensive PCs than before, which eroded profit margins. The laptop segment had become the fastest-growing of the PC market, but Dell produced low-cost notebooks in China like other PC manufacturers which eliminated Dell's manufacturing cost advantages, plus Dell's reliance on Internet sales meant that it missed out on growing notebook sales in big box stores. CNET has suggested that Dell

1926-432: A review of existing MOA and contracts to ensure that the organization's legal liability for lack of performance in the event of disaster or any other unusual circumstance is minimized. Agreements pertaining to establishing support and assisting with recovery for the entity are also outlined. Techniques used for evaluating this area include an examination of the reasonableness of the plan, a determination of whether or not

2033-406: A review of the ratings assigned by independent rating agencies, that the insurance company or companies providing the coverage have the financial viability to cover the losses in the event of a disaster. Effective DR plans take into account the extent of a company's responsibilities to other entities and its ability to fulfill those commitments despite a major disaster. A good DR audit will include

2140-424: A round-the-clock disaster recovery effort are included in any good disaster recovery plan. Procedures for the stocking of food and water, capabilities of administering CPR / first aid , and dealing with family emergencies are clearly written and tested. This can generally be accomplished by the company through good training programs and a clear definition of job responsibilities. A review of the readiness capacity of

2247-460: A share. In 1989, Dell Computer set up its first on-site service programs in order to compensate for the lack of local retailers prepared to act as service centers. In 1990, Dell Computer tried selling its products indirectly through warehouse clubs and computer superstores, but met with little success, and the company re-focused on its more successful direct-to-consumer sales model. In 1992, Fortune included Dell Computer Corporation in its list of

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2354-698: A short-term, low-investment opportunity running Google Android , an approach that neglected user interface and failed to gain long term market traction with consumers. Dell has responded by pushing higher-end PCs, such as the XPS line of notebooks, which do not compete with the Apple iPad and Kindle Fire tablets. The growing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers instead of PCs drove Dell's consumer segment to an operating loss in Q3 2012. In December 2012, Dell suffered its first decline in holiday sales in five years, despite

2461-465: A significant Vertical merger of IT giants. Dell would pay $ 24.05 per share of EMC, and $ 9.05 per share of tracking stock in VMware . The announcement came two years after Dell Inc. returned to private ownership, claiming that it faced bleak prospects and would need several years out of the public eye to rebuild its business. It was thought that the company's value had roughly doubled since then. EMC

2568-418: A strong performance from its artificial intelligence unit that sent shares up nearly 40%, its highest daily gain since the company went public in 2018. In August 2024, the company announced it would be laying off 12,500 employees—10% of its workforce—in order to invest in artificial intelligence initiatives. When Dell acquired Alienware early in 2006, some Alienware systems had AMD chips. On August 17, 2006,

2675-504: A terrorist) or unintentional (that is, accidental, such as the breakage of a man-made dam or even "fat fingers" - or errant commands entered - on a computer system). Although there is no one-size-fits-all plan, there are three basic strategies: The latter may include securing proper insurance policies , and holding a "lessons learned" brainstorming session. To maximize their effectiveness, DRPs are most effective when updated frequently, and should: Adequate records need to be retained by

2782-416: A time but struggled and Dell soon regained its lead. Dell grew the fastest in the early 2000s. In 2002, Dell expanded its product line to include televisions, handhelds , digital audio players, and printers . Chairman and CEO Michael Dell had repeatedly blocked President and COO Kevin Rollins's attempt to lessen the company's heavy dependency on PCs, which Rollins wanted to fix by acquiring EMC Corporation;

2889-423: Is a documented process or set of procedures to execute an organization's disaster recovery processes and recover and protect a business IT infrastructure in the event of a disaster . It is "a comprehensive statement of consistent actions to be taken before, during and after a disaster". The disaster could be natural , environmental or man-made . Man-made disasters could be intentional (for example, an act of

2996-662: Is a subsidiary of Dell Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded company , as well as a component of the NASDAQ-100 and S&P 500 . Dell is ranked 31st on the Fortune 500 list in 2022, up from 76th in 2021. It is also the sixth-largest company in Texas by total revenue, according to Fortune magazine. It is the second-largest non-oil company in Texas. As of 2024, it is the world's third-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales, after Lenovo and HP . In 2015, Dell acquired

3103-486: Is also the largest technology buyout ever, surpassing the 2006 buyout of Freescale Semiconductor for $ 17.5 billion (equivalent to $ 25,450,000,000 in 2023). Michael Dell said of the February offer "I believe this transaction will open an exciting new chapter for Dell, our customers and team members". Dell rival Lenovo responded to the buyout, saying, "the financial actions of some of our traditional competitors will not substantially change our outlook." In March 2013,

3210-670: Is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), servers , data storage devices , network switches , software , computer peripherals including printers and webcams among other products and services. Based in Round Rock, Texas , Dell is owned by its parent company Dell Technologies since a restructuring in 2016. Founded by Michael Dell in 1984, Dell started making IBM clone computers and pioneered selling cut-price PCs directly to customers, managing its supply chain and electronic commerce . The company rose rapidly during

3317-410: Is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing also attempts to ensure that the books of accounts are properly maintained by the concern as required by law. Auditors consider the propositions before them, obtain evidence, roll forward prior year working papers, and evaluate the propositions in their auditing report. Audits provide third-party assurance to various stakeholders that

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3424-508: Is gaining momentum. And the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has come out with a concept release on the same. Cost accounting is a process for verifying the cost of manufacturing or producing of any article, on the basis of accounts measuring the use of material, labor or other items of cost. In simple words, the term, cost audit means a systematic and accurate verification of

3531-484: Is not damaged, altered, or destroyed during this process. Drills : Practice drills conducted periodically to determine how effective the plan is and to determine what changes may be necessary. The auditor's primary concern here is verifying that these drills are being conducted properly and that problems uncovered during these drills are addressed. Backup of key personnel - including periodic training , cross-training , and personnel redundancy. The auditor determines

3638-601: Is to examine Three E's, namely: Effectiveness – doing the right things with least wastage of resources. Efficiency – performing work in least possible time. Economy – balance between benefits and costs to run the operations A control self-assessment is a commonly used tool for completing an operations audit. Also refer to forensic accountancy , forensic accountant or forensic accounting . It refers to an investigative audit in which accountants with specialized on both accounting and investigation seek to uncover frauds, missing money and negligence. Dell Dell Inc.

3745-636: Is to measure something or calculate a value for it. An auditor's objective is to determine whether financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, and are free of material misstatement. Although the process of producing an assessment may involve an audit by an independent professional, its purpose is to provide a measurement rather than to express an opinion about the fairness of statements or quality of performance. Auditors of financial statements & non-financial information (including compliance audit) can be classified into various categories: The most commonly used external audit standards are

3852-486: The Blackstone Group and Carl Icahn expressed interest in purchasing Dell. In April 2013, Blackstone withdrew their offer, citing deteriorating business. Other private equity firms such as KKR & Co. and TPG Capital declined to submit alternative bids for Dell, citing the uncertain market for personal computers and competitive pressures, so the "wide-open bidding war" never materialized. Analysts said that

3959-484: The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. Such an audit is called an integrated audit, where auditors, in addition to an opinion on the financial statements, must also express an opinion on the effectiveness of a company's internal control over financial reporting, in accordance with PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 5. There are also new types of integrated auditing becoming available that use unified compliance material (see

4066-453: The "Dell Hell" prominent on Internet search engines. There was also criticism that Dell used faulty components for its PCs, particularly the 11.8 million OptiPlex desktop computers sold to businesses and governments from May 2003 to July 2005 that suffered from faulty capacitors . A battery recall in August 2006, as a result of a Dell laptop catching fire, caused much negative attention for

4173-399: The 1990s and in 2001 it became the largest global PC vendor for the first time. Dell was a pure hardware vendor until 2009 when it acquired Perot Systems . Dell then entered the market for IT services. The company has expanded storage and networking systems. In the late 2000s, it began expanding from offering computers only to delivering a range of technology for enterprise customers. Dell

4280-693: The Asian PC vendors had been improving their quality and design—for instance, Lenovo's ThinkPad series was winning corporate customers away from Dell's laptops—Dell's customer service and reputation had been slipping. Dell remained the second-most profitable PC vendor, as it took 13 percent of operating profits in the PC industry during Q4 2012, behind Apple's Mac that took 45 percent, seven percent at Hewlett Packard, six percent at Lenovo and Asus, and one percent for Acer. Dell attempted to offset its declining PC business, which still accounted for half of its revenue and generates steady cash flow, by expanding into

4387-585: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( Russian : Центральная ревизионная комиссия КПСС ) operated from 1921 to 1990. An information technology audit , or information systems audit , is an examination of the management controls within an Information technology (IT) infrastructure . The evaluation of obtained evidence determines if the information systems are safeguarding assets, maintaining data integrity , and operating effectively to achieve

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4494-674: The DRP as well as threat prevention, detection, recovery, and resumption of operations should a data breach or other disaster event occur. Therefore, BCP consists of five component plans: The first three components (business resumption, occupant emergency, and continuity of operations plans) do not deal with the IT infrastructure. The incident management plan (IMP) does deal with the IT infrastructure, but since it establishes structure and procedures to address cyber attacks against an organization's IT systems, it generally does not represent an agent for activating

4601-508: The DRP; thus DRP is the only BCP component of active interest to IT. The overall categorization of tests are functional- and discussion-based. Types of tests include: tabletop exercises, checklists, simulations, parallel processing (testing recovery site while primary site is in operation), and full interruption (fail over) tests. These apply to both BC and DR. Like every insurance plan, there are benefits that can be obtained from proper business continuity planning, including: Studies have shown

4708-465: The NASDAQ and Hong Kong Stock Exchange and taken it private. Reuters reported that Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners , aided by a $ 2 billion loan from Microsoft , would acquire the public shares at $ 13.65 apiece. The $ 24.4 billion buyout was projected to be the largest leveraged buyout backed by private equity since the 2007–2008 financial crisis (equivalent to $ 34,550,000,000 in 2023). It

4815-758: The North American market, including the Mort Topfer Manufacturing Center in Austin, Texas (original location) and Lebanon, Tennessee (opened in 1999) in 2008 and early 2009, respectively. The desktop production plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina , received US$ 280 million in incentives from the state and opened in 2005 (equivalent to $ 419,900,000 in 2023), but ceased operations in November 2010. Dell's contract with

4922-719: The US GAAS of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the International Standards on Auditing (ISA) developed by the International Auditing and Assurance Standard . Performance audit refers to an independent examination of a program, function, operation or the management systems and procedures of a governmental or non-profit entity to assess whether the entity is achieving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in

5029-448: The adequacy of the company's insurance coverage (particularly property and casualty insurance ) through a review of the company's insurance policies and other research. Among the items that the auditor needs to verify are: the scope of the policy (including any stated exclusions), that the amount of coverage is sufficient to cover the organization's needs, and that the policy is current and in force. The auditor also ascertains, through

5136-639: The amount of energy input into the system without negatively affecting the output(s). An operations audit is an examination of the operations of the client's business. In this audit, the auditor thoroughly examines the efficiency, effectiveness and economy of the operations with which the management of the entity (client) is achieving its objective. The operational audit goes beyond the internal controls issues since management does not achieve its objectives merely by compliance of satisfactory system of internal controls. Operational audits cover any matters which may be commercially unsound. The objective of operational audit

5243-553: The auditor's opinion on the fairness of financial statements or other subjects on which the auditor expresses an opinion. The audit must therefore be precise and accurate, containing no additional misstatements or errors. In the US, audits of publicly traded companies are governed by rules laid down by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), which was established by Section 404 of

5350-510: The belief that, by selling personal computer systems directly to customers, PC's Limited could better understand customers' needs and provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs. Dell dropped out of college upon completion of his freshman year at the University of Texas in order to focus full-time on his fledgling business, after getting about $ 1,000 in expansion-capital from his family. As of April 2021, Dell's net worth

5457-400: The biggest challenge facing Silver Lake would be to find an "exit strategy" to profit from its investment, which would be when the company would hold an IPO to go public again, and one warned "But even if you can get a $ 25bn enterprise value for Dell, it will take years to get out." In May 2013, Michael Dell joined his board in voting for the offer. The following August he reached a deal with

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5564-399: The commoditized PC market—prevented it from making inroads into more lucrative segments, such as MP3 players and later mobile devices. Increasing spending on R&D would have cut into the operating margins that the company emphasized. Dell had done well with a horizontal organization that focused on PCs when the computing industry moved to horizontal mix-and-match layers in the 1980s, but by

5671-464: The company came under an SEC probe for its accounting practices. On April 23, 2008, Dell announced the closure of one of its biggest Canadian call-centers in Kanata, Ontario , terminating approximately 1100 employees, with 500 of those redundancies effective on the spot, and with the official closure of the center scheduled for the summer. The call-center had opened in 2006 after the city of Ottawa won

5778-411: The company issued a preliminary quarterly earnings report showing gross sales of $ 14.4 billion, down 5% year-over-year, and net income of $ 687 million (30 cents per share), down 33%. Net earnings would have declined even more if not for the effects of eliminated employee bonuses, which accounted for six cents per share. NASDAQ extended the company's deadline for filing financials to May 4. Dell announced

5885-444: The company though later, Sony was found responsible for the manufacturing of the batteries, however a Sony spokesman said the problem concerned the combination of the battery with a charger, which was specific to Dell. 2006 marked the first year that Dell's growth was slower than the PC industry as a whole. By the fourth quarter of 2006, Dell lost its title of the largest PC manufacturer to Hewlett Packard whose Personal Systems Group

5992-399: The company was consistently meeting Wall Street earnings targets and reducing its operating expenses." Dell, inc. was fined $ 100 million, with Michael Dell personally fined $ 4 million. After four out of five quarterly earnings reports were below expectations, Rollins resigned as president and CEO on January 31, 2007, and founder Michael Dell assumed the role of CEO again. On March 1, 2007,

6099-430: The company. Michael Dell announced a number of initiatives and plans (part of the "Dell 2.0" initiative) to improve the company's financial performance. These include elimination of 2006 bonuses for employees with some discretionary awards, reduction in the number of managers reporting directly to Michael Dell from 20 to 12, and reduction of " bureaucracy ". Jim Schneider retired as CFO and was replaced by Donald Carty , as

6206-431: The computer hardware manufacturer Alienware in 2006. Dell Inc.'s plan anticipated Alienware continuing to operate independently under its existing management. Alienware expected to benefit from Dell's efficient manufacturing system. In 2005, while earnings and sales continued to rise, sales growth slowed considerably, and the company stock lost 25% of its value that year. By June 2006, the stock traded around US$ 25 which

6313-624: The corporate PC market, which purchases PCs in upgrade cycles, had largely decided to take a break from buying new systems. The last cycle started around 2002, three or so years after companies started buying PCs ahead of the perceived Y2K problems, and corporate clients were not expected to upgrade again until extensive testing of Microsoft's Windows Vista (expected in early 2007), putting the next upgrade cycle around 2008. Heavily dependent on PCs, Dell had to slash prices to boost sales volumes, while demanding deep cuts from suppliers. Dell had long stuck by its direct sales model. Consumers had become

6420-399: The corporate segment was previously a "moat" against rivals but this has no longer been the case as sales and profits have fallen precipitously. After several weeks of rumors, which started around January 11, 2013, Dell announced on February 5, 2013, that it had struck a $ 24.4 billion (equivalent to $ 31,470,000,000 in 2023) leveraged buyout deal, that would have delisted its shares from

6527-598: The cost accounts and records, and checking for adherence to the cost accounting objectives. According to the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants , cost audit is "an examination of cost accounting records and verification of facts to ascertain that the cost of the product has been arrived at, in accordance with principles of cost accounting." In most nations, an audit must adhere to generally accepted standards established by governing bodies. These standards assure third parties or external users that they can rely upon

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6634-409: The dollar as part of the deal. In November, Carl Icahn (9.3% owner of Dell) sued the company over plans to go public. As a result of pressure from Icahn and other activist investors , Dell renegotiated the deal, ultimately offering shareholders about 80% of market value. As part of this deal, Dell once again became a public company, with the original Dell computer business and Dell EMC operating under

6741-471: The effectiveness of a quality management system. This is part of certifications such as ISO 9001 . Quality audits are essential to verify the existence of objective evidence showing conformance to required processes, to assess how successfully processes have been implemented, and to judge the effectiveness of achieving any defined target levels. Quality audits are also necessary to provide evidence concerning reduction and elimination of problem areas, and they are

6848-576: The employment of available resources. Safety, security, information systems performance, and environmental concerns are increasingly the subject of audits. There are now audit professionals who specialize in security audits and information systems audits . With nonprofit organizations and government agencies , there has been an increasing need for performance audits, examining their success in satisfying mission objectives. Quality audits are performed to verify conformance to standards through review of objective evidence. A system of quality audits may verify

6955-425: The ending of about 8,800 jobs in 2007–2008 — 10% of its workforce. By the late 2000s, Dell's "configure to order" approach of manufacturing—delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications from its US facilities was no longer as efficient or competitive with high-volume Asian contract manufacturers as PCs became powerful low-cost commodities. Dell closed plants that produced desktop computers for

7062-487: The enterprise market with servers, networking, software, and services. It avoided many of the acquisition write-downs and management turnover that plagued its chief rival Hewlett Packard. Despite spending $ 13 billion on acquisitions to diversify its portfolio beyond hardware, the company was unable to convince the market that it could thrive or made the transformation in the post-PC world, as it suffered continued declines in revenue and share price. Dell's market share in

7169-603: The enterprise technology firm EMC Corporation , together becoming divisions of Dell Technologies. Dell EMC sells data storage, information security, virtualization , analytics, and cloud computing . Michael Dell founded Dell Computer Corporation, doing business as PC's Limited in 1984 while a student at the University of Texas at Austin , operating from Michael Dell's off-campus dormitory room at Dobie Center . The start-up aimed to sell IBM PC compatible computers built from stock components. Michael Dell started trading in

7276-421: The financial records of a company or a business. Financial audits also assess whether a business or corporation adheres to legal duties as well as other applicable statutory customs and regulations. Financial audits are performed to ascertain the validity and reliability of information, as well as to provide an assessment of a system's internal control . As a result, a third party can express an opinion of

7383-511: The first quarter of 2007 after an internal audit found that certain employees had changed corporate account balances to meet quarterly financial targets. In July 2010, the SEC announced charges against several senior Dell executives, including Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell, former CEO Kevin Rollins, and former CFO James Schneider, "with failing to disclose material information to investors and using fraudulent accounting to make it falsely appear that

7490-432: The home market and introduced a product line designed especially for individual users. ($ 000000s) employees From 1997 to 2004, Dell steadily grew and it gained market share from competitors even during industry slumps. During the same period, rival PC vendors such as Compaq , Gateway , IBM , Packard Bell , and AST Research struggled and eventually left the market or were bought out. Dell surpassed Compaq to become

7597-497: The industry's average selling price to individuals was going down, Dell's was going up, as second- and third-time computer buyers who wanted powerful computers with multiple features and did not need much technical support were choosing Dell. Dell found an opportunity among PC-savvy individuals who liked the convenience of buying direct, customizing their PC to their means, and having it delivered in days. In early 1997, Dell created an internal sales and marketing group dedicated to serving

7704-413: The introduction of Windows 8 . In the shrinking PC industry, Dell continued to lose market share, as it dropped below Lenovo in 2011 to fall to number three in the world. Dell and fellow American contemporary Hewlett Packard came under pressure from Asian PC manufacturers Lenovo, Asus , and Acer, all of which had lower production costs and were willing to accept lower profit margins. In addition, while

7811-403: The largest PC manufacturer in 1999. Operating costs made up only 10 percent of Dell's $ 35 billion in revenue in 2002 (equivalent to $ 56,680,000,000 in 2023), compared with 21 percent of revenue at Hewlett-Packard, 25 percent at Gateway, and 46 percent at Cisco. In 2002, when Compaq merged with Hewlett-Packard (the fourth-place PC maker), the newly combined Hewlett-Packard took the top spot for

7918-465: The long run. Margins at retail were thin at best and Dell left the reseller channel in 1994. Rollins would soon join Dell full-time and eventually become the company president and CEO. Originally, Dell did not emphasize the consumer market, due to the higher costs and low profit margins in selling to individuals and households; this changed when the company's Internet site took off in 1996 and 1997. While

8025-667: The main drivers of PC sales in recent years, yet there had a decline in consumers purchasing PCs through the Web or on the phone, as increasing numbers were visiting consumer electronics retail stores to try out the devices first. Dell's rivals in the PC industry, HP, Gateway and Acer , had a long retail presence and so were well poised to take advantage of the consumer shift. The lack of a retail presence stymied Dell's attempts to offer consumer electronics such as flat-panel TVs and MP3 players. Dell responded by experimenting with mall kiosks, plus quasi-retail stores in Texas and New York. Dell had

8132-688: The merger with EMC, which involved the issuance of $ 45.9 billion (equivalent to $ 57,140,000,000 in 2023) in debt and $ 4.4 billion (equivalent to $ 5,478,000,000 in 2023) of common stock. At the time, some analysts claimed that Dell's acquisition of the former Iomega could harm the LenovoEMC partnership. In July 2018, Dell announced intentions to become a publicly traded company again by paying $ 21.7 billion (equivalent to $ 25,940,000,000 in 2023) in both cash and stock to buy back shares from its stake in VMware, offering shareholders roughly 60 cents on

8239-413: The mid-2000 the industry shifted to vertically integrated stacks to deliver an end-to-end IT product, and Dell lagged far behind competitors like Hewlett-Packard and Oracle. Dell's reputation for poor customer service, which was exacerbated as it moved call centers offshore and as its growth outstripped its technical support infrastructure, came under increasing scrutiny on the Web. The original Dell model

8346-691: The newly created parent, Dell Technologies . Post-acquisition, Dell was re-organized with a new parent company, Dell Technologies; Dell's consumer and workstation businesses are internally referred to as the Dell Client Solutions Group, and is one of the company's three main business divisions alongside Dell EMC and VMware . In January 2021 (equivalent to $ 14,420,000,000 in 2023), Dell reported $ 94 billion (equivalent to $ 104,280,000,000 in 2023) in sales and $ 13 billion operating cash flow during 2020. On March 1, 2024, Dell's stock hit all-time high after earnings. It delivered

8453-485: The occurrence of a disaster, whereas DR refers specifically to the IT functions of the business, albeit a subset of BC. The primary objective is to protect the organization in the event that all or part of its operations and/or computer services are rendered partially or completely unusable . Minimizing downtime and data loss during disaster recovery is typically measured in terms of two key concepts: An auditor examines and assesses A disaster recovery plan ( DRP )

8560-531: The organization's goals or objectives. These reviews may be performed in conjunction with a financial statement audit , internal audit , or other form of attestation engagement. Due to strong incentives (including taxation , misselling and other forms of fraud) to misstate financial information, auditing has become a legal requirement for many entities who have the power to exploit financial information for personal gain. Traditionally, audits were mainly associated with gaining information about financial systems and

8667-456: The organization. The auditor examines records , billings , and contracts to verify that records are being kept. One such record is a current list of the organization's hardware and software vendors . Such list is made and periodically updated to reflect changing business practices and as part of an IT asset management system. Copies of it are stored on and off site and are made available or accessible to those who require them. An auditor tests

8774-593: The person / organization / system (etc.) in question. The opinion given on financial statements will depend on the audit evidence obtained. A statutory audit is a legally required review of the accuracy of a company's or government's financial statements and records. The purpose of a statutory audit is to determine whether an organization provides a fair and accurate representation of its financial position by examining information such as bank balances, bookkeeping records, and financial transactions. Due to constraints, an audit seeks to provide only reasonable assurance that

8881-468: The plan takes all factors into account, and a verification of the contracts and agreements reasonableness through documentation and outside research. The auditor must verify that planning ensures that both management and the recovery team have effective communication hardware, contact information for both internal communication and external issues, such as business partners and key customers. Audit techniques include Procedures to sustain staff during

8988-446: The procedures used to meet this objective and determine their effectiveness. Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity. Where DRP encompasses the policies, tools and procedures to enable recovery of data following a catastrophic event, BCP involves keeping all aspects of a business functioning regardless of potential disruptive events. As such, a business continuity plan is a comprehensive organizational strategy that includes

9095-424: The project lifecycle. Conducted midway through the project, an audit affords the project manager, project sponsor and project team an interim view of what has gone well, as well as what needs to be improved to successfully complete the project. If done at the close of a project, the audit can be used to develop success criteria for future projects by providing a forensic review. This review identifies which elements of

9202-500: The project were successfully managed and which ones presented challenges. As a result, the review will help the organization identify what it needs to do to avoid repeating the same mistakes on future projects Projects can undergo 2 types of Project audits: Other forms of Project audits: Formal: Applies when the project is in trouble, sponsor agrees that the audit is needed, sensitivities are high, and need to be able prove conclusions via sustainable evidence. Informal: Apply when

9309-413: The special committee on the board for $ 13.88 per share, a raised price of $ 13.75 plus a special dividend of 13 cents, as well as a change to the voting rules. The $ 13.88 cash offer (plus a $ .08 per share dividend for the third fiscal quarter) was accepted on September 12 and closed on October 30, 2013, ending Dell's 25-year run as a publicly traded company. After the buyout, the newly private Dell offered

9416-505: The state provided approximately $ 250 million (equivalent to $ 386,600,000 in 2023) in incentives and tax breaks. In July, Michael Dell stepped aside as chief executive officer while retaining his position as chairman of the board . Kevin Rollins, who had held a number of executive posts at Dell, became the new CEO. Despite no longer holding the CEO title, Dell essentially acted as a de facto co-CEO with Rollins. Under Rollins, Dell purchased

9523-713: The state required them to repay the incentives for failing to meet the conditions, and they sold the North Carolina plant to Herbalife. Much work was transferred to manufacturers in Asia and Mexico, or some of Dell's own factories overseas. On January 8, 2009, Dell announced the closure of its manufacturing plant in Limerick, Ireland, with the loss of 1,900 jobs and the transfer of production to its plant in Łodź in Poland. The release of Apple's iPad tablet computer had

9630-405: The statements are free from material error. Hence, statistical sampling is often adopted in audits. In the case of financial audits , a set of financial statements are said to be true and fair when they are free of material misstatements – a concept influenced by both quantitative (numerical) and qualitative factors. But recently, the argument that auditing should go beyond just true and fair

9737-466: The stock of VMware. The proposed acquisition will maintain VMware as a separate company, held via a new tracking stock , while the other parts of EMC will be rolled into Dell. Once the acquisition closes Dell will again publish quarterly financial results, having ceased these on going private in 2013. The combined business was expected to address the markets for scale-out architecture , converged infrastructure and private cloud computing , playing to

9844-485: The strengths of both EMC and Dell. Commentators have questioned the deal, with FBR Capital Markets saying that though it makes a "ton of sense" for Dell, it's a "nightmare scenario that would lack strategic synergies" for EMC. Fortune said there was a lot for Dell to like in EMC's portfolio, but "does it all add up enough to justify tens of billions of dollars for the entire package? Probably not." The Register reported

9951-460: The subject matter is free from material misstatement. The term is most frequently applied to audits of the financial information relating to a legal person . Other commonly audited areas include: secretarial and compliance, internal controls, quality management, project management, water management, and energy conservation. As a result of an audit, stakeholders may evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance over

10058-452: The subject matter. In recent years auditing has expanded to encompass many areas of public and corporate life. Professor Michael Power refers to this extension of auditing practices as the "Audit Society". The word "audit" derives from the Latin word audire which means "to hear". Auditing has been a safeguard measure since ancient times. During medieval times, when manual bookkeeping

10165-458: The third and fourth fiscal quarter of 2006, and several class-action lawsuits were filed. Dell Inc's failure to file its quarterly earnings report could have subjected the company to de-listing from the Nasdaq , but the exchange granted Dell a waiver, allowing the stock to trade normally. In August 2007, the company announced that it would restate its earnings for fiscal years 2003 through 2006 and

10272-559: The unified compliance section in Regulatory compliance ). Due to the increasing number of regulations and need for operational transparency, organizations are adopting risk-based audits that can cover multiple regulations and standards from a single audit event. This is a very new but necessary approach in some sectors to ensure that all the necessary governance requirements can be met without duplicating effort from both audit and audit hosting resources. The purpose of an assessment

10379-487: The view of William Blair & Company that the merger would "blow up the current IT chess board", forcing other IT infrastructure vendors to restructure to achieve scale and vertical integration. The value of VMware stock fell 10% after the announcement, valuing the deal at around $ 63–64bn rather than the $ 67bn originally reported. Key investors backing the deal besides Dell were Singapore's Temasek Holdings and Silver Lake Partners . On September 7, 2016, Dell completed

10486-478: The world's 500 largest companies, making Michael Dell the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company at that time. In 1993, to complement its own direct sales channel, Dell planned to sell PCs at big-box retail outlets such as Wal-Mart , which would have brought in an additional $ 125 million (equivalent to $ 238,100,000 in 2023) in annual revenue. Bain consultant Kevin Rollins persuaded Michael Dell to pull out of these deals, believing they would be money losers in

10593-566: Was 40% down from July 2005—the high-water mark of the company in the post-dotcom era. By June 2021, the stock had reached an all-time high of over US$ 100 per share, reflecting the company's successful transition to a technology solutions provider that helps customers navigate digital transformation. The slowing sales growth has been attributed to the maturing PC market, which constituted 66% of Dell's sales, and analysts suggested that Dell needed to make inroads into non-PC business segments such as storage, services, and servers. Dell's price advantage

10700-785: Was being pressured by Elliott Management , a hedge fund holding 2.2% of EMC's stock, to reorganize their unusual "Federation" structure, in which EMC's divisions were effectively being run as independent companies. Elliott argued this structure deeply undervalued EMC's core "EMC II" data storage business, and that increasing competition between EMC II and VMware products was confusing the market and hindering both companies. The Wall Street Journal estimated that in 2014 Dell had revenue of $ 27.3 billion (equivalent to $ 34,610,000,000 in 2023) from personal computers and $ 8.9 billion from servers, while EMC had $ 16.5 billion from EMC II, $ 1 billion from RSA Security , $ 6 billion from VMware, and $ 230 million from Pivotal Software . EMC owns around 80 percent of

10807-445: Was estimated to be over $ 50 billion (equivalent to $ 55,470,000,000 in 2023). In 1985, PC's Limited launched its first computer, the "Turbo PC," priced at US$ 795 (equivalent to $ 1,913 in 2023). The Turbo PC featured an Intel 8088-compatible processor with a maximum speed of 8 MHz. PC's Limited marketed these systems through national computer magazines, selling directly to consumers while custom-assembling each unit based on

10914-614: Was getting trapped in the increasing commoditization of high volume low margin computers, which prevented it from offering more exciting devices that consumers demanded. Despite plans of expanding into other global regions and product segments, Dell was heavily dependent on US corporate PC market, as desktop PCs sold to both commercial and corporate customers accounted for 32 percent of its revenue, 85 percent of its revenue comes from businesses, and 64 percent of its revenue comes from North and South America, according to its 2006 third-quarter results. US shipments of desktop PCs were shrinking, and

11021-607: Was invigorated thanks to a restructuring initiated by their CEO Mark Hurd . In August 2005, Dell became the subject of an informal investigation by the United States SEC . In 2006, the company disclosed that the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York had subpoenaed documents related to the company's financial reporting dating back to 2002. The company delayed filing financial reports for

11128-534: Was known for high customer satisfaction when PCs sold for thousands of dollars but by the 2000s, the company could not justify that level of service when computers in the same line-up sold for hundreds of dollars. Rollins responded by shifting Dick Hunter from the head of manufacturing to head of customer service. Hunter, who noted that Dell's DNA of cost-cutting "got in the way," aimed to reduce call transfer times and have call center representatives resolve inquiries in one call. By 2006, Dell had spent $ 100 million in just

11235-457: Was prevalent, auditors in Britain used to hear the accounts read out for them and checked that the organization's personnel were not negligent or fraudulent. In 1951, Moyer identified that the most important duty of the auditor was to detect fraud. Chatfield documented that early United States auditing was viewed mainly as verification of bookkeeping detail. The Central Auditing Commission of

11342-487: Was that this new company name better reflected its presence in the business market, and also resolved issues with the use of "Limited" in a company name in certain countries. The company set up its first international operations in Britain; 11 more followed within the next four years. In June 1988, Dell Computer's market capitalization grew by $ 30 million to $ 80 million (equivalent to $ 177,850,000 in 2023) from its June 22 initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at $ 8.50

11449-509: Was tied to its ultra-lean manufacturing for desktop PCs, but this became less important as savings became harder to find inside the company's supply chain, and as competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and Acer made their PC manufacturing operations more efficient to match Dell, weakening Dell's traditional price differentiation. Throughout the entire PC industry, declines in prices along with commensurate increases in performance meant that Dell had fewer opportunities to upsell to their customers. As

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