Computer Technology: An Innovative Tool In Stock Auditing, A Study Of Nigeria Engineering Works

The control and auditing of stock in any organisation especially a manufacturing outfit such as Nigeria Engineering Works Limited is very vital, and demand management attention. Auditing could be done manually or electronically through the use of a computer. The study was carried out in four major departments of the company, namely Production, Marketing, Data processing and Internal audit. The study was guided by four research questions and a null/alternate hypothesis to ascertain whether the stock control measures in Nigeria Engineering Works Limited are inadequate and in conflict with specifications. The population and the sample size for the study were 80 and 50 staffers respectively. The data gotten was analysed with the use of mean and chi-square statistical tool tested at 95% alpha level. The study revealed that Nigeria Engineering Works limited adopted the manual process of auditing as they have their inventory records on bin cards or ledger; this helps the internal audit to conduct their physical perpetual counts. The accountants considered the system tedious and labourious as they opt for innovation. With this method, stock control is affected by the means of computer records kept by the Data processing and Internal audit department in respect of the material stocked. The study also revealed that the company is yet to have central purchasing department, computerized stock management is new and the auditors are not experienced in the exercise, which made the raw material control policies and internal control measure weak. For the fact that the researcher centred the study on Nigeria Engineering Works without comparing her operations with other manufacturing companies, would be grossly unfair to castigate the company because, irrespective of the researchers recommendations of the adoption and usage of Computer Assisted Audit Tools and Techniques (CAATTs), central purchasing department, material requirement planning (MRP), off premises copies of programme and data etc, the company already had a plan of introducing a sophisticated stock model and central computer with linked intelligent terminal for the control of their stock.