Question
Billys Big Box, Inc. (BBB) is a regional discount retailer that operates large discount stores in the southeastern United States. They compete directly in their
Billys Big Box, Inc. (BBB) is a regional discount retailer that operates large discount stores in the southeastern United States. They compete directly in their markets with other big box stores. One hallmark of BBB is their generous return policy which allows customers to return any item at any time within 90 days for a full refund.BBB is also notable because they are much smaller in terms of number of stores they only have 20 stores throughout the region. Similar to many retailers, BBB uses an end of January fiscal year end to allow for less uncertainty in holiday season sales returns. Although BBB allows customers great leniency in their return policy, their return rates have traditionally been in line with other retailers, and they estimate that approximately 5% of their returns are fraudulent, which is also in line with other retailers. This makes estimation of their sales return allowances reasonably predictable, according to company management. BBB reports that historically, approximately 10% of all sales are returned. 70% of these returns occur in the month immediately following the sale, 25% occur within the next month, and the remaining 5% mostly happen in the third month. Later returns are immaterial since they are not according to policy.BBB estimates their returns using an analysis of economic conditions, historical average returns, as well as a variety of other sources. Because this method is difficult to validate and is not as precise as your firm prefers, your firm has decided to test the estimate by preparing an estimate and comparing it to the clients using data collected from other sources on return rates, as well as using subsequent client information. Whenever an auditor uses Information Prepared by the Entity, that information must be tested for completeness and accuracy. For the purposes of the following exercises, please assume that your firm has already tested the completeness and accuracy of the Product Sales Summary and the Product Returns Summary and has determined that the amounts reported by the company are reasonable for purposes of your test of the sales return allowance account. You have access to the following data: BBB Sales Returns Case Data The following is a data dictionary for the Return Rates database, a database created by your audit firm based on retail analysis of 40,000 stores performed by a retail analyst specialist. These rates are used in all retail audits for your firm unless more specific information is available.
Column Name | Column description | Field type |
PRODCAT | Unique sequential product category number used in retail industry | Numeric |
CATNAME | The product category name | Character |
RETRATE | The rate of returns in the product category | Numeric |
The following is a data dictionary for the Product Sales Summary database, which you have extracted for the last three months of the fiscal year ended 1/31/2021.
Column Name | Column description | Field type |
STOREID | Sequentially numbered store identification number from database of stores not provided here, location is not relevant to question | Numeric |
PRODCAT | Industry standard product category, which is referenced in the Return Rates database | Numeric |
SALEYR | Four digit year of the sale | Numeric |
SALEMO | Numerical month (1-12) for sales | Numeric |
SALEAMT | Gross sales for the referenced store, in the given product category, for the stated month | Numeric |
The following is a data dictionary for the Product Returns Summary database, which you have extracted for the last three months of the fiscal year ended 1/31/2021, and also for the first month of the next year Feb. 2021). This database only includes returns related to sales made during the period of November-January of the year ended 1/31/2021, the relevant sales period for the Allowance for Sales Returns account. It is important to note that the client did not know about February returns as of end of year 1/31/2021.
Column Name | Column description | Field type |
STOREID | Sequentially numbered store identification number from database of stores not provided here, location is not relevant to question | Numeric |
PRODCAT | BBBs product category, which is referenced in the return rates database | Numeric |
RETYR | Four digit year in which the returns were made | Numeric |
RETMO | Numerical month (1-12) for the month returns were made | Numeric |
SALEYR | Four digit year in which the original sale was made | Numeric |
SALEMO | Numerical month (1-12) for the month original sale was made | Numeric |
RETAMT | Returns for the referenced store, in the given product category, for the stated month | Numeric |
You have been assigned to audit the sales return and allowance account for BBB Retail for the fiscal year ended 1/31/2021. You have been provided with the following information:
- Information for use with BBB Retail document
- Return Rates database
- Product Sales Summary database for November, 2020 January, 2021
- Product Returns Summary database for November, 2020-January, 2021
- The client G/L reports an Allowance for Sales Returns of $3,100,000 as of 1/31/2021.
- Your firm has set materiality for the Allowance for Sales Returns account at $1,200,000
- For the purposes of this exercise, assume that sales occur uniformly throughout the year and month and that all months have 30 days.
In accessing and cleansing client data, the auditor must consider the completeness and accuracy of the Information Produced by the Entity, as well as the appropriateness of the data for the purposes of the audit.
Required: a. What are the total sales included in the Product Sales Summary database?
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