You are an auditor who is tasked with verifying the inventory of Bryan’s Amazing Animals (BAA). BAA owns a sheep farm. The flock of sheep represents an important biological asset (i.e., living plants and animals) of BAA and it is, therefore, important that the company maintains an accurate count of the inventory. Each year, BAA performs an inventory count as it moves the sheep from their winter pasture to their summer pasture. The sheep are not easy to count in this process because there are large numbers of them, they continually move around and they are hard to distinguish from one another. The traditional method of counting the sheep is to have shepherds and dogs herd them through a small gate and then two people count the animals as they pass through the counters. The audit team received a video of the client’s approach to counting inventory. The link to the video is below.

https://mp126803.cdn.mediaplatform.com/126803/wc/mp/4000/7319/98474/104493/Presentation/default.htm?token=

From the video, you will notice that there are two men counting all of the sheep as they run past. The sheep are scared of this process and go through in groups. Each counter tries to be accurate and only count each sheep once; however, as shown in the video, this is a difficult task.

The video you watched required five people working for one hour to perform the counting of the sheep. Thus, it is very time-consuming for BAA. For your audit, one or more auditors would be required to perform the same task, adding more labor to this process.

BAA reported that it sent 3,080 sheep to the winter pasture (these sheep arrived on a truck two months earlier and this count can be considered correct). While in the winter pasture, the shepherds found the carcasses of six sheep (likely killed by predators), and one additional sheep was sick and could not make the trip to the summer pasture. Thus, the shepherds expected 3,073 sheep in their count based on the current inventory records; however, it is possible that other sheep wandered away or were killed by predators and the shepherds were unaware of their disappearance. The two counters initially reported counting 3,081 sheep and 3,063 sheep. After deliberation, they agreed to make the final count 3,070 sheep. BAA management adjusted the accounting inventory records accordingly.

What options can you think of to determine the accuracy of the count?