Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Department of Computer
Science & Information Systems
2
Kudenga & Co
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 2
Organisational Structure 7
Expectations 9
Company-Society Connection 22
Personal development 24
Re-entry 39
Overview 41
Appendix n/a
Approval form 44
3
Kudenga & Co
Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to thank all the partners, management, staff and clients at
BDO Kudenga & Company for the support they afforded to me during my entire
work related learning period. From the 10th of March 2006 (the day I joined the
firm) to date, I have learnt a something new each day. From the IT related
functions to the work etiquet, the experience and knowledge that was imparted
upon me are invaluable. The industrial attachment period has truly broadened my
horizons in respect to the IT field and also given me a better outlook on my
future. Over the entire period, I was given the chance to venture into various
fields and sectors of the economy and industry. Special mention goes to my
supervisor T.C Makowe for his endless patience and interesting approach to
work.
My gratitude also extends to the Midlands State University which affords its
students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and not just text-book
knowledge. I also want to thank my best friend Precious for the encouragement
and support
Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents Prof O.P and Mrs J. Ndawi for
their unwavering emotional, financial and moral support.
4
Kudenga & Co
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Accountants under somewhat trying conditions in light of the fact that they were
the 1st Indigenous accounting firm. Failure has never been an option and today,
the firm boast of being the largest local accounting firm. Growth comes in leaps
and bounds and today the firm has two offices in HARARE and MUTARE and
has been divided into Kudenga & Co CA (Z), Kudenga & Co Business
firms and is intended to allow each of the various units to better focus on
management services.
♦ Taxation services
5
Kudenga & Co
Kudenga and Company is affiliated with the BDO International group, which
has over 500 offices in over 99 countries throughout the world. The group was
founded in Europe in 1963 by accountancy firms from the United Kingdom East
and West Germany, The Netherlands, United States of America and Canada
which joined to form the Binder Seidman International Group. In 1973, the
European member firms took on the common name of Binder Djiker Otte & Co
(BDO). The group is part of the “Big Five” which is a grouping of the 5 most
successful accountancy firms in the world. These are, K.P.M.G, PWC, DT, BDO
and EY.
BDO has numerous offices in Southern Africa with representation in the following
countries:
• Botswana
• Zambia
• Namibia
6
Kudenga & Co
• Zimbabwe
• Angola
• Mozambique
In order to fully benefit from the expert knowledge and experience of personnel in
member firms, affiliation is maintained and ties are strengthened. This expert
knowledge may range from information technology, audit programmes and other
• Because legislation differs from country to country, each office may refer
• Member firms are able to access specialized expertise from other offices.
firms, in that they are able to refer assignments to the international offices.
7
Kudenga & Co
MISSION
1.4 Objectives
sufficiency.
The Kudenga & Company motto “Grow With Us” reflects the firm’s main thrust
9
Kudenga & Co
STAFF INFORMATION
Kudenga & Co’s mainstay is in its people. It’s low staff turn-over reflects
a thorough vetting process. In all assignments, Kudenga & Co’s teams comprise
technical skills. Most important is the right blend of experience and know-how to
1.6.1 Partners
Kudenga & Co. has four partners, namely Mr Ngoni Kudenga(founder member
and Senior partner), Sonny Mabheju, Gladman Sabarauta and the latest addition
Jonas Jonga. Mr. Kudenga at one time was the partner in charge of the
management consultancy when it was still a department but is now one of the
Mabheju is the partner in charge of the audit function and Mr Jonga is the
10
Kudenga & Co
The Firm currently employs 138 members of professional staff. The distribution of
11
Kudenga & Co
Management
Managing Management
ManagingPartner
Partner Consultancy
N.N.Kudenga Consultancy
Kudenga N.N.Kudenga
Kudenga
Senior
SeniorAudit Consultants
Information Technology
Information Technology Audit Administration
Administration Consultants Consultants
Consultants
Manager Managers Manager Manager
Manager
T.Makowe Managers Manager
Muchena Manager
T.Makowe x2x2 Muchena x2x2 x3x3
Audit
AuditManagers
Managers
x7x7
Staff Audit
AuditStaff Admin
AdminStaff Staff Staff Staff
Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff
x3x3 x90 x10 x8x8 x2x2 12 x2
x90 x10 x2
Kudenga & Co
EXPECTATIONS
When the author (Oneas Ndawi) joined Kudenga & Co on 10th March 2006, he
had a myriad of tasks he would be tasked with performing and the responsibilities
expectations gravely differed from reality and were not to be realized and some
Prior Expectations
Upon being accepted into the organization, the author had a number of
The author expected to take part in a lot of software development and a chance to work
with world-class programmers. This was not to be because the company employs
packaged software to which no source code is available. Also, due to the aspect of
internation affiliation, the firms has to adhere to guidelines in accordance to software, this
13
Kudenga & Co
Business Communication application skills that he had learnt over his first two
faced with decisions relating to these aspects of operations. The auditing aspect
he had to tackle involved the employment of audit software like Caseware and
like Pastel, Belina and Time-bag. Although the author lacked familiarity with
The author discovered that the auditing of client information systems exposed
got to realize that the audit function involved a lot of report writing for the various
tasks he tackled. The author soon realized that the concepts he had learnt in
Business Management as a 1st year student would greatly come in useful and
dispel the popular student’s myth that most non-core modules are useless to an
individual. These reports were difficult in that the author had to ensure that he
client. Some of the audit findings had to be put across in a manner that was firm
14
Kudenga & Co
but not threatening. The supervisor (Makowe T.C) made it clear that auditing was
not a witch-hunting exercise but a process to assist the client in identifying their
The author expected to learn professional conduct and work etiquet from very
afforded the opportunity to work as collegues with some of the most respected
individuals in industry and commerce and the entire experience humbled him
greatly. Whether in the Kudenga and Company ranks or at clients, the author
found himself working with some remarkable individuals who were professionals
The author was under the initial impression that he would get to rifle through
each and every client computer in an attempt to determine the security measures
in place but this was not to be. He soon discovered that auditing was more than
discovered that all software had some form of audit trail within it and that there
were audit packadges such IDEA and CaseWare which were used to enable the
15
Kudenga & Co
audit function to be easier and more thorough. He was also to discover that the
IT audit was used primarily to ascertain that data to be used in the financial audit
was reliable and a proper representation of the operations of the client. The
author further discovered that it was essential to posses have some basic
worked with several packages such as JBA, Sage, Pastel, Timebag and different
operating systems like Unix, Linux, CS3, OS400, and Windows 95 ,98 , ME,
Kudenga & Company. The author found that IT technical support was a core
and when they arose. At Kudenga & Co the author was oriented in the I.T.
maintenance. The hardware, which the author worked with, included laptops,
organizations. Another function he had not anticipated was general hardware and
electrical installation. This was in the form of drilling into walls, mounting pvc
trunking and many other tasks using power tools. Fortunately for the author, he
Due to the large volumes of data inputs and outputs in most industries as well as
the need to follow the trend of automation and computerization, most business
functions have become overly dependant on computers. This has presented the
need to ensure adequate controls are put in place to eliminate any inherent
TLS
errors, risks or exploitable loopholes that will pose financial or security risks to M Coates
the organization. It is the role of the Information Systems Auditor to analyze the
Information Systems controls in place and ascertain the security and reliability of
information systems auditing is now to ensure that data generated by the system
17
Kudenga & Co
is accurate enough to be used by financial auditors. This entails that the I.S audit
Office automation and computerization has also been another of the firm’s
more computers in an bid to ensure that all staff have computer to work on
whatever function that they are responsible for. Because some of the firm’s
clients are fully computerized and also, competition requires that the firm
clients accounting package into Caseware and IDEA. It is within these Audit
Applications software packages that the auditor can analyze the data in the
imported files for consistency and accuracy. Data analysis would take far less
Services Offered:-
18
Kudenga & Co
standard to all its individual clients in whatever sector they may be in.
4.1 Audit
Types of audits:
Statutory audits
Investigative audits
4.2 Accounting
tax department.
19
Kudenga & Co
systems.
Core services:-
business valuations.
20
Kudenga & Co
requirements is necessary.
4.6 Taxation
Tax computation
VAT
Customs duty.
advisory services.
22
Kudenga & Co
Drawing up of wills
Formation of trusts
Estate planning
Retirement planning
Remuneration structuring.
Family constitutions
Succession plans
Valuation of shares
Corporate re-organisation
Client Base
The following is a list of some of the major clients and their respective sectors
23
Kudenga & Co
♦ Quoted Companies
Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe
Rainbow Tourism Group
Fidelity Life Assurance Limited
Barbican Holdings
Zimpapers Limited
Econet Wireless
♦ Parastatals
Air Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)
Net One
Tel One
Zimpost
Grain Marketing Board (GMB)
♦ Other Major Clients
Agricultural & Rural Development Authority (ARDA)
Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC)
Copro (Private) Ltd
Sports & Recreation Commission
Capitol Insurance Brokers (Private) Limited
University of Zimbabwe
Midlands State University
Zimbabwe Open University
Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway (Internal Audit)
Fidelity Life Assurance Company
Zimbabwe Red Cross Society
Zimbabwe Building Society (Consultancy)
City of Mutare (Consultancy)
Southern Granites (Pvt) Ltd
Modzone Enterprises
Metallurgical Construction Company of Zimbabwe
Jairos Jiri Association
Lever Brothers (Consultancy)
Privatization Agency of Zimbabwe (Consultancy)
Consumers International – Africa Region
Intermediate Technology – Southern African Region
African Region
Comarton Consultants
Standard Fire and General Insurance Company
South Medical Hospitals Group 24
Kudenga & Co
25
Kudenga & Co
Each year, there are two intakes whereby the firm enrolls university students
for work related learning. Students are taken from all universities in the
• Sponsoring Hockey:
Kudenga & Co is one of the largest sponsors for hockey in Zimbabwe. This
shows it’s interest in the physical well-being of the people. Every member firm
26
Kudenga & Co
The firm offers career guidance for university, college and high-school
students. This is part of social responsibility to the nation and is very helpful
Kudenga and Co is also heavily involved in soccer at a social level. The firm
takes part in the CASSH which are a sporting tournament for all audit firms in
socialize with those from other firms and build a culture of friendly
professional rivalry.
27
Kudenga & Co
The entire attachment period was packed with experiences that were core to the
6.1 Strengths
• Personal Responsibility
The author was made responsible for some tasks that were highly
sensitive and important to the company. This showed him that every
employee is important to the firm and it does not take a super human
being to carry out the essential tasks but it takes many ordinary, hard-
working people for a firm of Kudenga and Co’s magnitude to run smoothly.
The author learnt how to handle important tasks and was able to do so
with extreme care and diligence. This was shown on all assignments given
to the author. The author was quickly weaned of his supervisor and he
was sent to large clients to conduct the I.S audit on his own, These large
28
Kudenga & Co
were used within the firm for review and also sent to the client for
all the work he carried out and the outcome of the audit. By submitting all
his reports to the supervisor for approval, he was able to get advice on the
• Time Management
be able to plan ahead and budget his time effectively. Fore sight was one
of the essential skills for He always planned how he would tackle each
audit assignment. The author was expected to attend to all hardware and
performing audits for various clients and attending to all I.T. This was
29
Kudenga & Co
responsibilities.
• Integrity
Due to the nature of audit work, the author was expected to maintain
who had a direct interest in the entity and who absolutely needed the
• Teamwork
In order to complete an audit in the set time and thoroughly fulfill all
required tasks, the author learnt that he had to be a team player. An audit
closely with these audit team-members to complete the audit. He also had
30
Kudenga & Co
to liase closely with client firm employees in order to gather the necessary
data.
The author learnt to work with maximum speed and yet achieve the best
quickly as possible so as to allow time for testing the solution and verifying
its results.
• Empathy
The author learnt not to scoff at the problems faced by users regardless of
their simplicity. He learnt to take every problem seriously and deal with
conduct meetings and interviews with many top company executives Each
31
Kudenga & Co
skills.
meetings. He was able to present himself in such a way that all the people
he had meetings with could actually communicate with him at the same
professional and he was well able to do this. Office work required smart
casual attire and he was able to look the part. He even dressed in formal
• Pro-activeness
32
Kudenga & Co
The author found it increasingly easier each time to give constant feed-
back to his superiors on any tasks he had been assigned. He did not
always wait to be asked for progress reports but was pro-active and forth
responsibility to attend to all I.T. problems that arose and would only refer
some problems to his superiors if they were beyond his capabilities or they
• P rioritization of Tasks
and also because of the fact that some tasks were of imparative
33
Kudenga & Co
come- first- serve basis. He learnt how to asses the importance of a task
• Logistical planning
Due to the scarcity of some resources and to the ever-present time limit
factor, the author learnt to allocate resources and plan ahead. He was
6.2 Weaknesses
• Knowledge
The author initially lacked knowledge on the main server operating system
for the firm which is LINUX Fedora Core 5. This lack of familiarity hindered
his ability to carry out many tasks but he eventually managed to school
software itself. By the end of the first three moths, he was much more able
34
Kudenga & Co
expressly but were not explained or justified. The author had trouble
ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES
The author set his personal objectives throughout the attachment period. These
35
Kudenga & Co
Sometimes the author had to download some material from the Internet in areas
where he felt that he needed to research further. He would hardly have time to go
through all the material during working hours so he had to take it home after
hours and spend time going through it on his personal computer. Each time there
was such a conflict, the author would try to balance the two by creating more
time after working hours to ensure that he was not found wanting in any of the
two areas. In times when there were too many computers that needed to be
fixed, the author would attend to some faulty computers during working hours
and some of them after working hours to make sure that they were all ready for
use the following morning. This had the effect of creating more time for the
rather than spending much of the time doing routine work such as reloading
operating systems and attending to printer problems. The author always created
time to fulfill his own learning objectives during and after working hours. If these
objectives conflicted with the need to carry out certain duties, the author always
made sure that those duties were done first then he would concentrate on
fulfilling his learning objectives. Sometimes the duties that needed to be done
36
Kudenga & Co
During the placement period the author developed some key skills through
• The author was introduced to hardware and software used at the firm in
The author was taught how to perform certain operations using IDEA, an
audit application. He was also taught how to carry out a General Controls
controls they had over their computer environment and identifying the
37
Kudenga & Co
to improve the weak controls in order to mitigate risks that may arise from
Change control
Network controls
Operational controls
for Kudenga & Co. There was no IT strategic document that had been
prepared at the time that the author joined Kudenga & Co. He made quite
• The author was expected to write and format reports on findings and
38
Kudenga & Co
The author applied technical expertise both acquired from his university and most
windows 9x, XP, 2000, Linux and other application software. He learnt how to
partition hard drives when installing an operating system. He was able to fix
mails and searching for missing archive folders and restoring them. He was
able to share printers between users and fix scanner problems. He learnt how
backups of systems.
completeness checks and user rights. With his technical knowledge he was
39
Kudenga & Co
The author improved his time management skill he had acquired during his two
years at university. The information systems audit work that the author did
involved carrying out meetings with top company officials such that the author
image. The work he did was always based on a budget and so he was required
to finish assigned work in a defined period of time. His work was always
completed in time (on or before the deadline unless other things with higher
priority came up). This was one area where conflict arose since the department
that no-one else was available to do certain urgent tasks as they arose. It was up
to the author to decide which tasks were of higher priority than the others then he
40
Kudenga & Co
The author’s work required great analysis to be made and so this skill was
developed and perfected through the experience he was exposed to. The author
advice to clients on certain issues. One incident involves a client who requested
Kudenga & Co to appraise an accounting package that it was about to buy. The
client wanted a professional opinion on whether this package would meet the
their requirements given the nature and size of their business. The author
attended a meeting with both the client and the seller of the package to try and
establish whether the two parties could actually settle for a business deal. The
author was to give advice on the security of the system after he had appraised it.
This involved analyzing the requirements of the client and then weighing them
against the functional specifications of the package to see whether it really met
the client’s requirements and the extent of further modification that was required
in order to customize the package to the specifications of the client. The author
application of all the concepts learnt in Systems Analysis and Design. This
certain extent.
41
Kudenga & Co
Directors, Financial Directors and Chief Executives. The author developed good
University.
42
Kudenga & Co
9.0 RE - ENTRY
The major thrust of the industrial attachment is to put theory into practice and
help the student acquire and develop skills that he will use within the Information
the student is given meaningful tasks that call for the full utilisation of knowledge
and values learnt in class whilst at university. In essence, this means that the
tasks given to students determine the nature and quality of the learning
experience and the degree to which skills are acquired and developed.
The author has developed a variety of skills and experiences that are beneficial
in enhancing his learning when he re-enters the university. The author is now
familiar with and has knowledge on a large spectrum of software being used in
industry. He has gained a lot of knowledge and has been exposed to different
and has an understanding of the concepts behind the integration of software and
hardware. This knowledge will help the author grasp easily the concepts to be
learned in the final year, as he will be putting his practical knowledge into theory.
43
Kudenga & Co
The author also learnt the various aspects and controls to consider when
their organization could actually apply all these concepts and controls in
Information systems auditing. This has made the student a different person, as
such a way that will minimize data loss in the event that a disaster occurs. The
author has been enriched with this knowledge and will be able to apply it in any
Teamwork has developed the author into a better individual. It will be easy for the
author to relate to others during discussions as he has learnt that the best results
come from teamwork. Two minds are always better than one and so the author
Time management skills acquired during the placement period will help the
author plan his work more effectively when he re-enters university. Assignments
will be done on time. He will also be able to cope with the pressure from
schoolwork due to this good time management. The author was also exposed to
44
Kudenga & Co
working under pressure during the different assignments and this will contribute
45
Kudenga & Co
10.0 OVERVIEW
The author managed to add value to the organization that he worked for, through
the application of concepts and theories he learnt from his degree studies. Some
of the areas where the author applied the knowledge he acquired from university
• System Analysis
The author was able to apply concepts he had learnt in the Systems
Analysis and Design module when auditing the Information Systems for
existing information systems with a view to find areas where there were
• Systems Design
The author also managed to apply concepts he had learnt from the
46
Kudenga & Co
The author discovered that knowledge acquired from the Internet and data
Kudenga & Co, as this had not been in place at the time that the author
joined the firm. The author did a lot of research to establish what services
• Report writing
47
Kudenga & Co
The author developed this skill of writing reports each time that he had to
write a report. He knew that once a report had been finalized it then
Overally, the author learnt to present himself professionally and acquired skills
that have developed him into a more knowledgeable person with greater
48
Kudenga & Co
APPROVAL FORM
Midlands State University, the work related learning report entitled “Work
Name
Signature Date
Kudenga & Co
Chartered Accountants (Zimbabwe)
49