Everywhere you turn more and more people are involved with the Internet. Even business are benefiting from the Internet. In 1997 estimates reported that buyers and sellers exchanged about eight billion dollars through the Internet. It is also estimated that by the year 2002 this amount will increase to over $300 billion dollars. However, these numbers could be substantially higher if people were more comfortable with conducting their business through the World Wide Web. Customers think of Web businesses as faceless companies. They are afraid to give their credit card and other personal information online. A recent survey showed that 91% of people who surfed the web are unwilling to give out personal and financial information, and 85% don't want to use their credit cards online. Web surfers need some type of guarantee that the web company is legal and the transactions will be carried out as agreed upon, and that the personal i

The second criteria, transaction integrity, states that the business must maintain effective controls to provide reasonable assurance that customers' orders using electronic commerce are completed and billed correctly. There are different types of situations that are looked at through transaction integrity. A CPA firm verifies that they way a company handles it transactions is in good standings. They look at whether the company has accurate, complete, and timely transaction processing and related billings. They would do this by checking to see if the company checks each order for accuracy, sends customers an email letting them know that their order has been received, and verifying that the order was shipped with the right quantities in the agreed upon time frame.

To encourage customer confidence in shopping online, it is important that the customer is aware of the company's business practices for electronic commerce transactions. As a result, it is important that the company properly discloses it business practices for dealing with such matters as orders and any returns and warranty claims and that the company actually follows these practices. The CPA WebTrust first criteria, business practice, deal with this type of situation. It states that the company should discloses its business practices for electronic commerce transactions and executes transactions in accordance with it disclosed business practices. An few example of a companies business practices would include the length of time it takes for the company to fill an order, the way they deliver the goods, the refund and information protection policies, and who the customer should contact if they have any questions. A CPA would have to test that these are true to what is sta!

With the successfulness of the Internet and other technological advances tied with the decline of the historical financial statements usefulness, auditors fear that financial accounting services will no longer be a growth industry. In order to keep up with the technological advances CPA firms are looking into ways to maximize the range of their services. In 1997 the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accou

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Approximate Word count = 1501
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)