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INTRODUCTION
The Jacksonville Jaguars National Football League (NFL) team is taking advantage
of electronic payments technologies in the sale of stadium snacks and souvenirs. At Alltel
Stadium where the Jaguars play their home games, football fans can use Spot Cards to purchase soft drinks, beer, popcorn, and Jaguar souvenirs rather than fumble for cash and
change when making their purchases.1
The Spot Card offers both benefits and costs to fans in the stadium. The use of
electronic payment technologies offers advantages for snack and souvenir vendors by
providing better information for monitoring their businesses. Although electronic payment
technologies offer improvements for the fans and vendors, those who rely on the Spot Card
to process sales need assurance that the technology and related information produced is
accurate and reliable.
BACKGROUND
The implementation of the Spot Card at the stadium in Jacksonville represents one
of the first uses of that type of electronic payment technology in a major sports stadium.
The stadium contracted with First Union Bank, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, to
develop and implement the Spot Card system. First Union contracted with Diebold
Incorporated of Canton, Ohio, which manufactures card-based transaction systems, to
1
This case was prepared by Frank A. Buckless, Ph.D. and Mark S. Beasley, Ph.D. of North Carolina State University and Steven M.
Glover, Ph.D. and Douglas F. Prawitt, Ph.D. of Brigham Young University, as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate
either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. 'Many of the facts about the Spot Card system are based on
an article titled "Jacksonville Jaguars Fans Score Big with Smart Cards" by Maura McEnaney that appeared in EC World, January
1998, pp. 24-27. This case was revised and updated by Chris Westland
Practicum
1. Summarize in your own words the definition of assurance services
2. The use of electronic payment technology offers particular benefits and costs.
What benefits and costs does the use of Spot Cards offer to Jaguar stadium
snack and souvenir vendors? What are the benefits and costs for the fans in the
stadium? What are the benefits and costs to First Union?
3. Although the Spot Card offers several benefits, the use of IT to process snack
and souvenir transactions does create new risks. Identify risks for the vendors,
customers, and the bank
4. What control processes could the stadium and First Union implement to help
reduce these risks?
5. How might CPAs be able to structure an assurance services engagement to
assure stadium vendors that information processed through the Spot Card
system is reliable? What kind of information could the CPA examine and evaluate in order to assure stadium vendors that they can reasonably rely on the
Spot Card system to conduct business?