"Consumers are protected by this law that guarantees them repair, replacement or refundrights in addition to compensation for any damages and losses caused by provision of5 faulty goods. This is most applicable to Metcash’s hardware business .4. Laws regarding sale of alcoholEach state has a different law, so all alcohol distribution and retail needs to account forthat. For example,Liquor Licensing Act 1997 is followed in South Australia whereas theLiquor Control Reform Act 1998 is binding in Victoria. The underlying factor is that6 alcohol cannot be served to consumers under the age of 18 years .5. Model Work Health and Safety (WHS) ActSince Metcash is operational under the Commonwealth, it has to abide by the Safe WorkAustralia which is a national policy for the implementation of and betterment of health7 and safety at work .1.3 PRIMARY COMPETITORSThe supermarkets and groceries industry is quite competitive in Australia. Some of themajor competitors of Metcash include:Figure 2: Main players in Australian supermarket and grocery industryWoolworths Limited 5Australian Consumer Law, Australian Competition & Consumer Commission6 Liquor Act 1992, The State of Queensland 1995–2016.7WHS (Workplace health and safety), Australian Government6 | P A G E Established in 1924, Woolworths is the market leader in Australia in terms of annualrevenue. Its most profitable segment is the retail of food and liquor established throughits retail stores by the names of Woolworths, Safeway and Thomas Dux.Wesfarmers Limited Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate including hardware business underthe brand name of Bunnings and a major player in the Supermarkets and Grocery Storesindustry since its acquisition of Coles Group in 2007. Most of its supermarkets comeunder the name of Coles except for a supermarket in QLD which goes by the name of Bi- Lo.7 | P A G E 2.Business Risk FactorsBusiness risk factors fall under three main categories as shown in figure 3 below:Financial Risk Operational Risk Compliance Risk •Going concern •Stockouts causing loss •Breach of listing rules,problems from poor of sales tax laws, standards performance •Physical disasters •Risk of being sued by•Overtrading from customer •Loss of key staff expanding too quickly •Credit from non- collection of debts •Risk of increasedinterest rates for loans •Unrecorded liabilitiesFigure 3: Business risk categoriesSeveral business/audit risk factors are faced by Metcash in their operations. Some majorones depicted from their financial reports include:1. Going ConcernHostile market situations such as increased competition from new and existingcompetitors, a decline in economic movement, thesustainability of the autonomous tradesystem, ongoing price reduction, and poor interest rate movements may slow down salesand Metcash’s bottom line.2. Breach of RegulationEven though Metcash’s internal processes are evaluated regularly, the fact that it isexperiencing some transformational programs such as its Working Smarter initiative may8 | P A G E "