Chapter 7: Q5RQ (page 411)
What is separation of duties?
To divide duties according to the activities.
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Understanding internal control, components, procedures, and laws
Match the following terms with their definitions.
1. Internal control
2. Control procedures
3. Firewalls
4. Encryption
5. Environment
6. Information system
7. Separation of duties
8. Collusion
9. Documents
10. Audits
11. Operational efficiency
12. Risk assessment
13. Sarbanes-Oxley Act
a. Two or more people working together to overcome internal controls.
b. Part of internal control that ensures resources are not wasted.
c. Requires companies to review internal control and take responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of their financial reports.
d. Should be prenumbered to prevent theft and inefficiency.
e. Limits access to a local network.
f. Example: The person who opens the bank statement should not also be the person who is reconciling cash.
g. Identification of uncertainties that may arise due to a company’s products, services, or operations.
h. Examination of a company’s financial statements and accounting system by a trained accounting professional.
i. Without a sufficient one of these, information cannot properly be gathered and summarized.
j. The organizational plan and all the related measures that safeguard assets, encourage employees to follow company policies, promote operational efficiency, and ensure accurate and reliable accounting data.
k. Component of internal control that helps ensure business goals are achieved.
l. Rearranges data by a mathematical process.
m. To establish an effective one, a company’s CEO and top managers must behave honorably to set a good example for employees.
What are the five components of internal control? Briefly explain each component.
Levon Helm was a kind of one-person mortgage broker. He would drive around Tennessee looking for homes that had second mortgages, and if the criteria were favorable, he would offer to buy the second mortgage for “cash on the barrelhead.” Helm bought low and sold high, making sizable profits. Being a small operation, he employed one person, Cindy Patterson, who did all his bookkeeping. Patterson was an old family friend, and he trusted her so implicitly that he never checked up on the ledgers or the bank reconciliations. At some point, Patterson started “borrowing” from the business and concealing her transactions by booking phony expenses. She intended to pay it back someday, but she got used to the extra cash and couldn’t stop. By the time the scam was discovered, she had drained the company of funds that it owed to many of its creditors. The company went bankrupt, Patterson did some jail time, and Helm lost everything
Requirements
Correcting internal control weaknesses
Each of the following situations has an internal control weakness.
a. Upside-Down Applications develops custom programs to customers’ specifications.
Recently, development of a new program stopped while the programmers
redesigned Upside-Down’s accounting system. Upside-Down’s accountants could
have performed this task.
b. Norma Rottler has been your trusted employee for 24 years. She performs all cashhandling
and accounting duties. Norma just purchased a new luxury car and a new
home in an expensive suburb. As owner of the company, you wonder how she
can afford these luxuries because you pay her only $30,000 a year and she has no
source of outside income.
c. Izzie Hardwoods, a private company, falsified sales and inventory figures in order
to get an important loan. The loan went through, but Izzie later went bankrupt and
could not repay the bank.
d. The office supply company where Pet Grooming Goods purchases sales receipts
recently notified Pet Grooming Goods that its documents were not prenumbered.
Howard Mustro, the owner, replied that he never uses receipt numbers.
e. Discount stores such as Cusco make most of their sales in cash, with the remainder
in credit card sales. To reduce expenses, one store manager ceases purchasing
fidelity bonds on the cashiers.
f. Cornelius’s Corndogs keeps all cash receipts in an empty box for a week because
the owner likes to go to the bank on Tuesdays when Joann is working.
Requirements
1. Identify the missing internal control characteristics in each situation.
2. Identify the possible problem caused by each control weakness.
3. Propose a solution to each internal control problem.
What are some common controls used with a bank account?
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