A good understanding of internal controls is essential to auditors. This helps them to understand the business and allows them to effectively plan and execute tests of controls together with an appropriate level of substantive procedures. A small manufacturing company, Westfield, pays its staff in cash and by bank transfer, and the payroll department consists of a payroll clerk who maintains its payroll on a standalone laptop computer. The payroll clerk is supervised by the chief accountant, who in turn reports to the managing director. You are Westfield's auditor. Required(a) For the payroll department at Westfield, describe eight internal control objectives that should be in place. (b) Describe the internal control environment and internal control activities that should be in place to achieve the internal control objectives in (a)

A good understanding of internal controls is essential to auditors. This helps them to understand the business and allows them to effectively plan and execute tests of controls together with an appropriate level of substantive procedures. A small manufacturing company, Westfield, pays its staff in cash and by bank transfer, and the payroll department consists of a payroll clerk who maintains its payroll on a standalone laptop computer. The payroll clerk is supervised by the chief accountant, who in turn reports to the managing director. You are Westfield's auditor. Required(a) For the payroll department at Westfield, describe eight internal control objectives that should be in place. (b) Describe the internal control environment and internal control activities that should be in place to achieve the internal control objectives in (a)

Principles of Accounting Volume 1

19th Edition

ISBN:9781947172685

Author:OpenStax

Publisher:OpenStax

Chapter8: Fraud, Internal Controls, And Cash

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 2MC: Internal control is said to be the backbone of all businesses. Which of the following is the best...

See similar textbooks

Similar questions

Internal control is said to be the backbone of all businesses. Which of the following is the best description of internal controls? A. Internal controls ensure that the financial statements published are correct. B. The only role of internal controls is to protect customer data. C. Internal controls and company policies are important to protect and safeguard assets and to protect all company data and are designed to protect the company from fraud. D. Internal controls are designed to keep employees from committing fraud against the company.
Segregation of Duties (SOD) is a basic building block of sustainable risk management and internal controls for a business. Which of the following statements is not a segregation of duties violation?A. The duties of Internal IT Developer of company is to write application programs and then perform required program maintenance when a problem occurs.B. The payroll administrator is distributing payroll checks to employees and recording cash receipts in the journal under supervision.C. The accounting clerk who recording cash receipts in the journal in the general ledger performs bank reconciliation to compare if there are any differences between cash transactions.D. The inventory warehouse clerk task is to maintain the inventory records with custody of physical assets inventory to manage asset identification, location and condition Explain why you choose your answer, and not the other (in max 200 words)
A company employs three accounts payable clerks and one treasurer. Their responsibilities are as follows: Employee Responsibility Clerk 1 Reviews vendor invoices for proper signature approval Clerk 2 Enters vendor invoices into the accounting system and verifies payment terms Clerk 3 Posts entered vendor invoices to the accounts payable ledger for payment and mails checks. Treasurer Reviews the vendor invoices and signs each check. Which of the following would indicate a weakness in the company’s internal control?a. Clerk 1 opens all of the incoming mail.b. Clerk 2 reconciles the accounts payable ledger with the general ledger monthly.c. Clerk 3 mails the checks and remittances after they have been signed.d. The treasurer uses a stamp for signing checks.
Lee Wong, CPA, is auditing the financial statements of the Alexandria Corporation, which has a batch-processing IT-based system for shipping and invoicing that it purchased from a software vendor. The following comments have been extracted from Wong’s notes on IT operations and the processing and control of shipping notices and customer invoices. Each type of computer run is assigned to a specific employee who is responsible for making program changes, running the program, and answering questions. This procedure has the advantage of eliminating the need for records of IT operations because each employee is responsible for his or her own computer runs. At least one IT department employee remains in the computer room during office hours, and only IT department employees have keys to the computer room. The corporation considered the desirability of program controls but decided to retain the manual controls in place prior to the conversion to the software vendor’s system. Company products…
You are a highly experienced CA financial accountant for a law firm, responsible for all aspects of the financial reporting, from preparing budget reports, reconciling accounts, through preparing annual financial reports. The CEO has suspected that the procurement manager is appropriating funds from the firm's bank accounts. He has asked you to assist him to reviewing the financial records for the firm and identify any fraudulent transactions. The procurement manager is a close friend of yours. What sort of forensic accounting service are you providing? Should you accept the engagement to assist the CEO? What sort of evidence would you collect and review? If required to prepare a report for court proceedings, do you think your evidence will be accepted? Why?
At Carlson Services, the cashier collects checks and cash from customers, and the junior accountant records the transactions in the journal. The controller approves the journal entries and bank reconciliations. The treasurer signs checks and approves contracts. Which internal control procedure is exemplified in the above situation? OA. separation of duties OB. assignment of responsibilities OC. documents OD. competent, reliable, and ethical personnel
One of your Firm’s Managers, Colin Cronen is responsible for the auditing the financial statements of the Roman Corporation, which has a batch-processing IT-based system for shipping and invoicing that it purchased from a software vendor. The following comments have been extracted from Cronen’s notes on IT operations and the processing and control of shipping notices and customer invoices. Each type of computer run is assigned to a specific employee who is responsible for making program changes, running the program, and answering questions. This procedure has the advantage of eliminating the need for records of IT operations because each employee is responsible for his or her own computer runs. At least one IT department employee remains in the computer room during office hours, and only IT department employees have keys to the computer room. The corporation considered the desirability of program controls but decided to retain the manual controls in place prior to the conversion to the…
Determine whether each procedure described below is an internal control strength or weakness; then identify the internal control violated or followed for each procedure. The company does not use electronic time clocks because it fears it will hurt employee morale. The same employee requests, records, and makes payment for purchases of inventory. Several salesclerks share the same cash drawer. Employees that handle easily transferable assets such as cash are bonded. The company devotes resources towards keeping accurate accounting records for machinery
Is it an entity inherent risk for the information below? A computer network and personal computers support Marco Inc's accounting and inventory management systems. Personal computers are located in the offices and warehouse and a central server handles all accounting and inventory files. Printers are located in areas where employees need printed documents and other records routinely. The computer is used to control and process most transactions, to print documents, prepare accounting records, and prepare periodic financial statements. Marco uses commercial software recommended by their auditor. To date, they have had only the usual startup problems. They have used it for two years and have upgraded it once. If it is an inherent risk, what is the feature of the firm that will possibly affect inherent risk and explain how and why; that is whether it increases or decreases inherent risk. Please address a specific risk to the accuracy of the financial statements with the "how" and whether…
Sharon, an audit manager assigned to the audit of Newsome Corporation is observing the client's revenue-receivables cycle. Sharon observes that the IT system responsible for processing and posting receivable transactions produces a daily exceptions report which is emailed to an accounts receivable clerk responsible for investigating the exceptions. Which of the following most accurately describes the type of control that is responsible for determining possible exceptions and forwarding them on to the accounts receivable clerk? • This type of control is typically referred to as a detective control. These types of controls usually assist the client in detecting items that need further investigation. These controls help to minimize misstatements in the financial statements. • This type of control is typically known as a manual IT control. This name is derived from the fact that although the control allows initial processing by the client's IT system, it is flagged for manual follow up. •…
Lamar LLC is in the process of updating its revenues and receivables systems with the implementation of new accounting software. James Loden, Inc. is an independent information technology consultant who is assisting Tamar with the project. James has developed the following checklist containing internal control points that the company should consider in this new implementation: Will customer orders be received via the Internet? Are all collections from customers received in the form of checks? Are product quantities monitored regularly?
Imagine that you have been hired to audit the sales and collections of a medium-to-large merchandising company. Suggest at least two ways that management could manipulate earnings and make specific recommendations for the internal control procedure to prevent or detect the transaction.