The board of trustees of a local church is concerned about the internal accounting controls for the offering collections made at weekly services. The trustees ask you to serve on a three-person audit team with the internal auditor of a local college and a CPA who has just joined the church. At a meeting of the audit team and the board of trustees you learn the following. The church’s board of trustees has delegated responsibility for the financial management and audit of the financial records to the finance committee. This group prepares the annual budget and approves major disbursements. It is not involved in collections or recordkeeping. No audit has been made in recent years because the same trusted employee has kept church records and served as financial secretary for 15 years. The church does not carry any fidelity insurance. The collection at the weekly service is taken by a team of ushers who volunteer to serve one month. The ushers take the collection plates to a basement office at the rear of the church. They hand their plates to the head usher and return to the church service. After all plates have been turned in, the head usher counts the cash received. The head usher then places the cash in the church safe along with a notation of the amount counted. The head usher volunteers to serve for 3 months. The next morning the financial secretary opens the safe and recounts the collection. The secretary withholds $150–$200 in cash, depending on the cash expenditures expected for the week, and deposits the remainder of the collections in the bank. To facilitate the deposit, church members who contribute by check are asked to make their checks payable to “Cash.” Each month, the financial secretary reconciles the bank statement and submits a copy of the reconciliation to the board of trustees. The reconciliations have rarely contained any bank errors and have never shown any errors per books. Indicate the weaknesses in internal accounting control over the handling of collections. List the improvements in internal control procedures that you plan to make at the next meeting of the audit team for (1) the ushers, (2) the head usher, (3) the financial secretary, and (4) the finance committee. What church policies should be changed to improve internal control?
Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis
Cost Volume Profit (CVP) analysis is a cost accounting method that analyses the effect of fluctuating cost and volume on the operating profit. Also known as break-even analysis, CVP determines the break-even point for varying volumes of sales and cost structures. This information helps the managers make economic decisions on a short-term basis. CVP analysis is based on many assumptions. Sales price, variable costs, and fixed costs per unit are assumed to be constant. The analysis also assumes that all units produced are sold and costs get impacted due to changes in activities. All costs incurred by the company like administrative, manufacturing, and selling costs are identified as either fixed or variable.
Marginal Costing
Marginal cost is defined as the change in the total cost which takes place when one additional unit of a product is manufactured. The marginal cost is influenced only by the variations which generally occur in the variable costs because the fixed costs remain the same irrespective of the output produced. The concept of marginal cost is used for product pricing when the customers want the lowest possible price for a certain number of orders. There is no accounting entry for marginal cost and it is only used by the management for taking effective decisions.
The board of trustees of a local church is concerned about the internal accounting controls for the offering collections made at weekly services. The trustees ask you to serve on a three-person audit team with the internal auditor of a local college and a CPA who has just joined the church.
At a meeting of the audit team and the board of trustees you learn the following.
The church’s board of trustees has delegated responsibility for the
The collection at the weekly service is taken by a team of ushers who volunteer to serve one month. The ushers take the collection plates to a basement office at the rear of the church. They hand their plates to the head usher and return to the church service. After all plates have been turned in, the head usher counts the cash received. The head usher then places the cash in the church safe along with a notation of the amount counted. The head usher volunteers to serve for 3 months.
The next morning the financial secretary opens the safe and recounts the collection. The secretary withholds $150–$200 in cash, depending on the cash expenditures expected for the week, and deposits the remainder of the collections in the bank. To facilitate the deposit, church members who contribute by check are asked to make their checks payable to “Cash.”
Each month, the financial secretary reconciles the bank statement and submits a copy of the reconciliation to the board of trustees. The reconciliations have rarely contained any bank errors and have never shown any errors per books.
Indicate the weaknesses in internal accounting control over the handling of collections.
List the improvements in internal control procedures that you plan to make at the next meeting of the audit team for (1) the ushers, (2) the head usher, (3) the financial secretary, and (4) the finance committee.
What church policies should be changed to improve internal control?
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