Reference no: EM1350741

Would like some assistance writing an essay on internal control procedures.

Internal Control Procedures - Accounting

Assignment: Read the following case and explain one internal control procedure that would be helpful in this scenario.

Alison Marsh was a trusted employee of Small City State Bank. She was involved in everything. She worked as a teller, she accounted for the cash at the other teller windows, and she recorded many of the transactions in the accounting records. She was so loyal that she never would take a day off, even when she was really too sick to work. She routinely worked late to see that all the day's work was posted into the accounting records. She would never take even a day's vacation because they might need her at the bank. Tick and Tack, CPAs, were hired to perform an audit, the first complete audit that had been done in several years. Marsh seemed somewhat upset by the upcoming audit. She said that everything had been properly accounted for and that the audit was a needless expense. When Tick and Tack examined some of the bank's internal control procedures, it discovered problems. In fact, as the audit progressed, it became apparent that a large amount of cash was missing. Numerous adjustments had been made to customer accounts with credit memorandums, and many of the transactions had been posted several days late. In addition, it was determined that more than $200,000 of funds was missing or improperly accounted for. All fingers pointed to Marsh. The bank's president, who was a close friend of Marsh, was bewildered.

The nine features of an internal control system include (pick one that is relevant in this story and discuss in detail how it would have improved the scenario).

1. Separating duties so that fraud or theft requires collusion

2. Hiring and training competent employees

3. Bonding employees to recover losses through insurance

4. Requiring employees to be absent from their jobs so that their replacements can discover errors or fraudulent activity that might have occurred

5. Establishing proper procedures for processing transactions

6. Establishing clear lines of authority and responsibility

7. Using pre-numbered documents

8. Implementing physical controls such as locking cash in a safe

9. Conducting performance evaluations through independent internal and external audits