Internal Control Systems
Rodneisha Clark
Liberty University
Internal Control Systems While examining both Accountant A and Accountant B opinions about the company’s internal control system, I would have to agree with Accountant B’s philosophy. She feels as though if there were effective system controls in place, there would not have been in discrepancies with the inventory numbers. Accountant A believes that CBU has a good system of internal controls, but if the company had not followed procedure correctly the inventory numbers would have shown to be incorrect after trying to process an adjusting entry. Accountant A’s perspective is coming from more of an auditor’s standpoint. Accountant A focuses on CBU following procedure and feels as though the company already has a good internal control system. Hebrews 13:17 (NIV) states “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.” If it had not been for the company having assurance and following procedure as told, the discrepancies found during the audit would not have been solved with just processing an adjusting entry. Accountant B is focused on the future of the company and the business process. Chang et al. (2014) states, “If firms lack the proper level and types of information security, they cannot ensure the effectiveness of their internal controls and the integrity of their financial data. Thus, identifying the necessary control-related considerations in an ERP system is an important initial task for management and auditors.” If a proper system were in place, Accountant B would not be as concerned because the information qualities, effectiveness, validity, completeness, and accuracy would exist within the system. CBU should concentrate on implementing an improved management process where the policies and procedures are planned and controlled throughout the organization (Gelinas Jr., Dull, & Wheeler, 2015). To avoid such problems in the future, CBU should adopt a proper ERP system and cycle counting method. When it comes to decision-making, management will have to decide whether to acquire modules provided by the ERP vendor or a third party. Being that the ERP vendor includes the SCM module (inventory and warehouse management), I would suggest that CBU adopts the ERP vendor. Block,