Donna Angelo is designing the audit program for cash for her client, Northerly Aspect Ltd (Northerly Aspect). Northerly Aspect is a property management services company. It deals with six major clients and several smaller clients, each with a number of properties for rent in the central business district of the city. Northerly Aspect finds tenants, conducts credit checks, negotiates tenancy agreements, and arranges cleaning and maintenance services for each property. Northerly Aspect has a staff of 15 and operates from an office in the city. Other than a small petty cash amount, no cash is kept on the premises because rents are directly deposited by the tenants to Northerly Aspect’s bank account. After the relevant fees are deducted, Northerly Aspect remits the rents monthly to the property owners. These transactions pass through a bank account kept solely for this purpose. In addition, Northerly Aspect maintains a trust account (for any client moneys held on trust) and a general operating account (for salaries and other expenses).

Required

(a) Advise Donna about the controls over cash that should be maintained by Northerly Aspect

(b) Assuming these controls are present and operating effectively, suggest the appropriate substantive procedures for Northerly Aspect’s cash balance