Carolyn owns a small business, Snappy Frames, that sells picture frames. Carolyn says, “I let most of my employees be the CEO of their responsibilities. Trust is the key to my success!” Once customers place their order online and the products are shipped, customers will send their payment in the mail or by electronic fund transfer. Quinn, accounts receivable clerk, posts the journal entries to record the customer payments (Dr. Cash Cr. Accounts Receivable). Quinn files the payments received in the mail in the office and deposits them on a monthly basis. As Quinn helped to set up the bank account years ago, she is responsible for making deposits and withdrawals. Every month, Quinn prepares a bank reconciliation and keeps them on file. When accounts receivable are overdue by greater than 90 days, Quinn cleans up the books by writing off the accounts receivable. Carolyn recently decided to follow up on some of the greater than 90-day accounts. Oddly enough, four of the customers she called with accounts receivable accounts greater than 90 days insisted that they had paid their account in full.
1. Identify four control weaknesses. For each, explain the implication of the weakness and make a recommendation of a control that would prevent or detect error or fraud.
2. Describe what fraud may have occurred in the above situation.