An auditor notes year$-$to$-$year increases of over $$200,000$ for small tool expense at a manufacturing facility that has produced the same amount of identical product for the last $3$ years. Production inventory is kept in a controlled staging area adjacent to the receiving dock, but the supply of small tools is kept in an unsupervised area near the exit to the plant employees$$ parking lot. After determining that all of the following alternatives are equal in cost and are also feasible for local management, the auditor can best address the security issue by recommending that plant management

Place supply of small tools in a secured area, install a key$-$access card system for all employees, and record each key$-$access transaction on a report for the production superintendent.

Close the exit to the employee parking lot and require all plant employees to use a doorway by the receiving dock that also provides access to the plant employees$$ parking area.

Initiate a full physical inventory of small tools on a monthly basis.

Move the small tools inventory to the custody of the production inventory staging superintendent and implement the use of a special requisition to issue small tools.