21. Which of the following policies is most likely to result in an environment conducive to the occurrence of fraud?
A. Budget preparation input by the employees who are responsible for meeting the budget.
B. Unreasonable sales and production goals.
C. The division's hiring process frequently results in the rejection of adequately trained applicants.
D. The application of some accounting controls on a sample basis.
Answer (B) is correct.
REQUIRED: The policy most likely to result in an environment conducive to the occurrence of fraud.
DISCUSSION: Unrealistically high sales or production quotas can be an incentive to falsify the records or otherwise take inappropriate action to improve performance measures so that the quotas appear to have been met.
Answer (A) is incorrect. Participatory budgeting can reduce resistance to budgets and reduce the likelihood of inappropriate means being taken to meet the budget.
Answer (C) is incorrect. Hiring policies should be based on factors other than adequate training, such as the applicants' personal integrity. Furthermore, hiring of all adequately trained applicants is unlikely to be necessary.
Answer (D) is incorrect. Under the reasonable assurance concept, the cost of controls should not exceed their benefits. The cost of applying controls to all relevant transactions rather than a sample may be greater than the resultant savings.