Purchases System Controls
• Segregation of inventory control from the warehouse. The primary assets at risk in the
expenditure cycle are inventory and cash. Warehouse clerks responsible for asset custody should not be given responsibility for maintaining inventory records. Other-wise, inventory could be removed from the warehouse and the accounting records adjusted to conceal the event.
• Segregation of the general ledger and accounts payable from cash disbursements. An
individual with the combined responsibilities of writing checks, posting to the cash account, and maintaining accounts payable could perpetrate fraud against the firm. An individual with such access could withdraw cash and then adjust the cash ac-count accordingly to hide the transaction. Also, he or she could establish fraudulent accounts payable (to an associate in a nonexistent vendor company) and then write checks to discharge the phony obligations. By segregating these functions, the orga-nization’s management can greatly reduce this exposure.
• Supervision of receiving department. Large quantities of valuable assets flow through
the receiving department on their way to the warehouse. Close supervision here re-duces the chances of two types of exposure: failure to properly inspect the assets and the theft of assets.
• Inspection of assets. When goods arrive from the supplier, receiving clerks must
inspect items for proper quantities and condition (damage, spoilage, and so on). For this reason, the receiving clerk receives a blind copy of the original purchase order from purchasing. A blind purchase order has all the relevant information about the goods being received except for the quantities and prices. To obtain the information on quantities, which is needed for the receiving report, the receiving personnel are forced to physically count and inspect the goods. If re-ceiving clerks were provided with quantity information through formal docu-mentation (i.e., the purchase order), they may be tempted to transfer this information to the receiving report without performing a physical count. In-specting and counting the items received protects the firm from incomplete or-ders and damaged goods. Supervision is critical at this point to ensure that the clerks properly carry out these important duties. Incoming goods are accompa-nied by a packing slip containing quantity information that could be used to circumvent the inspection process. A supervisor should take custody of the packing slip while receiving clerks count and inspect the goods.
• Theft of assets. Receiving departments are sometimes hectic and cluttered during
busy periods. In this environment, incoming inventories are exposed to theft until they are securely placed in the warehouse. Improper inspection procedures coupled with inadequate supervision can create a situation that is conducive to the theft of inventories in transit.
• Reconciliation of supporting documents. The accounts payable department plays a vi-
tal role in controlling the disbursement of cash to vendors. Copies of supporting documents flow into this department for review and comparison. Each document contains unique facts about the purchase transaction, which the accounts payable clerk needs to verify before the obligation is recognized.
• The purchase order, which shows that the purchasing agent ordered only the
needed inventories from a valid vendor.4