a. Five different areas in Arlington Industries’ payroll processing system where the system controls are inadequate are
• The payroll processing system violates the principle of segregation of duties. The same individual verifies the time cards, inputs payroll information into the master file, prints the checks, machine-signs the checks, distributes the checks, and prepares the payroll journal entry, which may lead to corruption.
• There is no authorization of employees’ time cards by a supervisor or other objective party, such as a timekeeper.
• The payroll checks are not pre-numbered nor are they properly stored. As a result, there is no audit trail to verify check usage.
• There is no control over the machine-signing of checks—no control of the signature plate by a second party or use of a log to record activity.
• The data processing department appears to have full access to the payroll files and checks, which could lead to sensitive payroll information being leaked. b. Two different areas in Arlington Industries’ payroll processing system where the system controls are satisfactory are
• The personnel department determines the wage rate and initiates the setup of payroll records, which is a good example of segregation of duties.
• A backup of the master file is made after each weekly processing of the payroll.