Question

Read the following case. Apply your knowledge of the five components of the 2013 COSO IC framework as well as risk, internal controls, and any other Chapter 6 [Parts 1 & 2] topics to speculate whether or not Ron has a chance of carrying out his idea successfully, without being caught, and explain in detail why or why not?

Ron Mitchell is currently working his first day as a ticket seller and cashier at the First Run Movie Theater. When a customer walks up to the ticket booth, Ron collects the required admission charge and issues the movie patron a ticket. To be admitted into the theater, the customer then presents his or her ticket to the theater manager, who is stationed at the entrance. The manager tears the ticket in half, keeping one half for himself and giving the other half to the customer.

While Ron was sitting in the ticket booth waiting for additional customers, he had a "brilliant" idea for stealing some of the cash from ticket sales. He reasoned that if he merely pocketed some of the cash collections from the sale of tickets, no one would ever know. Because approximately 300 customers attend each performance, Ron believed that it would be difficult for the theater manager to keep a running count of the actual customers entering the theater. To further support his reasoning, Ron noticed that the manager often has lengthy conversations with patrons at the door, and appears to make no attempt to count the actual number of people going into the movie house.

Answer 1

I think Ron will not be able to steal for a long time without being caught for the following reasons:

1. The manager or any internal audit team will most definitely reconcile the half tickets with the cash in the cash box. The cash and the tickets will certainly not match and hence Ron will be made accountable for the same. The manager will most certainly follow an audit trail. It will become evident that once tickets are issued the next check is only with the manager. If the manager has not had the tickets, then only Ron must be in possession of them.

2. Also, the tickets are printed which means that there is an electronic record of the tickets that are issued and hence the revenue will not match with the cash in hand.

3. Another way that the fraud will be ultimately detected is that if the movie is performing exceptionally well and the theatre still records less revenues, this will raise suspicion. When investigated, this act of Ron will be caught.

4. The trend and ratio analysis of the financial statements can also reveal insights when an external audit is done. If the revenue has dropped significantly compared to previous year or the tickets inventory does not match with the cost of tickets sold, the fraud will most likely be discovered.