In: Accounting
Using the Computer to Discover
Intentional Financial Misstatements in Transactions and Account
Balances. AMI International is...
Using the Computer to Discover
Intentional Financial Misstatements in Transactions and Account
Balances. AMI International is a large office products company.
Headquarters management imposed pressure on operating division
managers to meet profit forecasts. The division managers met these
profit goals using several accounting manipulations involving the
record-keeping system that maintained all transactions and account
balances on computer files. Employees who operated the computer
accounting system were aware of the modifications of policy the
managers ordered to accomplish the financial statement
manipulations. The management and employees carried out these
activities:
1.Deferred inventory write-downs
for obsolete and damaged goods.
2.Kept open the sales entry
system after the quarterly and annual cutoff dates, recording sales
of goods shipped after the cutoff dates.
3.Recorded as sales transactions
that had been coded as leases of office equipment.
4.Recorded shipments to branch
offices as sales.
5.Postponed recording vendors’
invoices for parts and services until later, but the actual invoice
date was faithfully entered according to accounting policy.
Required:
Describe one or more procedures
that could be performed with CAATs to detect signs of each of these
transaction manipulations. Limit your answer to the actual work
accomplished by the computer software