Lecimore Company has a centralized purchasing department that is managed by Joan Jones. Jones has established policies and procedures to guide the clerical staff and purchasing agents in the day-to-day operation of the department. She is satisfied that these policies and procedures are in conformity with company objectives and believes there are no major problems in the regular operations of the purchasing department.

Lecimore's internal audit department was assigned to perform an operational audit of the purchasing function. Their first task was to review the specific policies and procedures established by Jones. The policies and procedures are as follows:

• All significant purchases are made on a competitive bid basis. The probability of timely delivery, reliability of vendor, and so forth, are taken into consideration on a subjective basis.

• Detailed specifications of the minimum acceptable quality for all goods purchased are provided to vendors.

• Vendors' adherence to the quality specifications is the responsibility of the materials manager of the inventory control department and not the purchasing department. The materials manager inspects the goods as they arrive to be sure that the quality meets the minimum standards and then sees that the goods are transferred from the receiving dock to the storeroom.

• All purchase requests are prepared by the materials manager based on the production schedule for a 4-month period.

The internal audit staff then observed the operations of the purchasing function and gathered the following findings:

• One vendor provides 90% of a critical raw material. This vendor has a good delivery record and is reliable. Furthermore, this vendor has been the low bidder over the past few years.

• As production plans change, rush and expedite orders are made by production directly to the purchasing department. Materials ordered for cancelled production runs are stored for future use. The costs of these special requests are borne by the purchasing department. Jones considers the additional costs associated with these special requests as "costs of being a good member of the corporate team."

• Materials to accomplish engineering changes are ordered by the purchasing department as soon as the changes are made by the engineering department. Jones is proud of the quick response by the purchasing staff to product changes. Materials on hand are not reviewed before any orders are placed.

• Partial shipments and advance shipments (that is, those received before the requested date of delivery) are accepted by the materials manager, who notifies the purchasing department of the receipt. The purchasing department is responsible for follow-up on partial shipments. No action is taken to discourage advance shipments.

Required

Based on the purchasing department's policies and procedures and the findings of Lecimore's internal audit staff,

a. Identify deficiencies and/or inefficiencies in Lecimore Company's purchasing function.

b. Make recommendations for those deficiencies/inefficiencies that you identify.* Use the following format in preparing your response:

Deficiencies/Inefficiencies                             Recommendations

 1.                                                                                          1.