Explain how the principle of separation of duties is violated in each of the following situations. Also, suggest one or more procedures to reduce the risk and exposure highlighted in each example. 1. A payroll clerk recorded a 40-hour workweek for an employee who had quit the previous week. He then prepared a paycheck for this employee, forged her signature, and cashed the check. PROBLEM: Segregation of duties is violated here because the payroll clerk had the ability to record time worked and to prepare the payroll check (custody). This allowed the payroll clerk to both commit and conceal the fraud. The payroll clerk ignored the authorization process or had the authority to authorize the payment. SOLUTION: These three functions should be segregated. One person should authorize payments, another should record the payments, a third should prepare the check, and a fourth should sign it. 2. An employee of the finishing department walked off with several parts from the storeroom and recorded the items in the inventory ledger as having been issued to the assembly department. PROBLEM: SOLUTION: 3. A cashier cashed a check from a customer in payment of an account receivable, pocketed the cash, and concealed the theft by properly posting the receipt to the customers account in the accounts receivable ledger. PROBLEM: SOLUTION: 4. Several customers returned clothing purchases. Instead of putting the clothes into a return bin to be put back on the rack, a clerk put the clothing in a separate bin under some cleaning rags. After her shift, she transferred the clothes to a gym bag and took them home. PROBLEM: SOLUTION: 5. A cashier created false purchase return vouchers to hide his theft of several thousand dollars from his cash register. PROBLEM: SOLUTION: 6. A purchasing agent received a 10% kickback of the invoice amount for all purchases made from a specific vendor. PROBLEM: SOLUTION: