Micro Plastics Company MPC has approximately 150 different customers in the plastics manufacturing industry, with accounts receivable balances ranging from $1,500 to $40,000 per customer. MPC uses about 20 different suppliers for all raw materials. There is one accountant working full time for the company. A CPA comes in once a week for four hours to review the work of the accounting employee and prepare journal entries. Bad debts are rare, as the owner is actively involved in accounts receivable collection and MPC stops shipping orders to customers whose account are more than 90 days outstanding. MPC has an integrated suite of accounting software (a type of software that combines major financial accounting functions into one application) in a four-station local area network that is used by accounting staff, the owner, and the production staff. There is an automated time-keeping system that includes job costing. King Finance Co. (KFC) KFC has 40 staff in their accounting department, utilizing a sophisticated custom-developed software, and about $600 million in accounts receivable. KFC has embraced the work from home concept and approximately half of the staff work from homes in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. The corporation manages various department store credit cards for several chains that are owned by associated companies as well as University student loans for creditors. About 365,000 credit card customers have balances less than $6,000 on their accounts, while the balances for the student loans range up to a maximum of $55,000. Statements are processed daily for groups of customers, so that all customer statements are prepared and mailed over a period of four weeks each month. KFC is organized into several functional areas that include accounts receivable and collections, general accounting, H/R, marketing, and information systems. There are 12 people in the information systems department, which is responsible for software development and maintenance, as well as for information systems security and technical support to the organization's 120-station network. The information systems department is also responsible for the software used by the point of sale systems at the department store chains. The corporation relies heavily on outsourcing organizations to provide programming support, mainframe hardware and software support, and training assistance during peak times of the year. Required Identify the commonalties for these 2 companies as well as the contrast in their respective AIS settings. Include in your analysis, their control environment and provide any advice or suggestions for them in the areas of risk for errors and fraud given their operations as it relates to their AIS. Micro Plastics Company MPC has approximately 150 different customers in the plastics manufacturing industry, with accounts receivable balances ranging from $1,500 to $40,000 per customer. MPC uses about 20 different suppliers for all raw materials. There is one accountant working full time for the company. A CPA comes in once a week for four hours to review the work of the accounting employee and prepare journal entries. Bad debts are rare, as the owner is actively involved in accounts receivable collection and MPC stops shipping orders to customers whose account are more than 90 days outstanding. MPC has an integrated suite of accounting software (a type of software that combines major financial accounting functions into one application) in a four-station local area network that is used by accounting staff, the owner, and the production staff. There is an automated time-keeping system that includes job costing. King Finance Co. (KFC) KFC has 40 staff in their accounting department, utilizing a sophisticated custom-developed software, and about $600 million in accounts receivable. KFC has embraced the work from home concept and approximately half of the staff work from homes in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. The corporation manages various department store credit cards for several chains that are owned by associated companies as well as University student loans for creditors. About 365,000 credit card customers have balances less than $6,000 on their accounts, while the balances for the student loans range up to a maximum of $55,000. Statements are processed daily for groups of customers, so that all customer statements are prepared and mailed over a period of four weeks each month. KFC is organized into several functional areas that include accounts receivable and collections, general accounting, H/R, marketing, and information systems. There are 12 people in the information systems department, which is responsible for software development and maintenance, as well as for information systems security and technical support to the organization's 120-station network. The information systems department is also responsible for the software used by the point of sale systems at the department store chains. The corporation relies heavily on outsourcing organizations to provide programming support, mainframe hardware and software support, and training assistance during peak times of the year. Required Identify the commonalties for these 2 companies as well as the contrast in their respective AIS settings. Include in your analysis, their control environment and provide any advice or suggestions for them in the areas of risk for errors and fraud given their operations as it relates to their AIS