Required (a) State whether you agree with the supervisor's assumption that an internal control system can guarantee the completeness, accuracy and validity of the records, supporting your answer by using examples from the payroll system.[15 marks] Introduction The American Institute of Public Accountants has defined internal control as the plan of organisation and all the co-ordinate methods, and measures adopted within a business to safeguards its assets, check the accuracy and the reliability of its accounting data, promote operational efficiency and encourage adherence to prescribed managerial policies. Naturally, the payment of salaries and wages is an integral part of any business and it is a cycle which results in an outflow of funds from the business. Thus it is extremely important that the accounting system and related control activities are sound so as to prevent misappropriation of funds( Hamel, Marx & Van Der Watt, 2004). Salaries are expressed as a fixed monthly amount whilst wages are calculated based on the hours worked by the employee. As such, the latter is required to "clock" in and out whilst the former is seldom expected to do the selfsame. Indeed, there are numerous variations in payroll systems but a growing trend today is the use of a 'cashless' payroll system whereby employees are being paid using electronic banking methods. The wage clerk prepares the payroll using accounting packages like Pastel and the pay details are remitted directly to the entity's bankers. Thereafter an employee's account is credited using the Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) System. The payroll cycle goes through phases namely data capturing (input), processing of transactions, maintenance of masterfiles and output. This study attempts to highlight how internal controls aid validity, completeness and accuracy of records in each consecutive stage of a computerised and or manual payroll system