The following description is excerpted from Coupon Accounting Abuse, Management Accounting, January 1993, p. 47.

It's November 15, and Gary, brand manager for a major consumer products firm, is contemplating his yearend bonus. It is becoming increasingly obvious that unless he takes action, he will not achieve his brand profitability target for the year. Gary's eyes fall to the expense estimate for the new coupon drop slated for later in the month. His hand trembles slightly as he erases the 4 percent anticipated redemption rate on his estimate sheet and replaces the figure with 2 percent. Gary knows from experience that 2 percent is an unrealistically low figure, but he also knows that neither the firm's independent nor internal auditors will seriously challenge the estimate. This way, Gary's product profitability report will reflect the increased revenue associated with the coupon drop this year, but the entire redemption cost will not be expressed until next year.

That should put me over, he muses. A wry smile crosses his face. If the auditors question the rate, I'll give them a story about seasonality and shifting consumer patterns. They won't know enough about marketing to question my story. Eventually, of course, the real cost of the coupon drop will have to be expensed, and that will hurt next year's profit figure. But, that's next year, Gary reasons, and I can always figure out a way to make it up. Besides, by the end of next quarter, I'll be handling a bigger brandif I can show a good profit this year.

A brief description of coupons and proper accounting for coupons might help us to interpret the situation just presented. Coupons are centsoff privileges, such as $0.50 off when you buy a certain brand of yogurt. When a company offers coupons to consumers, it must estimate the redemption rate and record an expense and the corresponding liability. This is similar in concept to warranty expenses.

Required:

Discuss whether the situation described can happen to a company with a good control environment.

Describe any steps a company could take to prevent such abuse.