The Gardner Company, a client of your firm, has come to you with the following problem.It has three clerical employees who must perform the following functions:

a.Maintain the general ledger (G/L) master file

b.Maintain the accounts payable ledger (A/P) master file

c.Maintain the accounts receivable ledger (A/R) master file

d.Handle and send disbursements (vendor payments)

e.Issue credits on returns and allowances

f.Reconcile the bank account

g.Handle and deposit receipts (customer payments)

Assuming equal abilities among the three employees, the company asks you to assign the seven functions to them to maximize internal control and minimize the possibility of fraud. Assume that these employees will perform no accounting functions other than the ones listed.

a.What is the key to preventing fraud when assigning duties to employees?

b.Decide whether each of the above 7 jobs is a custody, recording or authorization function.

c.List unsatisfactory pairings of the seven functions listed(Hint: There are 8 unsatisfactory pairings.)

d.Explain how you would distribute the seven functions among the three employees.Assume that except for the nominal jobs of the bank reconciliation and the issuance of credits on returns and allowances, all functions require an equal amount of time.

e.Thinking beyond this problem, why should the IT staff not have custody of physical assets?What IT functions need to be segregated?