West Manufacturing’s computer division is quite large, consisting of over 200 employees. Relations among the employees within the company are quite good. Although the accounting department is a separate group, the accountants and computer people eat lunch together and socialize regularly. This has led to some problems. Recently, two accountants, a systems programmer, systems analyst, and computer operator worked together to divert the deposit of funds from the company’s bank account to their individual personal accounts. The defalcation involved the forging of source documents by the accountants and cover- up by the systems programmers and operators. The systems analyst designed the entire scheme. The whole thing was discovered by accident when the accountant was forced to take time off from work for a surgical operation. The replacement accountant suspected that something was wrong when she noticed that a number of deposit slips were missing. As it turns out, the total loss to the company was only a couple of thousand dollars. However, if it had not been for the accidental discovery by the temporary accountant, the fraud could have grown to the extent that it could have bankrupted the company.

Required
What could have been done to prevent the problem that occurred?