Week 8 Question

The following is the description of the payroll system of a manufacturing company:

Employees of the company use a time clock in an unsupervised area to record their time on the job. The site supervisor tries to monitor the recording process. However, due to other duties, the supervisor is often distracted. The site supervisor collects the time cards from employees every Friday. The supervisor then reviews and approves the time cards and send them to payroll clerk.

The payroll clerk uses a stand-alone workstation to record the employees’ earnings in the employee records and print two hard copies of payroll register. One copy of the payroll register is sent to the accounting department and the other copy is filed with the time cards in the payroll department.

The accounting clerk receives the payroll register, reviews it for accuracy, and use the department computer to record the transaction by posting to salary expenses, cash and various withholding accounts at general ledger and subsidiary ledgers. The clerks then prints the hard copy of pay cheques, which are written on the general cash account.

The accounting clerk signs the pay cheques and sends them to the site supervisor who distribute them to the employees. The clerk then files the payroll register in the accounting department.

Discuss the uncontrolled risks associated with the company’s payroll system.