Accountability Self Assessment

If you are like most business owners, your eye is on the bottom line, not on the accounting details. Take this self-assessment to gauge the accountability and transparency within your accounting department.

1. Does someone independent of the accounting functions receive and open mail, endorse checks, and create an audit trail of the funds received?



2. Is the person who processes accounts payable restricted from adding vendors and changing vendor information?



3. Does an owner receive a copy of the bank statement and review it for unusual activity, forged signatures on checks, and proper ACH transactions?



4. Is the person who processes payroll restricted from changing pay rates, and adding and deleting employees from the payroll system?



5. Are expense reports required to include: original receipts, business purpose, nature of expenditure, time period, place of expenditure, amount?



6. Are credit card statements regularly reviewed for personal and other inappropriate charges?