Sean Patrick Walsh

I agree with your choice of which department would be more concerned, and your synopsis of why. Something I also thought about after I had already submitted my response to this question was balancing the General Ledger account. Finance would be responsible for balancing out the ledger and the balance sheet, and to do so correctly and on time for…[Read more]

Professor, I can certainly do my best.

4. You’ve now seen the entire Order to Cash (OTC) Process. If you were responsible for the controls of this process – what would keep you up at night (e.g. be your area of most concern)? Explain

After going through the OTC process, I would be concerned about the consumer record and the purchase order record. I think separating those two res…[Read more]

2. Who in an organization should care more about the collections process – Finance or Sales? Explain

Finance should care more about the collections process. The ability of a business to continue operations is its ability to generate revenue, but more importantly to generate profits and positive income out of that revenue. Finance should be t…[Read more]

I didn’t even consider that angle of collusion, so that’s a great observation. I’m sure a lot of people have seen somebody use company resources at work for personal matters, or even take company resources home rationalizing their minor cost to replace for the business. Thanks for bringing that aspect up.

In what sense Said? Hackers going after users of a VPN, or an actual criminal enterprise?

Ian,

I like that you brought up VPN’s are used for branch locations, partners, and distributors. Implementing a VPN allows a business to essentially widen its network beyond where it is physically located, and doing so securely too. A VPN also leverages the use of the internet already in place to widen the business’s network without having to…[Read more]

Brou,

Great points! As you said, as the data goes from each layer to the next information is either added to or stripped from the data depending upon whether the data is being sent or received. Many layers add or strip a “header” to the data as it passes through, and those headers tell the system various pieces of important information like…[Read more]

Abhay,

Routers operate primarily at the Network Layer like you suggested. At home though it can get a little trickier in a sense. Most home routers are multi-layer switches. For example, if you have a router from Comcast Xfinity, it operates as your router (Layer 3) and as a switch (Layer 2) as well. It also will more than likely have a…[Read more]

What are the advantages of VPN?

A VPN is a Virtual Private Network. A VPN allows users outside the physical network to access the network logically. This allows a business to efficiently extend the reach of the network and its resources. A VPN also allows a business to utilize the concept of “telecommuting” with employees. This can save costs…[Read more]

What is OSI model? What’s the main function of each OSI layer?

The OSI model is a benchmark standard created to get third party vendors to develop protocols that are matched to the seven “layers” of the model. The goal is to have many different equipment and software manufacturers develop and implement equipment that will interface with e…[Read more]

I believe a security check point in the context of the song would work. If you go back to the song, Mr. Cash talks about walking out with a bunch of gears in his lunch box. Now, I’m no vehicle expert, but there are only so many parts on a vehicle that have gears, and those gears are inside those parts which more than likely implies he was taking…[Read more]

There was a case before the Supreme Court of the United States recently about security checks employees had to go through at the end of work shifts at warehouses for Amazon. The workers, after clocking out, were forced to wait in long lines to go through security check points before exiting the warehouse. These check points were instituted to…[Read more]

The mobile home used for the bigger pieces part of the song stuck out to me too. It showed how collusion allowed the fraud to take place, at least parts of the fraud to “large” for one person to carry out themselves. That is many times an integral part of fraud, especially in environments where there are controls to try and prevent/detect fraud.…[Read more]

Thank you! Our QA/QC program in the Navy was run in that way. Any system that was covered under the QA program had to have specific parts supplied for repair and replacement. Those parts could only be stored in a specific location before issues, only issued to qualified personnel, and stored in specific “controlled material lockers” that were…[Read more]

No worries. Thank you for bringing that question up though so I had the opportunity to work on conveying an idea more clearly.

It would depend on the specific business more than likely. Business A may store every piece in the same building for instance while Business B stores parts in separate locations to streamline issuance (as in the pieces needed for specific assembly steps are stored closer to the locations where those steps are accomplished to cut down on lost…[Read more]

2. Assume the ‘One Piece at a Time’ video scenario could happen. If you are the operations manager responsible for the assembly line, what 1-2 key controls would you implement? Explain how the control addresses the risk.

First, if feasible, I would institute an access control policy and segregate portions of the assembly process and lin…[Read more]

1. Using the Fraud Triangle analyze the ‘One Piece at a Time’ video scenario and explain how the environment was favorable to Fraud.

Mr. Cash had the opportunity to commit the fraud because he worked on the assembly line and had access to all the parts that were used to create a Cadillac. He also worked there for 20+ years which gave him the…[Read more]

I think a mainframe computer would be easier to protect for several reasons. One, a mainframe computer is in a single location that is easier to restrict physical access to which helps prevent attacks from physical threat sources. Two, protecting a mainframe logically would be easier since there are less logical connections to the network as…[Read more]