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Homework answers / question archive / Joan Whalen has recently been hired as the manager of Jittery Coffee Shop
Joan Whalen has recently been hired as the manager of Jittery Coffee Shop. Jittery Coffee Shop is a national chain of franchised coffee shops. During her first month as store manager, Joan encountered the following internal control situations.
a. Since only one employee uses the cash register, that employee is responsible for counting the cash at the end of the shift and verifying that the cash in the drawer matches the amount of cash sales recorded by the cash register. Joan expects each cashier to balance the drawer to the penny ever time-no exceptions.
b. Joan caught an employee putting a cash of 400 single-serving tea bags in her car. Not wanting to create a scene, Joan smiled and said, “I don’t think you’re putting those tea bags on the right shelf. Don’t they belong inside the coffee shop?” The employee returned the tea bags to the stockroom.
c. Jittery Coffee Shop has one cash register. Prior to Joan’s joining the coffee shop, each employee working on a shift would take a customer order, accept payment, and then prepare the order. Joan made one employee on each shift responsible for taking orders and accepting the customer’s payment. Other employees prepare the orders.
State whether you agree or disagree with Joan’s method of handling each situation and explain your answer.
A)Disagree. It is commendable that Joan has given the employee a specific responsibility and is holding that employee accountable for it. However, after the cashier has counted the cash, another employee (or perhaps Joan) should remove the cash register tape and compare the amount on the tape with the cash in the drawer. Also, Joan’s standard of no mistakes may encourage the cashiers to overcharge a few customers in order to cover any possible short-ages in the cash drawer.
B)Disagree. Stealing is a serious issue. An employee who can justify taking a box of tea bags can probably justify “borrowing” cash from the cash register.
C)Agree. Joan has made one employee responsible for the cash drawer in accordance with the internal control principle of assignment of responsibility. In addition, Joan has segregated the operations (preparing the orders) from the accounting (taking orders and payments).
