The greatest threat in regards of dollars lost is embezzlement. The following risks were identified during the assessment. There is a lack of checks and balances in regards to accounting. One employee can create and authorize purchase orders and paychecks. Due to the antiquated computer systems there is no option to require a manager to sign off on any transaction. This creates a huge burden of integrity on those with access to this system. Also when salesmen receive payment from customers in cash the only form of tracking this transaction is a paper receipt book.
Data loss is also a great threat. Data loss is the loss of data (files) from the central database system. The reason for this threat is the lack of proper backup equipment and procedures. All users are responsible for their own backups. This causes an enormous loss of data if the database crashed because of the lack and timeliness of backups.
User errors are a huge threat because of the frequency. The assessment showed this threat to be the highest in reoccurrence, happening 150% of the time. This means every day on average an employee inputs the wrong information one and half times. This is due to the lack of training each employee receives before starting and during work. An average employee has five days of training.
Recommendations
To solve the problem of embezzlement new software for accounting and purchase orders should be purchased. It should include the function to create user login that require a username and password, the password should be 8 - 12 characters in length and include at least two numbers/uppercase letters/lowercase letters/special characters. The software must also have the ...