Risk of Material Misstatement for Cash
The inherent risk for cash is the susceptibility of cash account to misstatement. Likewise, the inherent risk for cash will directly impact the risk of material misstatement for cash.
The following are the primary inherent risks of cash that could occur:
Cash could be manipulated and stolen by management and employees. The fraud related to cash is usually due to three factors including incentive, opportunity, and rationalization, which is also referred to as the triangle of fraud.
Cash is susceptible to error due to high transactions and volume as either incomes or expenses tend to be related to cash.
Not all cash transactions are recorded due to error or fraud (e.g. error such as bank reconciliation items or fraud such as cash received from customers was stolen by employees)
Money laundering due to the cash can be easily transferred from one location to another
The inherent risk for cash is usually assessed as high for the following reasons:
Reasons why cash is inherently risky
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High Volume of Activity
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Usually, cash has a high volume of activities during the period comparing to other accounts. This is due to either incomes or expenses are likely to involve in cash in the business transactions. Hence, the high volume of transactions tends to make cash more susceptible to error compared to other accounts in financial statements.
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Ease of Transferability
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The process of cash transfer, either between company branches or countries, is much easier compared to other assets such as property or machinery. This could lead to fraud or illegal activity such as money laundering if no proper controls are in place.
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