Accounting Control Best Practices / Edition 2

by Steven M. Bragg

Overview

Accounting Control Best Practices,
Second Edition

Control systems are needed to ensure that a company's assets are used in the most productive manner and that they are not lost through fraudulent activities. However, an excessive use of controls can interfere with the efficient completion of activities within a company. Whether your company is in start-up mode, installing new systems, or simply dissatisfied with existing controls due to fraudulent losses, Accounting Control Best Practices, Second Edition is the reference handbook every accountant and systems analyst can use to ensure that their company has constructed a durable and efficient set of controls.

This easy-to-use handbook clearly explains how to develop an effective system of accounting and operational controls and offers the best practices with pragmatic insights and proactive strategies to protect organizations from suffering further substantial losses of assets and reputation that occur from financial dishonesty within an organization.

Author and renowned accounting expert Steven Bragg provides control flowcharts in every chapter for all major processes as well as a thorough set of corporate policies designed to support the system of controls. Now containing chapters on budgeting, collections, and acquisition integration, this valuable reference handbook offers essential information on control best practices for:

• Order entry, credit, and shipment
• Inventory management
• Billing
• Cash-handling
• Payroll
• Fixed assets
• Budgeting
• Financial reporting
• Just-in-time manufacturing
• Petty cash
• And many more

Encompassing all of the major accounting and operational processes with nearly 500 controls presented in basic, intermediate, and advanced layers, from those needed for a very basic paper-based system, to computerized systems, to the use of advanced best practice enhancements in computerized systems, Accounting Control Best Practices, Second Edition is the only guidebook needed to devise a set of controls precisely tailored to every company's system.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470405420
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	03/31/2009
Series:	Wiley Best Practices
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

STEVEN M. BRAGG, CPA, has been the chief financial officer or controller of four companies, as well as a consulting manager at Ernst & Young and auditor at Deloitte & Touche. He received a master's degree in finance from Bentley College, an MBA from Babson College, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Maine. He has been the two-time president of the Colorado Mountain Club, is an avid alpine skier and mountain biker, and is a certified master diver. Mr. Bragg resides in Centennial, Colorado. He is also the author of Accounting Best Practices and Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual (both published by Wiley).

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Table of Contents

Preface v

About the Author vii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 Controls for Accounts Payable Best Practices 9

Chapter 3 Controls for Order Entry, Credit, and Shipment Best Practices 59

Chapter 4 Controls for Inventory Management Best Practices 91

Chapter 5 Controls for Billing Best Practices 143

Chapter 6 Controls for Collections 161

Chapter 7 Controls for Cash-Handling Best Practices 169

Chapter 8 Controls for Payroll Best Practices 209

Chapter 9 Controls for Fixed Assets Best Practices 245

Chapter 10 Controls for Budgeting 265

Chapter 11 Controls for Financial Reporting 275

Index 289