Question

Company B is a software company that employs many computer programmers. The company uses accounting software that was created by one of the employees. In order to be more flexible and share the workload, all of the programmers have access to the accounting software program in case changes are needed. 1. Based on the scenario, identify the weakness. 2. What could go wrong? 3. Provide a recommendation to address/remove the control weakness

Answer 1

1.

The control weakness that existed in the given case are as follows:

• all the programmers working in the company have access to the software program
• All of them have the authority to implement any changes.  

2.

There are multiple possible control issues associated with the case.

• One programmer may change the code without knowledge of the other
• There may be incompatibility among the changes made by different programmers because there is no overseeing mechanism
•   There is a risk of complete loss of the accounting data if one of the programmers made a mistake.

3.

Recommendations to address the control weakness:

• Access controls must be restricted to make changes.
• The changes made should be approved by the central authority before implementation
• There should be some central monitoring mechanism to monitor the changes