Accounting Information Systems 7th Edition by Cynthia Heagy,Constance Lehmann

Exercise 14

A small business uses an accounting package that operates on a local area network with four workstations. The master file maintenance program displays the contents of a record so that any desired changes can be made directly to the record. Both character and numeric fields in the masterfile records can be changed in this manner, and the documentation supplied with the software suggests that errors in account balances can conveniently be corrected by means of the file maintenance program. No listing or other hard copy log is provided of file maintenance activity. The file maintenance program can be accessed from any of the four workstations, hut normally only the supervisor makes changes in the master files. The other employees say that the are "seared to touch" these files.
Required:
Discuss the control implications of file master file maintenance procedure just described and suggest ways of reducing the risks involved.