Question

Assume you are the internal controls expert for your company. Your boss has read about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme described in our textbook. Your boss is now worried that your own company, which invests a significant amount of retirement funds for its employees, could fall victim to a similar scheme. He has just sent you a memo asking: "Which specific internal controls should our company adopt to avoid falling for a scheme like this?" Respond with a memo to your boss detailing at least three internal controls that you would recommend implementing at your company, assuming none are in place right now, to minimize the risk of becoming the victim of an investment fraud. For each internal control you recommend provide: A detailed description of the policy or procedure to be implemented. An explanation of how specifically it would mitigate the risk of being defrauded. A description of any disadvantages the internal control may have. After submitting your own initial post, change hats! Now assume you are the boss; read your classmates recommendations and question/challenge them as an effective boss would.

Answer 1

Answer:

There are many measures a company can undertake to uplift the standards of internal controls, however few of those are enumerated as under -

1. Due Diligence - almost everyone would suggest it but the implementation differs from company to company. The term encompasses wide activities i.e. from improving quality of internal audit to upkeeping of financial records etc. Keeping a check on existing & old investment pattern would certainly help in analyzing the response of investments as per prevailing market condition. Disadvantages of the process include involvment of additional manpower and cost.

2. Choosing right Investment firms and/or Fund Manager - In the complex business market which prevails today, finding the right guy seems to be a difficult job. It is important that we carefully study not only the investment patterns and subsequent returns of the Investment firms / Fund Manager but also background, qualifications and previous legal records to arrive at suitable guy for suitable job. Sometimes we choose a skeptical but a honest guy, which may lead to sacrifice in short term gains but particulary in retirement funds with long term goals, security of funds assume priority.

3. Selecting the financial products - Today there are numerous financial products available in the market, many of them offer fancy returns but the goals of such financial products must be re-aligned to the goals of the company and its employees. For the company a decent return over long run with high degree of security is the objective when it comes to retirement funds. The financial product must have an appropriate mix of debt, equity and liquid funds and particularly the component of debt must increase with the age of an employee which will ensure security of funds by the time he attains superannuation. Disadvantage majorly includes loss of returns due to less investment in equity during the final stages of career.    

Explanation: