ACC 562 wk 6 dis

You have been assigned to analyze the accounting information for a Fortune 500 corporation. From the e-Activity, evaluate which tools you would use to analyze its business processes, indicating your rationale.
The State Farm Insurance Company operates using a mutual company conducting business throughout the US and Canada. The company business lines include property, casualty, and life insurance companies. Since State Farm is a mutual company, it is collectively owned by State Farm policyholders, and not by shareholders. An analysis of State Farm’s business process can prove to be advantageous to the company’s bottom line. A business process analysis can help State Farm improve how it conducts its day-to-day functions and activities in order to reduce overall costs, provide more efficient use of resources, and better satisfy customers.
I would conduct interviews to analyze State Farm’s business processes. Interviews would determine whether or not each department involved in the accounting process understands the process thoroughly. I would also construct data flow diagrams of the customer service policies as it relates to money transactions. It is important to analyze the data flow from the beginning to the end to determine whether or not a new accounting business process needs to be created. Flowcharts are another good tool that would help analyze the company’s business process. Flowcharts would be useful because it describes aspects of the business in an easy to understand manner. I would also analyze its software, information infrastructure, internal controls and security measures when reviewing its business process. These other components will help determine whether or not adequate and useful information exist in the overall flow of data.

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References: Romney, M., & Steinbart, P. (2012). Accounting information systems. (12th ed., p. 143). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. OR Read the David Miller case from Chapter 5. After reading the case, describe a reason why someone who has been entrusted with the firm’s assets would commit a fraudulent act against the company. Based upon your understanding of the case and your professional and personal experience, recommend a series of actions that should have been taken in order to prevent this. There really should be no reason a person should steal from the company that one works for, but to say a reason, it would be like it was stated in the case, an illness and greed. He obviously graduated as he stole, starting with only $200 and ending with over millions of dollars. There were red flags everywhere, starting with the $200 he stole in the first place. Even though it was only $200 he should have been taken to small claims court and a blemish would have been on his record so that others would have known what he did and it might not have gone further. When Wheeling Bronze did not notify the authorities, this was a big mistake, $30,000 is a lot of money and when his parents mortgaged their home, he should have had some remorse about that fact and woke up. Most employers now a days would not have just let this go with repayment due to the fact that it is happening more often. The fact that he was living beyond his means should have said something to his wife, she should have questioned where all the extra money was coming from, albeit some wives are not privy to what a husband makes, it would make sense that she would have known that something was up, unless she knew and turned a blind eye to it because she was enjoying the lavish lifestyle. Now that the damage has been done by Mr. Miller after his last episode, the blame game begins. Review all of the parties who contributed to his ability to commit these acts, recommend who should be held liable, and suggest the punishment for the liable party / parties. The parties that are liable for this heinous act would be his former employers, his wife, his parents, but most of all, David. David should be held liable for his actions, and the courts should be notified of his previous activities. Granted the time could be an issue as the statute of limitations could have expired in most of the cases, but by limiting his access to financial documents that enable him to embezzle would be the best likely scenario. The actual punishment for his actions though might be for him to do community service (since jail time might not be an option after the statute of limitations has expired), the community service could be done at places like the soup kitchens or at a prison or juvenile detention. Something to make the man think about his actions. Marshal B. Romney, P. J. (2012). Accounting Information Systems. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions.