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Questions on charities or not for profit organisations have one common
factor. In most of them, the key issue will be a lack of segregation of duties,
which has impacts on all the systems in the charity. This is the case here.
System weaknesses
This charity has typical weaknesses that are a result of inadequate
segregation of duties. Such organisations often rely on a small number of
dedicated staff who perform all of the accounting functions. Mrs Wimble deals
with all aspects of cash received and also prepares the accounting records
providing ample opportunity for fraud. Supervision by the director may help
to alleviate these weaknesses but additional staff are often beyond the
resources of charities such as DonkeyAid.
If budgets are prepared these should be compared with actual results by the
management committee.
The recommendations made below are often lacking in such organisations.
(a) Gift Aid Declarations [GADs]