Question: Wild Ride opened its door three years ago, and Christine is one of its employees. Because the company is still young, management wants to keep costs low. Therefore, the company has not hired additional employees and, consequentially, there has been no segregation of duties. Christine is the only person who does everything dealing with accounting, including accounts receivable and payable. There are other employees who work in the company: Tommy (Receptionist/Secretary); Andy (Salesperson); and Janet (Advertising/Promotions).

A member of management has become a bit uneasy lately because he's noticed that although sales have been booming in the last two years, cash collections on accounts receivable do not seem to be as high as expected.

You are a forensic accountant who has been hired to investigate this situation. You had an initial conversation with Christine. Below are some of the things she stated when questioned about what may have caused the lower than expected cash collections:

• "Well, it's the economy."

• "You know, times are tough for everyone, including our customers."

• "I've experienced tough times even when the economy was going well."

You also learned that the four employees mentioned above are friends, and they often go to lunch together. Write a 2- to 3-page paper in MS Word responding to the following questions:

1. What documents/files would you want to see before interviewing anyone? Why would you request to see these particular documents?

2. What other procedures or evidence would you consider using to determine whether the suspicions are valid?

3. What should be the order of the interviews? Would you consider interviewing Tommy, Andy, and Janet? Why or why not? How would you go about interviewing Christine?