You are a trainee accountant, working for a small firm of accountants, and have been employed there for five years. You are responsible for, and supervise two trainees, both of whom have recently left college and this is their first full time employment. You report to the Accounts' Manager. Your daily work routine involves a variety of urgent and important tasks, and today you encounter the following situations.
1. You receive an email from one of your existing clients asking for technical advice relating to a specific tax issue. This is an area of work where you have no technical experience or knowledge.
2. You are holding money on behalf of a client in a separate bank account, which will be used to pay their quarterly tax bill. However, this client has not paid their invoice for the fees incurred for your firm's services, and this payment is now overdue. The firm's credit control manager asks you to withdraw money from the client's account to settle the outstanding fees.
3. One of your responsibilities is to approve the expense claims for the two trainees. One trainee appears to have seriously overstated their claim for mileage for travel to one of the firm's clients. The other trainee, has submitted a mileage claim for a visit to a client, however, you feel certain that they were given a lift by another member of staff within the firm.
4. One of the trainees has approached you for advice. She recently joined your company, and the Accounts' Director has asked her to provide information on her previous company's client base. This information would then be used to attract new clients and encourage them to change their accountants and move to your firm.
Assess the risks of the issues identified and suggest the course of action that you should take (16marks)
You are a trainee accountant, working for a small firm of accountants, and have been employed there for five years. You are responsible for, and supervise two trainees, both of whom have recently left college and this is their first full time employment. You report to the Accounts' Manager. Your daily work routine involves a variety of urgent and important tasks, and today you encounter the following situations.
1. You receive an email from one of your existing clients asking for technical advice relating to a specific tax issue. This is an area of work where you have no technical experience or knowledge.
2. You are holding money on behalf of a client in a separate bank account, which will be used to pay their quarterly tax bill. However, this client has not paid their invoice for the fees incurred for your firm's services, and this payment is now overdue. The firm's credit control manager asks you to withdraw money from the client's account to settle the outstanding fees.
3. One of your responsibilities is to approve the expense claims for the two trainees. One trainee appears to have seriously overstated their claim for mileage for travel to one of the firm's clients. The other trainee, has submitted a mileage claim for a visit to a client, however, you feel certain that they were given a lift by another member of staff within the firm.
4. One of the trainees has approached you for advice. She recently joined your company, and the Accounts' Director has asked her to provide information on her previous company's client base. This information would then be used to attract new clients and encourage them to change their accountants and move to your firm.
Assess the risks of the issues identified and suggest the course of action that you should take (16marks)
