Internal Controls

It’s been stated that, if you give someone an opportunity to commit fraud or pilferage, they will take advantage of that opportunity. Fraud and pilferage usually happens, because it’s been allowed to happen. The detection and prevention of fraud and pilferage can best be achieved by having adequate regularly controlled accounting best practices & process in place with appropriate internal timely controls.

If you’re questioning about your internal control process and its effectiveness, Automotive Domain’s parent company Mironov Sloan & Parziale LLC., conducts internal control process reviews for over 350 dealerships in the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania & metro areas.

This is the type of service needed to keep you in check, making sure your dealership is operating as proficiently as possible. When conducting an internal process review of this nature, we think it is very important to not only show you what you must control, and how to improve your existing controls, but also to help you develop new ones required to handle the change in our industry.

Answer the questions below to see how confident you feel with your current accounting practices:

• Are Operational D.O.C.s reviewed with key managers on a regular basis?
• Is the final D.O.C. reviewed with key managers and with the dealer principal?
• Is your monthly financial statement reviewed by each profit center manager, and with top management?
• How much reliance is put on monthly financial statement information?
• Have you had months where either the financial statements were late or contained obvious mistakes?
• Does this condition happen frequently?
• Does the office manager/accountant provide knowledgeable answers to your questions in a timely manner?
• How many journal entries are required to be made by your CPA at year-end?
• Do you ever have your CPA come in prior to year-end, on a surprise basis, to perform checking on accounting best practices?