Segregation of duties (SoD) is a key internal control that aims to prevent fraud and errors by ensuring that no single individual can perform incompatible or conflicting tasks within a business process. SoD reduces the risk of unauthorized or improper transactions, manipulation of data, or misappropriation of assets.
In the accounts payable department, SoD involves separating the following functions: invoice processing, payment authorization, payment execution, and reconciliation. For example, the person who approves an invoice should not be the same person who issues the payment or reconciles the bank statement.
One of the best ways to ensure appropriate SoD within the accounts payable department is to restrict program functionality according to user security profiles. This means that each user of the accounts payable system should have a unique login and password, and should only have access to the functions that are relevant to their role and responsibilities. For instance, an invoice processor should not be able to approve payments or modify vendor records. This way, the system can enforce SoD and prevent unauthorized or fraudulent activities.
The other options are not as effective as restricting program functionality according to user security profiles. Restricting access to update programs to accounts payable staff only is a general access control measure, but it does not address the SoD issue within the accounts payable department. Including the creator’s user ID as a field in every transaction record created is a useful audit trail feature, but it does not prevent users from performing incompatible functions. Ensuring that audit trails exist for transactions is a detective control that can help identify and investigate any irregularities, but it does not prevent them from occurring in the first place.
