A finished ACC-335 Topic 4 incompatible duties matrix example, mapping three employees against authorization, recording, custody and review, and isolating the conflict that permits a specific theft. Searches like "acc 335 topic 4 assignment example", "acc335 topic 4 sample" and "acc-335 topic 4 example" land here.
What a finished ACC-335 Topic 4 incompatible duties matrix looks like
The finished matrix is a grid with the office manager, the front desk lead and the part-time bookkeeper down the side and the payment tasks across the top: taking cash and card at checkout, entering charges in the practice system, applying discounts and voids, preparing the deposit, posting to the ledger and reconciling the bank account. Each task is tagged by function, so it is clear which ones are custody and which are recording. Cells show who does each task in practice, observed across a normal day. Conflicts are shaded, and each shaded cell is written out as the transaction it would allow: the desk lead takes a cash payment, voids the visit in the system and keeps the money, leaving no record to reconcile. The matrix does not pretend every conflict can be removed; it ranks them.
How an ACC-335 Topic 4 example is structured
The example opens with the office's headcount and hours, because the separation any office can achieve depends on how many people it has. A second part lists the payment tasks and assigns each to one of four functions, authorization, recording, custody or review, with a line explaining any task that straddles two. A third part is the matrix, filled in from observation rather than from job descriptions. A fourth part shades every cell where one person holds two incompatible functions for the same transaction. A fifth part writes each conflict out as the particular transaction it would allow and says how it would come to light, if at all. A sixth part ranks the conflicts by exposure, with cash voids first. The close says which conflict can be split by reassigning one task and which must stay in place and be covered another way.
Headcount before any judgment
The matrix starts from three people and their schedules, because the separation a control asks for cannot exceed the staff who could perform it.
Tasks tagged by function
Each payment task is labeled as authorization, recording, custody or review, so a conflict is identified from what a person does, not what the title says.
Filled in from observation
Cells record who actually performed each task during an ordinary day, since the job descriptions assign voids to the manager and practice gives them to the desk.
Conflicts written as transactions
Every shaded cell is expanded into a sentence describing the theft or error it permits, which makes the exposure concrete for whoever reads the matrix.
Ranked, not all removed
Conflicts are ordered by exposure, and only the top one is split by moving a task, since removing every conflict would need staff the clinic lacks.
Where marks go in ACC-335 Topic 4
Recommending full segregation to a three-person office is the recommendation markers see most often and credit least, because nobody could staff it. A matrix built from job descriptions reports the separation the clinic intended, not the one it operates, and the void permission usually proves the two differ. Grids that mark conflicts without saying what each one permits leave the reader to imagine the risk. Treating every overlap as equally serious misses the point of ranking: a receptionist who both schedules and confirms appointments is not in the position of one who holds cash and can erase the sale. Papers listing the four functions without applying them to specific tasks have defined segregation rather than tested it. Ending with no plan for the conflicts that remain leaves the office exposed exactly where it was.
Get an ACC-335 Topic 4 example written to your instructions
Send the ACC-335 Topic 4 instructions, your classroom rubric and the department or staffing scenario the assignment describes. We return a custom example built to those criteria, with tasks tagged by function, the matrix filled from practice, each conflict written as a transaction and the remaining ones ranked, in 24 to 48 hours. Your first sample is free.
ACC-335 Topic 4 questions, answered
Which duties must be kept apart?
The classic pairing to separate is custody of an asset from the recording of it, since one person holding both can take the asset and adjust the record. Authorization should also sit apart from both, and review should be performed by somebody who did none of the three. In a small office the realistic goal is to break the most dangerous pairing and cover the others by other means.
Does a system permission count as a duty?
Yes, and it is often the one that matters most. An employee who never voids a transaction in practice but holds the permission to do so can still do it, usually without anybody noticing. A matrix built only from observed behavior misses that, so a strong example checks the permissions list alongside what people actually do and marks both.
What if every conflict involves the owner?
That is common in small businesses, and it changes the question. An owner who holds cash and records it would be taking from their own business, so the concern shifts toward the other employees and toward honest errors rather than theft. The matrix should still show the owner's conflicts and note that the risk they carry is of a different kind.