Week 3 & 4: Learning Unit 2: Reflections
What was your most significant learning about the accounting concepts and skills that were
introduced this week?
Significant accounting learning concepts and skills were introduced in weeks 3 and 4 on chapters 4 to 7.
The most interesting accounting concept was Fraud, Internal Control, and Cash. Fraud occurs due to
dishonest acts of employees who want to benefit at the employer's cost. Internal controls are systems
used to manage risk and minimize fraud cases within the organization. The internal control structure is
made up of the five primary components; a controlled environment, risk assessment, control activities,
information and communication, and monitoring that provide reasonable assurance to safeguarding
company assets.
What connections do you see between what you learned this week and the real world?
I realized that cash is one of the most problematic assets to control within an organization due to
numerous fraud cases. Many organizations will acknowledge having valued internal controls, even those
that do not have. The company assets require better security, and efforts should be done to minimize
fraud cases. Investigations have revealed massive accounting fraud in several united states companies.
These cases are so damaging to companies making them incur huge losses. The economic damage
caused by COVID-19 will likely lead to increased accounting fraud cases because of the companies'
overdependence on remote work.
How can you apply your learning to your personal or professional life?
The best way to prevent accounting fraud is to ensure receipts are issued after every transaction.
Appropriate documentation should be made to reconcile cash receipts and centralize the receipts when
possible. Besides, organization managers should conduct unannounced cash counts and independent
internal verification to identify dishonest employees.
What concepts and skills are still unclear to you at this point? What questions do you still have?
Answering this honestly will help me provide additional instruction and insight as the course
progresses.
I believe that the week's learning concepts can be well understood with the rich amount of resources
available for review. The information provided in the text explains all the concepts appropriately, which
makes me quickly grasp the introduced accounting concepts.
