Motherboards and More: Revenue Cycle, Ransomware and Controls Report

This report analyzes the revenue cycle of Motherboards and More Pty Ltd, focusing on the implications of a ransomware attack in May 2017. It provides an overview of the revenue cycle, from order placement to invoicing, and identifies internal control weaknesses, such as errors in product picking and shipping delays. The report details the impact of these weaknesses, including customer dissatisfaction and potential business losses. It recommends specific internal controls, such as establishing a regulatory body for inventory management and strengthening relationships with shipping companies, to mitigate these issues and protect against future ransomware attacks. The report also provides a brief overview of the ransomware attack and emphasizes the importance of data backup systems and anti-virus protection.

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Systems Documentation and Internal Controls
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Executive Summary
The report deals with the discussion and analysis of the Ransom ware attack and its association
with the Revenue Cycle of a business organization. The report deals with the overview of
Revenue Cycle including the order to invoicing of a company. Identification of the weaknesses
in the internal control and the implications of these weaknesses in the Motherboards along with
the More Revenue Cycle is described in the report. The report includes the specific internal
controls that can be implemented by the organizations for mitigating these issues. The
elaboration of suitable controls that can be recommended to be implemented at Motherboards
and More is described in the report.

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Contents
Summary..........................................................................................................................................4
Identification....................................................................................................................................5
Brief Overview of the Ransomware Attack.....................................................................................6
Review Of Appropriate Controls.....................................................................................................7
Final Verdict....................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Summary
As an employee of Motherboards and More Pty Ltd in the accountant profile, reviewing the
Revenue Cycle provided me with various insights regarding the aspects of management in
association to the Ransom ware Outbreak that occurred in May of 2017. The revenue cycle
Motherboards and More Pty Ltd can be stated as the set of exchange transaction contracts
between the company and the customers associated with the provisions of services and goods to
the customers along with the collection of the payments in cash. The primary aim of the revenue
cycle Of Motherboards and More Pty Ltd is to provide the appropriate product at the right time
in the right place for the right price (Alewine, Allport & Shen, 2016). This company deals with
the manufacturing of different parts of the computer such as motherboards, microchips and
graphics cards. The company also happens to be a key supplier to various repairers and
manufacturers in Australia. As per Alewine, Allport & Shen, the Revenue Cycle of the company
begins with the placement of order by the customers on the website of the company through
email or by telephone. The sales that take place are credits. This also includes the large orders
that are taken place online to the customers who are first-timers. The orders of the customers are
then picked upon and sent to the warehouse of the company (Alewine, Allport & Shen, 2016).
The system of the business operation is configured to prepare the invoice of the sales only after
the employees working at the shipping and enter the actual qualities which are sent to the
customers.

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Figure 1: Revenue Cycle
Identification
Internal Control Weakness Of Motherboard
And More
The internal control weakness of Motherboard
and More would include the errors in picking
up the wrong item of products for the
customers and delivering to the customers. The
weakness in the internal control of the
company can also be seen from the delays in
the shipping of the products due to the
improper regulation and management of the
stocks in the warehouse (Amran, et al., 2014).
Improper coordination of the maintenance of
the stock in the perpetual inventory as well as
in the physical inventory is one of the key
issues in the company.
impact these weaknesses Due to the improper regulation of the

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operations associated with the warehouse
would lead to improper delivery of the
products which are already relevant in the case
of the company (Prasad & Green, 2015). The
delays in the delivery due to delays in shipping
of the products along with the errors in sending
the wrong product to the customers will
ultimately lead to the dissatisfaction among the
customers. This will further lead to decrease in
the business of the company as the customers
would not be interested in shopping from
Motherboards and More Pty Ltd (Seyal &
Rahman, 2015). Thus, the business of the
company will eventually decrease and losses
will incur.
internal controls The control measures that can be implemented
by the company in its internal structure of
operations are devising and establishing a
regulatory body that would be in charge of
checking the stocks of products at the
inventory and coordinating the availability of
the products with the department of the
company handling the online registers and
software of the orders. This body would be in
complete control over the arrangements and
maintenance of the inventory (Seyal &
Rahman, 2015). The company has to
strengthen the ties and associations with
different shipping companies as the company
would be able to ship the products at the
scheduled time with no delays in case one ship

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is not able to leave off (Tazik & Mohamed,
2014).
Brief Overview of the Ransomware Attack.
The ransom ware attack caused due to a piece of software that appeared to be self-replicating and
taking unfair advantage of the vulnerabilities present in the older versions of the Microsoft
Windows. The most recent ransom ware attack was reported in Britain in which many patients
were forced to not get admission or health checkups in the hospitals due to breach in the access
in their software (ABC News, 2017). The cyber extortionists were able to trick the victims to
open the malware attachments that were malicious in nature as spam emails which appeared to
have job offers, invoices, security warnings and various legitimate files. The ransom ware
attackers encrypted the data on the systems and demanded of payments ranging from $300 to
$600 for restoring access. Around 57,000 infections in around 99 countries including Ukraine,
Taiwan, and Russia were found (ABC News, 2017).
Review Of Appropriate Controls
The controls that the company can take for gaining protection against the ransom ware attack is
by ensuring the application of updates and patches. Updating the versions and applications of the
patches need to be conducted by the Department of Information Technology of the company.
The security scanning system of the company needs to be tested and changes on a regular basis
in order to detect the rogue devices or programs that try to enter into the inventorying process
sofa the company (Uyar, Gungormus & Kuzey, 2017). Even the devices that are associated with
the Internet of Things such as speakers that are activated by voice, thermostats, etc are to be
checked regarding the vulnerabilities regarding security.
Final Verdict
Through the above case scenario, it is to be retrieved that in order to have proper functioning of
business operations, the company needs to test the system of the backup system of the data
which would have the critical data of the organization. The architecture of the backup system of
data needs to be critically devised so as to build a tough and resilient framework of the data. The

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company needs to check the anti-virus protection of the entire network of the system so as to
enhance the capability of scanning vulnerability of the company. This would also integrate
upgrading of the old systems (Vanhoof, et al., 2016).
References
ABC News (2017). 'Biggest ransomware outbreak in history' hits nearly 100 countries..
Retrieved 23 September 2017, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-13/biggest-
ransomware-outbreak-in-history-hits-nearly-100-nations/8523102
Alewine, H. C., Allport, C. D., & Shen, W. C. M. (2016). How measurement framing and
accounting information system evaluation mode influence environmental performance
judgments. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 23, 28-44.
Al-Hiyari, A., AL-Mashre, M. H. H., & Mat, N. K. N. (2013). Factors that affect accounting
information system implementation and accounting information quality: A survey in
University Utara Malaysia. American Journal of Economics, 3(1), 27-31.
Amran, A. M., Rahman, R. A., Yusof, S. N. S., & Mohamed, I. S. (2014). The current practice of
Islamic microfinance institutions’ accounting information system via the implementation
of mobile banking. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 145, 81-87.
Prasad, A., & Green, P. (2015). Organizational competencies and dynamic accounting
information system capability: impact on AIS processes and firm performance. Journal of
Information Systems, 29(3), 123-149.
Seyal, A. H., & Rahman, N. A. (2015). A Preliminary Investigation of Measuring Users
Satisfaction & Success on Financial & Accounting Information System: Bruneian
Perspective. International Journal of Business and Management Review, 3(2), 1-22.
Tazik, H., & Mohamed, Z. M. (2014, February). Accounting information system effectiveness,
foreign ownership and timeliness of corporate financial report. In 5th Asia-Pacific Business
Research Conference (pp. 17-18).

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Uyar, A., Gungormus, A. H., & Kuzey, C. (2017). Impact of the Accounting Information System
on Corporate Governance: Evidence from Turkish Non-Listed Companies. Australasian
Accounting Business & Finance Journal, 11(1), 9.
Vanhoof, E., De Bruyn, P., Aerts, W., & Verelst, J. (2016, May). Building an Evolvable
Prototype for a Multiple GAAP Accounting Information System. In Enterprise
Engineering Working Conference (pp. 71-85). Springer, Cham.