You are currently the Internal Controls Director for Twitter, Inc. in San Francisco, CA. It is a gorgeous
Friday afternoon, and you are packing your bags and about to head down to Fisherman’s Wharf to for a
brisk jog, followed by a delicious bowl of seafood chowder. Can it get any better than this?
As you lean over to grab your bag, your iPhone starts buzzing and you see a text message from the CFO
that says “Check your e-mail NOW!” You frantically unpack your laptop and reboot the machine,
discovering the following email from the CFO:
I was just running some reports to prepare the quarterly financial reports when I noticed some unusual items. I need your help as the boss wants everything no later than noon on Sunday (or else, right?). We purchased 3,000 new iPhones this quarter for the new “Tweet Your Heart Out” campaign, but the total dollar value attached to the purchase seems inaccurate. The total in the accounting system is showing as $50,000. That can’t be accurate! I can’t seem to locate any of the underlying records, and to be quite honest, I don’t even know what I’m looking for. Is it possible we didn’t order them yet, or perhaps we didn’t receive them? Maybe it’s none of the above. You know me;
clueless when it comes to these financial issues. Shh, don’t tell the boss that!
Please help! I need to know 1) what source documents I need and why I need them, 2) why the balance in the accounting system could possibly be so low, and 3) how I should go about fixing this problem so it doesn’t happen again.
I need a detailed response by midnight tonight. I’m headed out to that new club downtown tonight. Maybe we can catch up tomorrow sometime. Thanks!
Your heart sinks. There will be no seafood chowder in your near future. You can’t believe the CFO
doesn’t understand basic purchasing procedures and admitted it in an email. Alas, it’s time to stop
pouting and get to work!
Description of Assignment:
You are responsible for preparing a professional memo response to the CFO. Your memo must include, at
a minimum, answers to the 3 questions asked by the CFO in his email. It is the expectation that your
memo will be detailed and thorough. This assignment cannot be completed in just a few short sentences,
and you will need to think through some scenarios of how the recording of the value of the phones could
possibly be so low. There is no minimum length required, but I do not believe students can properly
answer these questions in any less than a single-spaced, 11 point font, full page memo. Most students will
likely need to write even more than that. You must use a business format, which includes proper
grammar and spelling. Please edit your work.
Acceptable file formats for this assignment are .doc, .docx, or pdf ONLY. Submissions not meeting these
stated criteria will be assigned a grade of ‘0’.
Point Value & Associated Rubric:
Evaluation Criteria
Assignment is completed in a business letter format
Letter utilizes proper punctuation, spelling and grammar
Each of the 3 questions posed by the CFO are answered thoroughly and completely
