ACC 410 AU WK Effective Internal Control Over Investments Discussion

I’m working on a accounting discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Part 1 

Since financial investments are assets with a high degree of inherent risk, companies must establish effective internal control over their investments. Address the following in your discussion post:

Describe segregation of duties and dual control.

Describe the functions that should be segregated to provide good internal control over cash, the receipt of cash, and financial investments.

• Describe two other internal control policies that should be established for financial investments.
• List three audit tasks related to the audit of financial investments that may require specialized skill or knowledge.
• Part 2 

Confirmation of accounts receivable is presumptively a mandatory audit procedure. In performing this procedure, auditors use positive confirmation requests or negative confirmation requests or a combination of both. Address the following in your discussion post:

Explain the difference between negative and positive confirmations.

Describe conditions which should exist for the auditors to use the negative form of request.

Describe conditions which should exist for the auditors to use the positive form of request.

If a response is not received to an initial positive or negative confirmation request, describe the action that should be taken by the auditors, including a discussion of alternative auditing procedures.