Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) Part 1: Business Acumen — Question 64

During a routine audit of a customer service hotline, an internal auditor noticed that an unusually high number of customer complaints pertained to payments not being applied to the customers' accounts. Which of the following would most likely be the reason for the high volume of complaints?

Answer options

• A. An ineffective customer service department.
• B. Poor controls in the invoice approval processes.
• C. Check tampering by an employee.
• D. Submission of fraudulent expense reports.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C because check tampering directly affects the application of payments to customer accounts, leading to complaints. The other options do not specifically address the issue of payments not being applied; ineffective customer service and poor controls may lead to delays but not necessarily to unprocessed payments, while fraudulent expense reports are unrelated to customer payment issues.