Pub. 6 2011-2012 Issue 3

September/October 2011 13 Extraordinary Service for Extraordinary Members. Computers are both reliable and necessary, but they also may be manipulated to make it appear that things are in balance when they are not. Do not assume that a total at the bottom of a list of numbers is the sum of the list. Verify it. For more information, please contact Kansas Bankers Surety Co. at (785) 228-0000. total without debiting any deposit account. He then would edit the formula for the report function that added the various types of demand deposit accounts. As a result, the reports would show that the total deposits in the bank were actually less than the sumof all customers’ demand deposit accounts. When the matter was discovered, the crooked officer had been stealing for more than 10 years and had stolen over $3 million from the bank. When a bank is balancing its records using spreadsheets, everyone should verify that the totals of a column actually add up to the total shown at the bottom. When a bank has report programs, any edits to the report programs should be reviewed by at least two addi- tional people to make certain all formulas in the programs are legitimate. Bank auditors and examiners should consider verifying that the underlying subsidiary ledger accounts actually add up to the totals in the bank’s general ledger. Computers are both reliable and necessary, but they also may be manipulated to make it appear that things are in balance when they are not. Do not assume that a total at the bottom of a list of numbers is the sum of the list. Verify it. Z