1. The town of Bullet Park operates a public parking lot near the railroad station for the benefit of town members. The guard on duty issues annual prenumbered parking stickers to residents who submit an application form and show evidence of residency. The sticker is affixed to the auto and allows the resident to park anywhere in the lot for 12 hours if the resident deposits 8 quarters in the parking meter. Applications are maintained in the guard office at the lot. The guard checks to see that only residents are using the lot and that no resident has parked without paying the required meter fee.
Once a week the guard on duty who has a master key for all meters takes the coins from the meters and places them in a locked steel box. The guard delivers the box to the town storage building , where a storage department clerk opens the box, counts the coins, and records the total cash counted on a "Weekly Cash Report" (which is sent to the town accounting department), and puts the cash in a safe. On the following day, the town's treasurer picks up and recounts the cash, prepares the bank deposit slip, and delivers the deposit to the bank. The deposit slip, authenticated by the bank teller, is sent to the accounting department where it is filed with the "Weekly Cash Report."
Required: Describe deficiencies in the existing system and recommend one or more improvements for each of the deficiencies to strengthen control activities over the parking lot cash receipts.