Greetings from the Internal Controls Office!

 

Quote of the month: Practice Shredding!

 

 

About Internal Controls

Internal controls are practices that protect the University’s assets. They are practices you probably already do that make good business sense. For instance:

• Did you lock your doors at home before leaving for work? You likely did to protect the valuables in your home.

• Did you use caution when you disclosed your credit card number or other personal data at a web site or online service? You probably did to protect yourself from identity theft.

• Did you review your credit card statement last month? Hopefully, you did to ensure that the balance is correct, matching your credit card receipts back to the statement and verifying all charges were yours.

These practices make up what we refer to as your “personal internal control system”. These are things you do to achieve your objectives in your own business and life. Simply said, internal controls are anything (activities, plans, attitudes or efforts) we do to help us achieve our objectives. Many of these things are simply logical, common-sense things you do every day 

University management is responsible to develop a system of internal controls, however, every employee is responsible to follow and apply these practices. Policies and procedures are unattractive by themselves, but, taken as a whole, they can have a positive major impact on the University’s operations.

 

What is the essence of Internal Controls?

It can be preventative, detective or corrective.

 

1. Preventative Controls

Controls designed to discourage errors before they occur. They may include credit checks, authorization signatures, data entry checks or physical supervision over valuable assets to prevent loss.

 

2. Detective Controls

Controls designed to find errors after they have occurred. They may include account reviews, reconciliation reviews, transaction edits, and physical inventory counts.

 

3. Corrective Controls

Controls designed to prevent the recurrence of errors. They may include exception reports. An exception report will show non-conforming data in comparison to normal performing data.