
Quote of the month: Practice Shredding!
David Coble, Interim Internal Control Officer
OM 404, MS9044
360-650-4465 (v)
david.coble@wwu.edu
About Internal Controls
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Internal controls are practices that protect the University’s assets. They are practices you probably already do that make good business sense. For instance:
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?
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It can be preventative, detective or corrective.
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.
Controls designed to find errors after they have occurred. They may include account reviews, reconciliation reviews, transaction edits, and physical inventory counts.
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.