In the past Internal Control was part of the functions of Internal Audit and Accounting Managers. Today, CEO and Financial controllers have to confirm that the appropriate internal control is in place. In the beginning of this millennium corporate business world witnessed multi-million business scandals from big houses like Enron, Andersen, Quest, Tyco, Global Crossing. Since then the need of proper internal control framework for pubic limited companies is increased. When corporate houses are growing faster, with huge operation across globe, demands the need of robust control system in place to promote ethical business practice. .Managing business process with internal control mechanism helps in brings improvement in process and facilitate for quicker response time. Internal control software from Oracle, SAP and many other players are gaining importance. Post Sarbanes-Oxley act, in US there is a huge demand for these applications.
Many authors and authorities have defined internal control in their own way. One of the widely accepted meaning of internal control is, according to The committee of Sponsoring Organisations of Tradeway Commission(Popularly known as COSO), Internal control is one of the main tool to curb the risks associated with unwanted business acts. Internal control is broadly defined as a process, effected by an entity's board of directors, management and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives in the following categories:
• Effectiveness and efficiency of operations.
• Reliability of financial reporting.
• Compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
According to Turnbull, An effective internal control must in include the policies, processes, tasks behaviours and other aspects of a company that taken together to facilitate efficient operation, ensure the quality of internal and external reporting, Safeguarding the assets from inappropriate use, ensure compliance with law and regulation. Thus, internal control should be embedded with company's policy and it should form a part of culture. To implement responsive internal control environment following points need to be considered.
1) Senior Management must accept higher degree of responsibility for internal control
2) Proper Delegation of power should be defined.
3) Clear training program on monitoring internal control system
4) Periodic review of internal control system and taking necessary action to avoid system deficiencies
5) Proper alert mechanism to tackle exceptional business processes.
Contued in part 2
