Start networking and exchanging professional insights

Register now or log in to join your professional community.

Follow

What are the basic principles of internal control ?

user-image
Question added by Nadjib RABAHI , Freelancer , My own account
Date Posted: 2015/10/13

Time Management: anticipation for what might happened ahead. Accomplish before deadline.

Job Responsibilities: Division of labor is consider.

Auditing : a periodic time of checking or auditing is need to be carried out always.

Commitment : one must have desire and passion for his/her work.

System 

Rehan Qureshi
by Rehan Qureshi , Financial Consultant , Self Employeed

Separation of Duties

Separation of duties involves splitting responsibility for bookkeeping, deposits, reporting and auditing. The further duties are separated, the less chance any single employee has of committing fraudulent acts. For small businesses with only a few accounting employees, sharing responsibilities between two or more people or requiring critical tasks to be reviewed by co-workers can serve the same purpose.

 

Access Controls

Controlling access to different parts of an accounting system via passwords, lockouts and electronic access logs can keep unauthorized users out of the system while providing a way to audit the usage of the system to identify the source of errors or discrepancies. Robust access tracking can also serve to deter attempts at fraudulent access in the first place.

 

 

Physical Audits

Physical audits include hand-counting cash and any physical assets tracked in the accounting system, such as inventory, materials and tools. Physical counting can reveal well-hidden discrepancies in account balances by bypassing electronic records altogether. Counting cash in sales outlets can be done daily or even several times per day. Larger projects, such as hand counting inventory, should be performed less frequently, perhaps on an annual or quarterly basis.

 

Documentation

Standardizing documents used for financial transactions, such as invoices, internal materials requests, inventory receipts and travel expense reports, can help to maintain consistency in record keeping over time. Using standard document formats can make it easier to review past records when searching for the source of a discrepancy in the system. A lack of standardization can cause items to be overlooked or misinterpreted in such a review.

 

Trial Balances

Using a double-entry accounting system adds reliability by ensuring that the books are always balanced. Even so, it is still possible for errors to bring a double-entry system out of balance at any given time. Calculating daily or weekly trial balances can provide regular insight into the state of the system, allowing you to discover and investigate discrepancies as early as possible.

 

Reconciliations

Occasional accounting reconciliations can ensure that balances in your accounting system match up with balances in accounts held by other entities, including banks, suppliers and credit customers. For example, a bank reconciliation involves comparing cash balances and records of deposits and receipts between your accounting system and bank statements. Differences between these types of complementary accounts can reveal errors or discrepancies in your own accounts, or the errors may originate with the other entities.

 

Approval Authority

Requiring specific managers to authorize certain types of transactions can add a layer of responsibility to accounting records by proving that transactions have been seen, analyzed and approved by appropriate authorities. Requiring approval for large payments and expenses can prevent unscrupulous employees from making large fraudulent transactions with company funds, for example.

Mohammed Lahbib
by Mohammed Lahbib , INGENIEUR , ATM Mobilis

Adresse IP et aussi les protocoles TCP/IP et les DNS

More Questions Like This

Do you need help in adding the right keywords to your CV? Let our CV writing experts help you.