Internal Controls Policies and Procedures

Drawing on her many years as a consultant to numerous companies big and small, author Rose Hightower infuses Internal Controls Policies and Procedures with her wealth of experience and knowledge. Instead of reinventing the wheel, your company can use this useful how-to manual to quickly and effectively put a successful program of internal controls in place. Complete with flowcharts and checklists, this essential desktop reference is a best practices model for establishing and enhancing your organization's control framework.

These manuals are favorites for organizations and companies that need a foundation and grounding to ensure an internal control posture of integrity, credibility, method, process and process: or a reminder of its importance.

URLs were included when first published to encourage the dissemination and distribution of relevant chapters to those interested and in charge of the specific departments.

Although times have changed, the principles professed are sound and solid for today's accounting and business environment. Implementing these cornerstones will produce a principled manageable approach.

These manuals can be used by accounting individuals, finance departments, sole proprietor businesses, large corporations, accounting / auditing students and any others interested in specific topics or general disciplines.

The discipline for the oversight processes and procedures are important when introducing or implementing auditing practices whether in accounting or throughout the organization.
These manuals should be used together to provide the basics when setting up a department or specific process discipline, for learning about the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities within the specific focus areas.

Auteur

ROSE HIGHTOWER, ACCOUNTANT, MSC, has been the owner of IDEAL Consulting Solutions International, LLC, for ten years, consulting in implementing internal controls and policy and procedure programs for large companies. Bringing over twenty years of experience from IBM and serving as finance manager, her program contains practical lessons and simple solutions for any size company. She is known as "The Policy Guru" and offers advice and counsel to clients from her Web site, idealpolicy.com.

Texte du rabat
— Steps for establishing and enhancing a company's internal control program
— The governance journey: internal controls are not just about SOX
— Building on Accounting and Finance Policies and Procedures to include Sarbanes-Oxley controls and introduce testing and audit readiness assessments Praise for Internal Controls Policies and Procedures "With many years as a consultant to numerous companies big and small, Rose brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to bear on the topic of internal controls in Internal Controls Policies and Procedures. Instead of 'reinventing the wheel,' companies can use this useful how-to manual to quickly put an effective program of internal controls in place. It will prove to be an invaluable guide to internal auditors at companies of all sizes."
—MARK GREENQUIST, President and CEO, Telcordia Technologies, Inc. "I have implemented, used, corrected, reviewed, and enhanced internal controls systems for most of my career. Getting started and following a path, founded in the COSO framework, is oftentimes the most difficult step in the process. What do you have to do? Why do you have to do it? How do you do it, and most important, how do you document what you have done? The author has answered these questions in an easy-to-read format and provided many useful tools and checklists to facilitate the completion of the internal controls process review. An extremely useful tool."
—WILLIAM H. HOGAN, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Multi Packaging Solutions, Inc. "The methodology presented within this publication is complete with flowcharts and checklists, which serve as a desktop reference for all organizations. Internal controls are dynamic and must be periodically reviewed and updated. Internal auditors play an important role in the process, but internal controls are the responsibility of all employees within an organization. I highly recommend this book both to auditors and management as a best practices model for establishing and enhancing their organization's control framework."
—JIM KAPLAN, President and CEO, AuditNet.org, the global resource for auditors, and the recipient of the IIA's 2007 prestigious Bradford Cadmus Memorial Award

Contenu
How to Use this Manual xi

Preface xiii

Governance Journey 1

A01 Big G to little g governance journey 3

Appendix: Background for COSO, SOX, PCAOB 7

A02 Risk Assessment 10

A03 Oversight 16

A04 Documentation 20

Internal Control Program 25

B01 Internal Control Program 27

B02 Internal Control Process 37

B02a Internal Control Policy and Procedure 52

B02b Internal Control Program Charter 55

B02c Internal Control Plan 57

B03 Authorization and Approval Program 69

B03a Delegation of Authority 73

B03b Authorization Delegation, SubDelegation of Authority 79

B03c Responsibility, Authority, Support, Counsel, and Inform (RASCI) 83

B04 Information Technology Program 87

B04a EndUser ComputingControl of Spreadsheets Policy and Procedure 95

B05 Account Reconciliation Program 97

B05a Account Reconciliation 101

B06 Quarterly Subcertification Program 105

B06a Quarterly Subcertification 120

B06b Quarterly Subcertification Matrix 122

B06c Quarterly Financial Subcertification Training For First-Time Subcertifiers 124

Control Activity Program Testing Guides 133

C01 Control Activity Program 135

C01a Control Activities Template 147

C01b Result of Control Activity Testing 148

C01c Internal Control Planning, Testing, and Remediation Worksheet 149

C01d Reporting Scorecard 151

C02 AP Disbursements 153

C02a AR Allowance for Doubtful Accounts 158

C02b AR Cash Applications 162

C02c AR Collections 166

C02d AR Credit Administration 169

C02e Cash and Marketable Securities 172

C02f Financial Planning and Analysis 176

C02g Fixed Assets, Long Lived Assets 179

C02h Intercompany Transactions Cross Charges 183

C02i Raw Materials and Inventory 187

C02j Journal Entries 194

C02k Payroll 197

C02l Procurement 201

C02m Revenue Recognition 205

C02n Retail Sales Orders to Business Partners 209

C02o Income Tax 213

Appendix

Internal Control Planning, Testing and Remediation Worksheets 217

Acronyms 263

References 265

Index 267